RELI 4107/6107: 

AMERICAN RELIGIOUS HISTORY

 

Dr. Sandy D.  Martin,  Professor        Name ____________________________

Department of Religion - UGA               Date _____________________________

Room #213, Peabody Hall - 542-5356    martin@uga.edu        

Office Hours:  Mon 10:00 - 10:50; Tue & Thursday 2:30-4:00;

                         Fri 2:00-3:30.

      Please call for an appt.:  706-542-5356   

Fall Semester 2009                                         

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

 

      This course examines the development and impact of religion in the history of the United States from colonial times to the present.  Of course the methodology is historical and its primary emphasis falls upon religious ideas, movements, and personalities across the boundaries of religious polities rather than concentrating upon a mere collection of ecclesiastical histories.  More specifically, the objectives of this course include:

 

       1)  enabling students to secure a more elastic and dynamic understanding

            of American religion;

       2)  pointing out the significant impact that religion has had upon other aspects

            of American culture     throughout the history of the U.S.;

       3)  presenting to students a number of influential, leading men and women

            in American religious history;

       4)  introducing to students major and innovative religious ideas and movements

            in American history;

       5)  enabling students to grasp a more complete understanding and appreciation of

            the multiplicity of religious traditions in U.S. history;

       6)  and, assisting students to identify and appreciate the theological, cultural,

            and demographic inclusiveness, diversity, and interconnections within

            American religion.

 

REQUIRED TEXTS / READINGS

 

            1)  Winthrop S. Hudson, John Corrigan Religion in America  (seventh or

                        latest edition).

            2)   R. Marie Griffith, American Religions:  A Documentary History

 

RECORDING OF CLASS SESSIONS

 

            Audio and/or visual recordings of class sessions are not permitted.

    

 

 

 

C.   COURSE REQUIREMENTS / GRADING / ATTENDANCE

 

I.  Two or Three Pre- Final  Examinations and the  

II.  Final Examination  will all count for ..................................90 %   

III.  DPG: Daily Participation Grade . . . ÉÉÉÉÉ.É..ÉÉ10 %

   (Attendance, classroom participation, written assignments, quizzes, etc.)

Grad students will have two prefinal exams, paper, final, dpg. The paper will count equally with the two exams to constitute 90% of grade.

The final exam is cumulative, that is, covering the entire course.

 

TOTAL POSSIBLE POINTS ...............................................100%

 

       The Professor will use the following grading scale:

 

90-100 –---- A        87-89   -------B+            77-79  ------  C+

89.1-89.99 - A-       80-86    ----- B               70-76  ------  C

                                79.1-79.99 - B-              69.1-69.99 - C-

 

67-69   -- ----D+

60-66  ------  D        Below 60 -- F

59.1-59.99 --D-                                              

 

       IMPORTANT NOTE:  Attendance and classroom participation are absolutely required.  There are 30 class days prior to the final examination.   Students are permitted up to four (4) unexcused absences without a grade point penalty.  Students who have five or more unexcused absences will lose percentage points from their DPG grade.    Each unexcused absence beyond FOUR class periods will mean the loss of five percentage points from the DPG AND 2 percentage points from the overall final semester grade average.   Any student not attending at least TWENTY  (20) class sessions out of the total 30 pre-final class sessions will be assigned an F, regardless of grades on exam and assigned work,  barring professor-approved exemptions for extraordinary circumstances.   An excused absence is recognized by the professor as an absence that is unavoidable for emergency or vitally pressing reasons.

 

       Absences by class sessions:

        

                            0 -- Excellent Attendance

                        1-2 --  Very Good Attendance

                        3-4 --  Good Attendance

                        5 or more -- Bad Attendance

                        10 or more -- Automatic Failure in the Course

 

       Also, the professor,  in addition to the grading formula outlined above,  may consider regular class attendance and classroom participation in assessing each studentÕs final grade.  Therefore, class attendance and classroom participation might prove to be a very crucial, determinative factor in cases where the average is borderline between two grades.

 

       NOTE:    Students are required to take all exams and do all assigned work. Students who miss an exam and/or assigned work for non-sufficiently valid reason(s) will be assigned "0" for that exam and/or work, which will be computed as part of the final grade.

 

       When an attendance sign-up sheet is not passed around, then the class roll will likely be taken 5 minutes after time for class is scheduled to begin.   Students arriving 6-10 minutes late will be marked extra late;  two extra  lates equal one absence.  A student not present within the first 10 minutes of each class session will be marked absent for that class session and is requested not to enter the class that day.

