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Academic Year 2000/2001

Religion in America
RELI 218 FA
Crosslistings:
AMST 222
Clusters:
Christian Studies

This course is intended as an introduction to religion in the United States, with an emphasis on the diverse cultural influences that have informed spiritual and religious life for Americans. The course materials are aimed at acquainting you with some of the major themes in American religion, taking into account the perspectives of actors who have been traditionally underrepresented in U.S. society. We will study religion and the colonial project, slave religion, revivalism and the Great Awakening, Mormons and Millerites, Afro-Christianity, Fundamentalism, and selected U.S. Catholicisms and Judaisms, as well as new immigrant religions (Santeria/Lukumi, Rastafari). We will be interested in asking why the U.S. has generated new religious traditions an d what the effect of this dynamic has had on American life.

MAJOR READINGS

Catherine L. Albanese, AMERICA: RELIGIONS AND RELIGION Ann Bruade, RADICAL SPIRITS Nancy Ammerman, BIBLE BELIEVERS Robert Orsi, MADONNA OF 115TH STREET Jill Watts, GOD, HARLEM, USA Karen McCarthy Brown. MAMA LOLA: A VODOU PRIESTESS IN BROOKLYN Sherry Reynolds, THE RAPTURE OF CANAAN

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Weekly response papers, attendance, three critical essays.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS RELI    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-26-2001

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