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Here's the final video. Hope you all enjoyed making it as much as I
enjoyed watching it. Nathan

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http://www.scribd.com/doc/23639204/PatheosVideoPoster

The contest rules are here:
http://www.patheos.com/contest/information/

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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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"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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Theater program cover illustration for performance of Israel Zangwill's
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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P. Gleason, _The Melting Pot_ Symbol of Fusion or Confusion_,_ The American Quarterly 16_1 (Spring 1964), 20-46.pdf Download this file

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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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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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.

Nathan

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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.

Nathan

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Lacey Flyer 2 bvs.docx Download this file

Robert Lacey, the author of Inside the Kingdom, a widely-respected account of modern-day Saudi Arabia, will be lecturing at Lenfest Theater on the Ursinus campus, Thursday, Oct. 15, at 4:30pm.

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

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

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

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

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RELS-328 reading for Tuesday, Sept. 15 (Proudfoot) -- CORRECTED.pdf Download this file

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

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RELS-328 reading for Tuesday, Sept. 15 (Proudfoot).pdf Download this file

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.

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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

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