 

In more detail:

 

       Consistent with the instructor's own educational philosophy and the rules and regulations of the University of Georgia, attendance,  regular and prompt, and for the entire duration of the class sessions, is required.   Students who have unavoidable appointments or unavoidable obligations that require their absence during any portion of the class time should see the professor prior to or as soon after the date of the appointment/obligation as possible because under no circumstances whatsoever should students leave class before it is dismissed by the professor.  Students who cannot stay for the entire class period must miss that class period rather than leave during class time.  Failure to abide by this policy will result in being marked absent for the entire class session and removal from class if the professor believes such becomes necessary.   

       Of course students must attend class on the examination days.  Students are 100% responsible for all information missed because of absences.  Exam dates are subject to change with at least a one-week notice.  Students are responsible for keeping abreast of all exam schedules originally projected or revised.  

       This class will be largely lecture in nature.  The professor will attempt to provide time for class discussion and participation.  Class discussion and participation will be part of the 10% DPG grade and may also be utilized by the professor in determining final grades in borderline situations between two grades.  No portion of any class session may be recorded by audio and/or video.

       An excused absence is one for which a student has written proof (if at all attainable) that one's absence was necessitated by a valid cause, e.g., incapacitating illness, death in one's immediate or close family or of someone close to the student.  (Sleeping late and studying for exams, as examples, are not accepted as excused absences.)  Doctor and dental appointments, participation in extra-curricular UGA activities, and job interviews may or may not be excusable.  Consult  the instructor prior to the absence, if at all possible;  if such is not possible, then consult the instructor as soon as possible after the fact.  Attendance at weddings, baptisms, bar or bat mitzvahs, etc. are not normally excusable absences.  But, again, consult the instructor.

       Make up exams may be given when the regular exam missed occurred because of an excusable and generally unavoidable reason.  The make up exam, however, may differ in structure or format from the original.

 

       Honesty Policy:  All academic work must meet the standards contained in ÒA Culture of Honesty.Ó  All students are responsible to inform themselves about those standards before performing any academic work.  

 

      This Syllabus:  The course syllabus is a general plan for the course;  deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary.

 

       Office Hours:  Note the professor's office hours and use them as the need or inclination arises.  Remember, if you have questions or concerns, it is your responsibility to discuss these matters in a rational, courteous, and responsible manner with your instructor.  You are free to drop by during my office hours.  A better approach and the one I strongly recommend, however, would be to call 706-542-5356 and schedule an appointment.  This would increase the chances that there will be no appointment conflicts or unnecessary delays.

 

COURSE OUTLINE ---   RELI 4107/6107  --  FALL 2009

 

I.      Introduction:  the Course ---  AUGUST 18

 

II.     Background  --  AUGUST 20, 25

         (A)  Judaism / Christianity / Islam

         (B)  African Traditional Religions

         (C)  Amerindian (Native American) Religions

              

         Readings:  Hudson, Religion, Preface/Introduction;  Chapter 1.

               Griffith, "The Bull Sublimis Deus (1537), pp. 2-3

                          

         Sernett, African American Religious History, Selections #1, #2  (If you can locate                               them via internet)

                      

        Graduate Required / Undergrad Recommended -- Some Important Notes: 

 

          a)  Undergraduates – RELI 4107 students – must do all ÒReadings.Ó 

 

          b)  Graduate students (RELI 6107) must do all ÒReadingsÓ required of the undergraduates PLUS readings under the category Grad/Rec, i.e., required for graduate students and recommended for undergraduate students.

 

III.   From "Old" World to the "New," 1607-1730AUGUST 27, Sept. 1

 

Readings for All Students:

         (A)  Hudson, Religion, Chs. 1 and 2

         (B)  Griffith, John Winthrop, pp. 16-19; Samuel Sewall, pp. 27-37; Mary                                           Rowlandson, pp. 63-73

        

 

Readings for Grad / Undergrad Rec:

         (C)  Griffith, "The Examination of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson," pp. 37-63;  Penn,                                    "Letter to the Indians," pp. 73-75  

        

Remember:  *Graduate Students are required to do the regular and "recommended" readings.  Undergraduates are not required to do "recommended" readings.

