Click here to download:

Robert N. Bellah, _Biblical Religion and Civil Religion in America,_ Daedalus 96_1 (Winter 1967), pp. 1-21.pdf (173 KB)

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Click here to download:

Robert N. Bellah, _Biblical Religion and Civil Religion in America,_ Daedalus 96_1 (Winter 1967), pp. 1-21.pdf (173 KB)

Greetings, esteemed students.

Thanks for your participation in today's discussion. I want to point you towards Ryan's blog. His most recent post takes me to task for overstating my case with regard to Ali and the problems of emic viewpoints. Find it here: http://j.mp/MntO8

I have to think a little more about the issues he raises, but I'll respond in the next few days, God willing. Overall though I think he states the problem I was trying to get at somewhat more clearly than I did.

I don't mean to single out Ryan's post alone -- a bunch of other recent ones are interesting, too. Remember, to browse through all the class blogs, visit this link: http://myjugaad.in/browse/custom/291

Next, here's the thing I want you to read for our next meeting, whenever that should happen to be. It's Bellah's classic 1967 article on civil religion. Compare Bellah's approach to Wallendorf and Arnould's.

While we're at it, here's a list of ALL the class blogs, just for reference, so you can see who's posted what up to now.

http://padiversity.posterous.com (Chris)

http://reldivsepa.blogspot.com (Karen)

http://zoundsreligion.blogspot.com (Ryan)

http://evancox.posterous.com (Evan)

http://buddaniel.posterous.com (Bud)

http://mcgrathrels328.posterous.com (Molly)

http://rels328-mellinger.blogspot.com (Jon)

http://moccio.posterous.com (Tom)

http://deeprootrs.posterous.com (Nate)

http://paulrossman.posterous.com (Paul)

http://brinton-miele.posterous.com (Marshall)

http://pakent.posterous.com (Pat)

http://mhenry.posterous.com (Michelle)

Take care --

Nathan

Click here to download:

RELS-328 reading packet for week 4 (McCutcheon, Pike, Miner, Ali, Lame Deer, Boyer, Wallendorf).pdf (30.16 MB)

(download)

Click here to download:

RELS-328 reading packet for week 4 (McCutcheon, Pike, Miner, Ali, Lame Deer, Boyer, Wallendorf).pdf (30.16 MB)

Hello. Here is the next packet of readings. It's fairly large (about sixty pages). It's a PDF file. It probably won't display quite right on the blog (some of the pages are supposed to be landscape format), but if you need to download and print the original, you can use this link: http://j.mp/122cov

Keep in mind that if you download the PDF file and open it on your computer, you may have to rotate the pages so they're not sideways. You can do that by right-clicking anywhere in the document and then selecting "Rotate clockwise." Do this as many times as you need to in order to get the text right-side-up.

Do your best to get through the whole thing. For the final twenty-page article, though, all you really need to do is skim -- you'll get the idea pretty quickly. The packet is long, but most of it is not particularly difficult. The common theme here is, more or less, "insider vs. outsider in the description and analysis of religion." There are seven separate short pieces included. Some are analytic, some are autobiographical, and some are more theoretical.

Nathan

Click here to download:

RELS-328 reading for Tuesday, Sept. 15 (Proudfoot) -- CORRECTED.pdf (1.41 MB)

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Click here to download:

RELS-328 reading for Tuesday, Sept. 15 (Proudfoot) -- CORRECTED.pdf (1.41 MB)

Hello.

A couple of important announcements: first, we've got a change of plans for tomorrow. We'll be having a guest. Ismar Schorsch, the visiting Davis Professor of Judeo-Christian Values (I think that's the correct title) will be visiting our class, and I'd like you to prepare discussion questions for him and post them online.

In order to help you prepare those questions, I'd like you read two short pieces online and then watch a 30-minute video of a conversation between Schorsch and three other Jewish thinkers about the problem of Jewish assimilation in American life. Throughout his career, Schorsch has devoted a great deal of thought to the question of how American Jews should live -- specificall as Jews -- in a multireligious, culturally pluralistic America. His ideas are complicated, so the links I'm giving you will provide just a taste. But think about it this way: Schorsch has spent much of his life asking the question, "What does it mean to be Jewish in America today?" This is relevant to our classwork because being Jewish in modern America involves a constant confrontation with the "non-Jewishness," you might say, of most of the rest of society. What sets Jews apart? How much SHOULD Jews feel set apart? What happens to Jewish life when Jews begin to question traditional religious beliefs, which supposedly form basis of their identity? What about intermarriage -- when Jews marry non-Jews? Should Jewish leaders discourage it? Et cetera.

Please post your questions to the class wiki (http://rels328fa09.pbworks.com). If you try and can't do it, email your questions to me and I'll post them.

I still want you to do the other stuff that I asked you for in my last email, but we probably won't get to it until Thursday.

Two other announcements:

First, no field trip Friday. I was unable to arrange for childcare. I guess my schedule may be the limiting factor in some of this planning. I apologize.

Second: it was pointed out to me that there's a page missing from the Proudfoot assignment I posted and sent out. I'm attaching a corrected version now.

