RS 7: INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN RELIGION

Professor Catherine L. Albanese MWF, 11:00-11:50 am

Fall 2007 Girvetz 1004

Course Description

This course is a survey of some of the many religions that flourish in the United States and of the people who live them. The course begins where the country began, with Native Americans. Then the course examines the religions of American Jews and Catholics and of white and black Protestants. It introduces new American religions like Mormonism and Christian Science as well as metaphysical faiths like Spiritualism and New Thought. It looks at the coming of different forms of Asian religions into the United States from the late nineteenth century on. It pays attention to present-day religion on both sides of the American spectrum—evangelicalism and the New Age and new spirituality. The course emphasizes how each religious path reflects contact with others. In the midst of the diversity, the course suggests that the different American religions have more in common than their followers sometimes think. It discusses how the shared experience of being American constitutes an "invisible" religion in which many, if not most, participate.

Required Texts

Catherine L. Albanese, America: Religions and Religion, 4th ed. (Wadsworth).

Course Reader (Grafikart, 6550 Pardall Road, Isla Vista).

Required Exercises

1. Section Participation (15% of grade)

Teaching assistants for each section will determine particular requirements for section participation.

2. Midterm Examination (20% of grade)

Midterm, on Friday, Nov. 2d, will cover lectures, readings, and class discussion.

3. Final Examination (25% of grade)

The final exam will cover lectures, readings, and class discussion from the second half of the course. The exam is scheduled for Friday, December 14th, from 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm.

4. Paper (40% of grade)

Research and write a paper on the religious history of one member of your family. The paper should be based mainly on library research on the tradition or traditions in which the member of your family participated (participation may have been enthusiastic, indifferent, or hostile). The paper may, but is not required to, include oral history and interviews. You should thoroughly explain the beliefs and practices that were part of your family member’s history (a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling, etc.). You should also tell how these beliefs and practices changed over the years. Finally, you should relate the changes to the general characteristics of American religion (what the course calls the “oneness” of American religion). In other words, you should ask, How does or does not the religious belief and behavior of my family member illustrate common themes in American religious history?

Your paper will be graded on a 100-point scale as follows:

(1) clearly explains and summarizes historical data regarding a religious tradition or traditions (20 points);

(2) discusses how the family member was or was not representative of beliefs and practices that characterize the general religious movement or spiritual orientation to which s/he adheres (20 points);

(3) reflects on evidence of contact with the mainstream of American religion and culture through change from past belief and/or practice, or contemporary conformity with the larger culture, or self-conscious conflict with the larger culture, or any combination of these (20 points);

(4) produces a study that is approximately 1,800 words (about 7‑8‑‑but not more than 10‑‑pages), printed double‑spaced, in 12-point font, with standard one‑inch margins all around (10 points);

(5) is appropriately documented with endnotes following a standard bibliographic format, to be discussed with you by your teaching assistant (15 points);

(6) includes a bibliography of sources consulted, which contains at least six or seven scholarly print items (meaning university press books, scholarly journal articles, and similar) and which is presented in a standard bibliographic format, to be discussed with you by your teaching assistant (15 points).

Please note that papers without any notes or bibliography at all are considered incomplete and will be very seriously downgraded, if still acceptable. Your paper must be submitted by Friday, December 7th, at class time. Late papers will be penalized and may not be accepted.

N.B. If for any reason this research topic presents a problem for you, please consult your teaching assistant for an alternate assignment.

Class Schedule

N.B. Please bring reading to be discussed to class.

Sept. 28 Orientation.

Oct. 1 What Counts as Religion—in the United States?

Reading: Text, 1‑15.

I. MANYNESS: The Original Cast

Oct. 3 Native Americans

Reading: Text, 17‑39; Reader #1 (Robert Allen Warrior).

Oct. 5 The Jews

Reading: Text, 40‑58; Reader #2 (Michael Lotker).

Oct. 8 The Roman Catholics, I

Reading: Text, 59‑67.

Oct. 10 The Roman Catholics, II

Reading: Text, 68-80; Reader #3 (Robert A. Orsi).

Oct. 12 The Protestants, I

Reading: Text, 81‑98.

Oct. 15 The Protestants, II

Reading: Text, 98-115.

Oct. 17 The Protestants, III

Reading: Text, 115-33.

Oct. 19 The African Americans

Reading: Text, 134‑52; Reader #4 (Albert J. Raboteau).

II. MANYNESS: Newcomers

Oct. 22 The Mormons

Reading: Text, 153‑60; Reader #5 (Lucy Mack Smith).

Oct. 24 The Christian Scientists

Reading: Text, 161-64; Reader #6 (Mary Baker Eddy).