 

IV.   Great Awakening and Its Aftermath, 1720-1760 -- SEPT. 3, 8, 10

 

Readings for All Students:

         (A)  Hudson, Religion, Ch. 3

         (B)  Jonathan Edwards, pp. 92-102; Charles Chauncy, pp. 102-109.

 

*Grad / Undergrad Rec:

         (C) Griffith, Charles Woodmason, pp. 109-115;  John Wesley, pp. 115-121.

 

V.     Religion in Revolutionary America, 1760-1800 -- SEPT. 15, 17

 

Readings for All Students:

         (A)  Hudson, Religion, Ch. 4

         (B)  Griffith, John Woolman, pp. 127-138;  Thomas Jefferson, pp. 150-152; James                                        Madison, pp. 152-157.

 

Grad / Undergrad Rec:

         (C) Griffith,  Phillis Wheatley, pp. 121-127;  David Brainerd, pp. 138-148; "The Petition of the Philadelphia Synagogue . . .", pp. 148-150.

 

Exam #1:  Tentatively Scheduled Sept. 22

 

VI.   The Churches, Second Awakening, and the Young Republic, 1800-1840 --

               SEPT.  22, 24,

 

Readings for All Students:

         (A)  Hudson, Religion, Chs. 5 and 6

         (B)  Griffith, Charles Grandison Finney, pp. 189-196; Bishop Innocent Veniaminov, pp. 196-197; Jarena Lee, pp. 197-213.

        

         Grad / Undergrad Rec:

         (C)   

 

VII. Rise of New Movements and Religious Groups, 1820-1860 -- SEPT. 29, OCT. 1

 

Readings for All Students:

         (A)  Hudson, Religion, Ch. 7 and 8

         (B)  Griffith, Joseph Smith, pp. 164-172; Ralph Waldo Emerson, pp. 172-183.

 

VIII.  Religion, Slavery Controversy, and Human Rights, 1783-1865 --  OCT. 6, 8,

 

Readings for All Students:

         (A)  Griffith, Frederick Douglass, pp. 213-220; Angelina Emily Grimke, pp. 220-235; Cahterine E. Beecher, pp. 235-239; George D. Armstrong, pp. 239-245.

        

         Grad / Undergrad Rec:

         (B)  Griffith, Alexis De Tocqueville, pp. 245-262; Philip Schaff, pp. 262-283.

          

IX.   Religion in Civil War/Post-Civil War America, 1860-1920:  Religion, New Citizens, and New Encounters -- OCT. 13, 15, 20

 

Readings for All Students:

         (A)  Hudson, Religion, Chs. 9 and 10     

         (B)  Griffith, W. E. B. DuBois, pp. 328-341; Black Elk, pp. 341-352; Mary Antin, pp. 352-365.

        

         Grad / Undergrad Rec:

         (C) Griffith, "Conflicts of Immigration and Immigrants,"  Josiah Strong, Alexis Toth, Mabel Potter Daggett, pp. 365-389

 

Exam #2: Scheduled Oct. 20

 

X.     Continuing Religious Diversity, 1865-1920 -- OCT. 22, 27, 29, 31

 

Readings for All Students:

         (A)  Hudson, Religion, Ch. 13

         (B)  Griffith, "Pittsburg Platform (1885), pp. 321-323; Swami Vivekananda, pp. 402-411.

 

 Readings for Grad / Undergrad Rec:

          (C)  Griffith, Ralph Waldo Trine, pp. 323-328.

 

XI.   Facing New Intellectual and Societal Challenges, 1865-1920 --NOV. 3, 5,

 

Readings for All Students:

         (A)  Hudson, Religion, Chs. 11 and 12

         (B)  Griffith, James Woodrow, pp. 284-301;  Walter Rauschenbusch, pp. 309-321;

 

Readings for Graduates / Undergrad Recommended:

         (C)  Griffith, Russell Herman Conwell, pp. 301-309; James Freeman Clarke, pp. 389-402; William James, pp. 411-417.

 

 

 

 

XII.  Decline of Protestant "Hegemony,"  1920-1950 -- NOV. 10, 12,

 

Readings for All Students:

         (A)  Hudson, Religion, Ch. 14

         (B)  Griffith, Harry Emerson Fosdick, pp. 418-424.

 

Readings for Grad / Undergrad Rec:

         (C) Griffith,  Will Herberg, pp. 517-535.

