A course blog for RELS-328 with Rein
I teach religious studies at a small college in Pennsylvania. I have two little kids, a wife, and three cats. I take a lot of pictures with my phone and I spend a lot of time online. I hope you are having a beautiful day. My main website is http://nathanrein.com.
Reading for Tuesday's class
Dear RELS-328 students -- for Tuesday, try to get through p. 79 (including the Preface, pp. xiii-xx) of Diana Eck's A New Relgious America. We will be talking about her ideas for understanding how religious difference can function in society and how that fits with what we've seen so far. Be ready to discuss the ideas of "exclusivism," "inclusivism," and "pluralism." I'm especially interested in knowing whether you think there are problems with this framework (personally, I think there are a few, but I don't want to tell you what I think they are until you've had a chance to mull it over a bit for yourself). I know this is a big chunk of reading, and I'm sorry for dumping it on you, but I think you'll find her writing goes pretty quickly.
Also: we have confirmation now for our next field trip, which is going to be on Nov. 15. We'll meet at 9 a.m. I'll see if I can get a College van for the trip, which can carry either eight or twelve people, but we'll still need at least one or two other drivers. The place we're going is the Bharatiya Temple in Montgomeryville. Their website is at http://b-temple.org . Their November calendar, to give you a sense of what goes on there, is here: http://b-temple.org/PDF/Nov2009.pdf . And through the magic of Google Maps, you can see where it is here: http://j.mp/1UhZIu .
Nathan
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Always and forever, Daddy's little girl
"She may be dressed like a queen, a vision walking down the aisle, yet
to dad she'll always be his sweet little princess. Bisque porcelain.
Item#: 830025 $55.00." From http://j.mp/4HpOq
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The American "melting pot," as envisioned ca. 1916
play, "The Melting Pot: The Great American Drama" (1916, first performance
1908). From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Melting_Pot ).
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Reading for tomorrow: Gleason's Melting Pot
(download)
Dear students: Here's the next reading I'd like you to do before we begin with Eck's A
New Religious America. Thank you. Sorry I couldn't print this out for
you; our printer on the second floor is acting up. Some of you may
already have copies -- make sure you have all 27 pages. It should be
pretty easy going. If you're looking at this on the course blog, you can
always download the original to your own computer by clicking the small
"(download)" link at the bottom left of the document. IF you're reading
this in an email, the document is attached. Nathan
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Rides to the synagogue tomorrow morning
Dear students --
I haven't yet heard back from everyone about who needs a ride to the synagogue tomorrow, and soon I'll be going to bed, so I put up a page at http://rels328fa09.pbworks.com where anyone who needs a ride, or can provide a ride, can list their names. It's the same wiki we've used before. If you can't or don't want to use it, you can still email me your information. To repeat my earlier email, if you can make it, please dress nicely, and meet me at 9am tomorrow (Saturday, 9/24) in the parking lot by BPS. A little more information is at http://j.mp/rels328blog . Shalom,Nathan
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Hello everybody. Sorry for missing class yesterday. Unless I suddenly start feeling much worse, though, we're still on for our synagogue trip tomorrow. Be prepared to suffer through some annoying coughing. Let's meet at 9 a.m. in the parking lot, same place we did last time (between BPS and the physical plant, as if you were walking towards the mailroom). Dress is somewhat formal -- I recommend wearing a tie (for men), though I'm sure we'll see people there without ties. Buttoned-down shirts with collars, definitely, and no jeans. Be well rested. It might go on a while. As with last time, I can drive three people comfortably, or four if you don't mind getting a little friendly in the back seat, plus me. Could you please respond to this email and answer the following questions: (1) Are you coming? (2) Do you need a ride? (3) If you don't, how many people can you take? and (3) Anything else I should know (like, you're coming from off-campus and meeting us there)? Here are directions: http://j.mp/2cZu1V See you tomorrow, I hope! Once I hear back how many people need rides and so forth, I will send out another email with arrangements. Nathan
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Gwynedd Friends Meeting, tomorrow 9 a.m.
For everyone going to We'll meet at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning (Sunday, 10/11)
in the parking lot between BPS and the physical plant for our trip to
Gwynedd Friends Meeting. Karen, would it be possible for you to meet us
there as well? I think Paul may need a ride. Dress is what I think they call
"dressy casual." The address of the place is 1101 Dekalb Pike in North
Wales. There's a link to a map page at the bottom of this email if you want
to see where that is. See you in the morning.
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Religious Diversity assignment for Thursday
Hello. No new reading for Thursday, but please think ahead to our planned visit to Gwynedd Friends Meeting on Sunday, Oct. 11. I made one mistake in describing it in class: the meeting is at 9:30 a.m., not 10:30. I know this is a terrible hardship for some of you, but if you can make it, I think you'll find it pretty rewarding. On Thursday, I will want to get a firm headcount. I also want us to begin working up a draft "protocol" for the visit. In other words, come up with a list of questions, things to look for, ideas to bear in mind while we're there. The class wiki is a perfect medium for doing this. Visit http://rels328fa09.pbwiki.com , follow the link, and post your thoughts. This is supposed to be a collaborative process, with the goal of a single document for the whole class, so you should feel free to add to, change, edit, or comment on what your classmates have done. Be brave -- all changes are saved, so if you delete something by accident, it can be recovered. Post something to your blog about your thought process in developing this protocol. Please actually do this assignment.
That crazy webpage from the Department of Veterans Affairs (there really is no apostrophe in that) is here: http://www.cem.va.gov/hm/hmemb.asp . The video I showed you today about learning "Christianese" is linked below. NathanComments [0]
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