Sociology 3595: Special Topics--Sociology of Religion Week One
I. Syllabus and introduction
A. Who am I and who are you?
1. My religious trajectory: "My life flows on..."
2. Small groups: How have you experienced or not experienced religion? What changes have you been through in your life so far? What brings you to this course and what are your hopes about it?
B. Important for you to know that:
1. This is my second time teaching this course, which is hopefully a good thing for you. One change is that we have two texts instead of four.
2. We'll look briefly at all of the major religious traditions, but a lot of our examples and discussion will be drawn from , the world's two largest religions, Christianity and Islam, and with Judaism as a background to both. But that isn't set in stone so speak up (in class or privately) to argue for more time on xxxxxxxxxxx. Last year, for example, someone successfully advocated for adding the Lake Superior Freethinkers to the list of religious organizations class members could choose for their fieldwork.
3. I am prepared to be respectful of all approaches to religion and will expect the same from you as you interact with each other and with me
4. How will the course affect your "faith?"
D. Resources
1. Texts, including online materials, such as: NT Times, Generation Faithful
2. Videos
3. Field Research
4. Our mutual experience and understanding
E. The Rewards and Perils of Field Research: An Example. Sullivan and Ellifson: "In the Field With Snake Handlers"
1. Studying the "Free Holiness," a Pentecostal Christian church in Georgia
a. Honesty about their research interest
b. "They often asked us about our own religious beliefs and our answers were not always well received."
c. "Conservative" dress and language
2.. Through long term participation, began to take on some of the perspective of those they were observing... "We were caught up in the congregation's thrill if a member who had been praying and fasting to "get to take one up" (a poisonous snake) was annointed."
3. Started with a "somewhat snobbish attitude toward fundamental Christian groups" and developed "a genuine respect for the members, their beliefs, the style of service and the religion."
4. Members cared about them: several members fasted for four days praying for Peggy Ellefson's child, who was undergoing heart surgeries
5. Separating from the church: "We were unprepared for how hard it was to say goodbye."
Your involvement not nearly as in-depth as this(presumably), but you do need to be aware of the relationships that might develop.
II. Christiano et. al: chapter one
"Religion is itself only in practice." (Vogel)
A. Key definitions
1. Sociology of religion: "that branch of sociology concerned with how people put their beliefs about the sacred into action as they relate to other people"
2. Definitions of religion
a. Durkheim: "A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden--beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church all those who adhere to them."
What if a community is united by its dedication to high school football (parts of Texas) or hockey (parts of northern Minnesota)? What if it's the teachings of Marx and Lenin? Can those be called religions?
The authors of the text I used last year rejected this definition?
Problems with "beliefs" as a necessary aspect
Conflictual perhaps as often as unifying
b. They argued for an even broader definition: Religion is what the participants says it is("all religions are true"), and it involves three aspects
1) Action orientations: ways people think they ought to act, including both ritual and moral actions
2) Systems of discourse: religious talk and symbols. "Understanding ...the special vocabulary of each religious group is probably the most important bridge between observer and participant...
3) Subjective experience...W.I. Thomas: "What men define as real is real in its consequences."
c. In Religion Matters, the authors argue for a definition that defines religion in terms of three functions (explain functions and functionalism):
1) Religion provides comfort and quells dissatisfaction (they acknowledge that it also challenges social arrangements and inspires change)
2) Religion strengthens human community
3) Religion assures its followers that there is a larger cosmic order
d. Max Weber argued that it wasn't ultimately possible or helpful to try to provide a general definition of relgion , but he argued that religions always involve two dynamics:
a. "a patterning of social relationships around perceived supermundane power"
b. "ethical considerations"
e. And one more try, borrowed from Don Swenson: "Religion, approached sociologically, can be considered 'the individual and social experience of the sacred that is manifested in mythologies, rituals, and ethos, and integrated into a collective such as a community or organization."
SO WHAT'S THE ANSWER?
3. Ethical considerations
1) soteriology: being in right relationship with supernatural powers
2) theodicy: how to explain evil
4. AUTHORS OF YOUR TEXT SUGGEST THAT THERE IS A SOCIOLOGICAL CONSENSUS: RELIGION IS A HUMAN PRODUCT (does this eliminate GOD?)