Here are the relevant links for Schorch's work:

A short biographical introduction, from the Jewish Theological Seminary where he was formerly Chancellor:

http://www.jtsa.edu/x1356.xml?ID_NUM=100516

A discussion of his views on pluralism from the New York Times (1998)

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/25/nyregion/public-lives-in-storm-over-pluralism-a-hopeful-rabbi.html

A very lively group interview from the Charlie Rose show, taped in 1997:

The segment on modern Judaism begins at 23 minutes, 4 seconds into the video and lasts a little under 30 minutes.

Thanks. See you tomorrow --

Nathan

Click here to download:

RELS-328 reading for Tuesday, Sept. 15 (Proudfoot).pdf (2.62 MB)

(download)

Click here to download:

RELS-328 reading for Tuesday, Sept. 15 (Proudfoot).pdf (2.62 MB)

Hello. Sorry it's taken me so long to prepare this assignment. It has three parts.

First, read the short piece by Wayne Proudfoot that's attached to this email (or posted on the blog). The part I want you to read starts on the bottom right of the first page and runs about five pages total.

Second, complete the group reading assessment. This is a wiki assignment. More information below.

And third, it's show-and-tell time. You remember our discussion about the "walking tour" I was planning. I want you to identify one location within walking distance of the classroom -- a place that we could visit as a group -- that you would describe as having religious or spiritual significance, broadly defined, or some other kind of related "specialness" as per our discussion in class today. Be ready to discuss your choice. But that's not all. I also want you to identify one object -- ideally something you can bring to class with you, but if not, then try to get a photo or a detailed description -- that has a similar kind of significance. And finally I also want you to be able to tell one story with a similar kind of significance. It can be a memory, a family story, a TV show, something from the news, or whatever you want. But it has to be a story you can tell. You should describe all three things -- the place, the object, and the story -- in a blog post.

The reading assessment assignment is actually pretty straightforward. You will visit the class wiki -- something you haven't used yet -- at http://rels328fa09.pbworks.com and click the link to complete the assignment. Everyone's been assigned to two different groups; each group will look at one reading assignment. Each group will try to work out an assessment of that particular assignment, in the form of a critical summary and some reflections on how the ideas in the reading might be useful in defining, observing, interpreting, and/or understanding religious phenomena. This is to be open-ended. But by asking you to do it online in groups, I'm hoping to generate a little bit of out-of-class discussion of some of the readings we haven't touched on yet. You will get an email with a link that you can use to sign up for a PBWorks.com account. The subject should say, "nathan.rein@gmail.com has invited you to join their workspace." I apologize for making you jump through another internet hoop, but I think it's the best and simplest way to accomplish this. If you don't see the email, check your spam or junk mail folder. Once you've gotten the email, all you have to do is click the "Log in" link and make up a password (write it down). Once you've gotten to that point, you should be OK just following the on-screen instructions. But if you run into trouble (including not getting the invite email within ten minutes after getting this one), let me know.

That's it. Have a good weekend. I don't think I've forgotten anything, but if I do, I'll let you know.

Nathan

PS Don't forget, you can text the word RELS328 to 41411 to find out what's currently assigned.

I've put a short packet of readings in a large, brown paper envelope tacked to the bulletin board outside my office door (Olin 211). Please pick it up and read it. I will also be posting a scanned version to the course blog shortly.

Also, you have another "reading" assignment. I want you to listen to a fifty-minute-long radio interview with a specialist on religion and media. To listen, you can do one of three things. You can visit the course blog (http://rels328fa09.posterous.com) and look for the audio player on the page and listen that way. You can go to this link

http://bit.ly/fwabw

and download the MP3 of the interview and play it on your computer or on an MP3 player. Or you can go to the website of the radio program itself, "Speaking of Faith," and click the link that says "Listen now." That link is here:

http://bit.ly/O2KWX

Enjoy. Don't forget to post at least one, preferably two, substantive blog entries between now and Tuesday. See you then. -- Nathan

This is about as simple as you can get. Here's how you set up your blog: send an email to post@posterous.com. Put anything in the email that you want, but give it a subject and a body. That's it! Poof! It's been posted.

You'll get an email back with a link to your new post. Click the link.

To the right of the page, you'll see a button with the text "Claim this Posterous."

Click this. You'll see a screen like this:

Fill out the fields. You can put in anything under "Choose a name." Use your real email address. If for some reason you'd rather use some email address other than your Ursinus address, make sure it's one you check regularly. And write down your password.

Once you're done, send me (Nathan) an email with a link to your new blog and with the email address you used to sign up.

From now on, you can always post to your blog by sending an email to post@posterous.com. The subject of your email will become the title of the new post. If you include a link to an image somewhere online, it will appear as a picture. For example, if you include this...

... you will get this:

This also works for, say, YouTube videos, so if you include this:

... you'll get this:

You get the idea.

If for some reason you'd rather not use Posterous, you can always use Blogger. Here is a slideshow that gives pretty detailed instructions for how to do it. To blow up the slideshow to full size, click the symbol at the bottom that looks like this:

Blogger.com will give you a little more control over what you're doing, but it'll also be a little more complicated to manage.

Got all that? Have your blog up and running? Okay. Now post something substantive. I want you to write a substantive (i.e., not too short) description of an encounter with a person or practice that you'd classify as an example of religious difference. Think back to our class discussion -- it doesn't have to be strictly reliigous in the formal sense. That's it. Write it up and send it to Posterous. Then email me and tell me it's done.