Oct. 26 The Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses

Reading: Text, 164-70; Reader #7 (Barbara G. Harrison).

Oct. 29 The Community Dwellers: Shakers

Reading: Text, 170-73; #8 (Charles Nordhoff/Hervey Elkins; Edward Deming Andrews).

Oct. 31 The Community Dwellers: Oneidans and Branch Davidians

Reading: Text, 173-77; Reader #9 (Tirzah Miller).

Nov. 2 Midterm Examination

Nov. 5 Mystics, Metaphysicians, and Metaphysical Religion

Reading: Text, 178-84; 192.

Nov. 7 The Spiritualists

Reading: Text, 184-88; Reader #10 (Clara H. Whitmore).

Nov. 9 The Theosophists

Reading: Text, 188-90; Reader #11 (Henry Steel Olcott)

Nov. 12 Veterans’ Day Holiday

Nov. 14 The New Thinkers

Reading: Text, 190-97; Reader #12 (Elizabeth Towne).

III. MANYNESS: Patterns of Expansion and Contraction

Nov. 16 The Eastern Orthodox

Reading: Text, 199-206.

Nov. 19 The Muslims

Reading: Text, 206-12; Reader #13 (Malcolm X).

Nov. 21 The Hindus

Reading: Text, 212-18; Reader #14 (Paramahansa Yogananda).

Nov. 23 Thanksgiving Holiday

Nov. 26 The Buddhists

Reading: Text, 218-26; Reader #15 (James William Coleman).

Nov. 28 The New Age and New Spirituality People

Reading: Text, 227-39; Reader #16 (Shirley MacLaine).

Nov. 30 The Fundamentalists and Evangelicals

Reading: Text, 239-53; Reader #17 (Charles Colson).

IV. ONENESS: The Culture of the Center

Dec. 3 Oneness and Public Protestantism

Reading: Text, 255‑65.

Dec. 5 Civil and Cultural Religion

Reading: Text, 265-81.

Lecturer: Elizabeth Kerr

Dec. 7 The Contact Situation

Reading: Text, 282‑99.

RESEARCH PAPERS DUE.

Course Evaluation.

Dec. 14 Final Examination, 12:00 noon-3:00 pm (Friday)

Selected General Bibliography

NB: The following books represent a short list of general surveys and reference volumes that may be useful for further introduction to topics and themes and for researching your paper.

Sydney E. Ahlstrom. A Religious History of the American People. 2d ed. (with chapter by David Hall). New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.

Julia Mitchell Corbett. Religion in America. 4th ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2000.

John Corrigan and Winthrop S. Hudson. Religion in America. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004.

Edwin S. Gaustad and Leigh E. Schmidt. A Religious History of America. Rev. ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2002.

Eileen W. Lindner, ed. Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, 2006. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006.

Charles H. Lippy and Peter W. Williams, eds. Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience. 3 vols. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.

George M. Marsden. Religion and American Culture. Fort Worth: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1990.

Martin E. Marty. Pilgrims in Their Own Land: Five Hundred Years of Religion in America. Boston: Little, Brown, 1984.

Frank L. Mead, Samuel S. Hill, and Craig D. Atwood. Handbook of Denominations in the United States. 12th ed. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005.

J. Gordon Melton. The Encyclopedia of American Religions. 7th ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 2003.

Mark A. Noll. A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1992.

Daniel G. Reid, et al. Dictionary of Christianity in America. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1990.

Peter W. Williams. America's Religions: From Their Origins to the Twenty-First Century. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002.

Other Information

· Students are to supply small‑size Scantron sheets, no. 2 pencils, and blue books for midterm and final exams.

· The instructor's office is 3001G Humanities and Social Sciences Building. Telephone is 893‑3564. Email is albanese@religion.ucsb.edu. N.B. Please do not send attachments. Embed all material in a regular email text file. No papers may be submitted by email.

· Office hours are Wednesdays and Fridays from 1:00 to 2:00 pm.

· Students with disabilities who would like to discuss special academic accommodations should contact the instructor.

· Plagiarism means presenting the words and ideas of others as one’s own in a written paper. It is a serious offense that is a form of stealing, and it will not be tolerated. Evidence of plagiarism is easy to obtain with Internet search engines, and any evidence of plagiarism discovered will result in a written report to the Dean of Students’ office. A plagiarized paper will be inadmissible for fulfilling the writing requirement for the course and will most likely result in a grade of F in the course (since the paper is worth 40 percent toward the course grade). Also, any evidence of cheating during written exams will be handled stringently and will result in a written report to the Dean of Students’ office.