DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

Part V: Religion & Society

Day 14, Wednesday, March 1: Religion and Religious Communities

Reading: James C. Livingston, “Society and the Sacred: The Social Formations and Transformations of Religion,” Anatomy of the Sacred, Chapter 7, pp. 124-147.

Day 15, Monday, March 6: A History of Religions Approach to Religious Communities

• *Reading: Jonathan Z. Smith, “The Devil in Mr. Jones,” Imagining Religion, 102-120.
• See also: Boyce Rensberger, "Jonestown has many precedents," and Robert Lindsey, “Jim Jones—From Poverty to Power of Life and Death” (both articles are in the New York times Archives, November 26, 1978, p. 202 [for the Rensberger article] and pp. 1, 20 [for the Lindsey article], available here.) (If you have not registered for a free New York Times pass, please do so before class today. You can access the get pass site here.)

 

Jonathan Z. Smith (1939? -) & The Reverend Jim Jones (1931-1978)		Cyanide-laced Kool Aid and victims
Jonathan Z. Smith's important reminder!		Devoted member of The Peoples Temple

 

Day 16, Wednesday, March 8:

SITE-VISIT PROGRESS REPORT # 2: APPLYING WHITEHEAD'S TYPOLOGY OF PURPOSES TO YOUR SECOND SITE.

Day 17, Monday, March 20: A Social-scientific Approach to Religious Communities

• **Reading: Emile Durkheim, excerpts from The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, in Lessa and Vogt, Reader in Comparative Religion: An Anthropological Approach, pp. 56-65. [EITHER THIS READING OR THE READING FROM R. OTTO IN THE THIRD PART OF THE COURSE IS A REQUIRED RESPONSE]
• *Reading: Alexander Goldenweiser, "Religion and Society: A Critique of Emile Durkheim's Theory of the Origin and Nature of Religion," in Lessa and Vogt, Reader in Comparative Religion: An Anthropological Approach, pp. 65-72..

Day 18, Wednesday, March 22: A conversation with Dr. Angela Tarango [tbc]: An Ethno-historical Approach to Religious Communities:

• * Reading: Robert Orsi, “Snakes Alive: Religious Studies between Heaven and Earth,” Between Heaven and Earth: The Religious Worlds People Make and the Scholars Who Study Them, pp. 177-204. (A Counterpoint to Jonathan Z. Smith)
• * Reading: Stephen Prothero, "Belief Unbracketed: A Case for the Religion Scholar to Reveal More of Where he or She Is Coming From," Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Winter/Spring 2004, pp. 10-11.
• * Reading: Angela Tarango, "Jesus as the Great Physician," in Candy Gunther Brown, ed., in Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Healing, pp. 107-123.

NOTE: THE THIRD SITE VISIT PROGRESS REPORT IS COMING UP ON MONDAY, APRIL3.

Day 19, Monday, March 27: An Anthropological Approach to Religious Communities

• **Reading: Clifford Geertz, “Religion as a Cultural System,” pp. 87-125. [EITHER THIS READING OR THE NEXT, BY P. BERGER, IS A REQUIRED RESPONSE]
  

Day 20, Wednesday, March 29: A Sociological Approach to Religious Communities

• **Reading: Peter Berger, “Religion and World-Construction,” The Sacred Canopy. Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion, Chapter 1, pp. 3-28. [EITHER THIS READING OR THE PREVIOUS, BYC. GEERTZ, IS A REQUIRED RESPONSE]
• Video of Peter Berger on himself as an accidental sociologist.
• Video of Dr. Dennis Hiebert on the Social construction of Reality

Day 21, Monday, April 3: SITE-VISIT PROGRESS REPORT # 3: APPLYING WHITEHEAD'S ANALYSIS OF CULTURAL AND EXPRESSIVE HUMAN NEEDS TO YOUR THIRD SITE.

Day 22, Wednesday, April 5: A conversation with Dr. Chad Spigel: An Archaeological Approach to Religious Communities:

• Reading: Chad Spigel, "Reconsidering the question of separate seating in ancient synagogues," in Journal of Jewish Studies, vol. LXIII (no. 1), Spring 2012, pp. 62-83.

TODAY AT 10:00 P.M. IS ALSO THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTING ON T-LEARN YOUR CHOICE OF THE TWO COMMUNITIES YOU WISH TO STUDY IN DEPTH. THE SUBMISSION SHOULD INCLUDE A BRIEF EXPLANATION (NO MORE THAN 100 WORDS) OF YOUR CHOICES.

To go to the next section of the course, click here. To go back to the previous section, click here.