 

XIII. The Maturation of Roman Catholicism, 1865-1965 -- NOV.  17

 

Readings for All Students:

         (A)  Hudson, Religion, Ch. 15

         (B)  Griffith, Dorothy Day, pp. 462-486

 

 Readings for Grad / Undergrad Rec::

         (C) Griffith, Thomas Merton, pp. 447-462.

 

XIV. Religion in Recent American History, 1950-Present -- NOV. 19, Dec. 1

 

Readings for All Students:

         (A)  Hudson, Religion, Chs. 16 and 17, Epilogue

         (B)  Griffith, Martin Luther King, Jr., pp. 502-514; Mary Daly, pp. 536-547; Franklin Graham, pp. 602-605; "Letter to Franklin Graham . . .", pp. 605-606.

 

Readings for_Graduate / Undergraduate Recommended:

         (C)  Griffith, Abraham Joshua Heschel, pp. 434-447; Jack Kerouac, pp. 486-492; Stanley Hauerwas, pp. 550-561; U. S. Deprtment of Education, pp. 624-627.

 

Exam #3: Scheduled Nov. 19 or December 1

 

XV.  Conclusion /  Make-up Days -- NOV. 30, DEC. 3

 

READING DAY:  DECEMBER 9.  FINAL EXAMINATION - DECEMBER 11,  FROM 12 noon to 3:00 p. m.. – but double check to make sure of date and time.

 

Note:  The above schedule is an approximation and is, thus, subject to modification in terms ofcontent and time.

 

ADDITIONAL NOTE REGARDING COURSE OUTLINE

 

NOTE:  Keep this syllabus and consult it often.  If it is lost, please request another from the instructor.  Students are encouraged, expected and advised to ask questions during the quarter about this syllabus in particular or the course in general concerning points which they feel require greater clarity.  This Syllabus:  The course syllabus is a general plan for the course;  deviations announced to the class by the instructor may be necessary.

WHERE DO I STAND?

 

RELI 4107 / 6107

Fall Semester 2009

DR. S. D. MARTIN

martin@uga.edu

(706) 542-5356 - Peabody Hall, Rm. 213

 

 

 

NAME _____________________________________________

 

 

MAJOR EXAMS                                          

 

____________ #1, plus                                 

 

____________ #2, plus                                 

 

____________ #3, equals

 

____________  divided by 3 =  ____________ X  .90  =

 

 ____________, plus

 

____________ DPG points equals  _________________ *

 

 

*This is where you stand in the course going into the final.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

COMPUTING SEMESTER'S GRADE

 

Add all  three or four exams (two or three pre-finals and the final), divide by 4, multiply that number by .90,  and add the DPG points.  That is your semester's grade,  assuming acceptable attendance.  See the section(s) in this syllabus regarding how attendance and absences impact semester's grading.

 

Ex#1 ____ + Ex#2 ____+Ex#3 ______ + Final Ex _______  divided by 4 = _______ X .90

 

= _______ + DPG Points _______ = Semester's Grade _____________

 

.........................................................................................................  

 

FALL SEMESTER 2009:

Some Important Dates -- Some Tentative / Others Definite

 

August  18 -- First Session of  (American Religious History) ARH

August  17-20 -- Drop for Undergraduates

August 17-21 -- Add for Undergraduates

August 17-24 -- Drop/Add for Graduates

Sept. 7 -- Labor Day Holiday

Sept. 14 - 18 -- Graduate Students Confer w/Prof re Paper

Sept. 22 -- Exam #1 in ARH -- Tentative

Sept. 29 -- Graduate Students Submit Proposal for Paper

October 8 -- Midpoint

Oct. 20 -- Exam #2 in ARH -- Tentative

October 22 -- Midpoint Withdrawal Deadline

Oct. 30 -- Fall Break

Nov. 17 -- Graduate Students Paper Due

Nov. 19 -- Exam #3 in ARH -- Tentative  Or Dec. 1

Nov. 23-27 -- Thanksgiving Break

Nov. 30 -- Classes Resume

Dec. 1 -- Exam #3 in ARH -- Tentative Or Nov. 19

Dec. 3 -- Last Day of Classes for ARH

Dec. 8 -- Friday Class Schedule in Effect

Dec. 8 -- Classes End

Dec. 9 -- Reading Day

Dec. 10, 11, 14, 15, 16 -- Final Exams

Dec. 11 -- Final Exam for ARH (12 noon - 3 p.m.)

Dec. 18 -- Commencement

Dec. 18 -- Grades Due