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Academic Year 2004/2005


Topics in United States Intellectual History
HIST 235 SP

This course may be repeated for credit.

This lecture/discussion course offers a sustained analysis of a selected topic central to an intellectual history of the United States. The subject for Spring 2005 is the role that religion has played in the intellectual life of the nation. We will examine both the work of American theologians, from the Puritans to the present, and the ways that other American intellectuals have thought about religion and its function as a language of authority in both state and society. We will explore the ramifications of conceptions of the United States as a Protestant and millennial nation, the challenges to that conception posed by the growing diversity of religions in the country, and the emergence of a commitment to religious pluralism. From participation in a transatlantic evangelical culture to the rise of the Social Gospel and theological modernism through the fundamentalist response to liberal religion and Darwinism, the course charts the influence of Protestant Christianity in American culture and evaluates claims about the development of a distinctively American religious style. The replacement of overt anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitism with the notion of a Judeo-Christian heritage that celebrated the incorporation of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish traditions into American civil religion figures as the central dynamic of the twentieth century. The course concludes with a consideration of the culture's surprising resistance to the secularist tendencies of most other western powers and the continuing centrality of religion(s) in the national culture.

MAJOR READINGS

Jon Butler, AWASH IN A SEA OF FAITH
Diana Eck, A NEW RELIGIOUS AMERICA
Christine Heyerman, THE SOUTHERN CROSS
William James, THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
Thomas Jenkins, THE CHARACTER OF GOD
David Kaufman, SHUL WITH A POOL
Edward Larson, SUMMER FOR THE GODS
Mark Massa, ANTI-CATHOLICISM IN AMERICA

Selections from a variety of American theologians.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Two short papers, mid-term exam, and final paper. Participation in class discussion.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course may be repeated for credit a second time so long as the selected topic for the semester is different each time.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

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

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Hill,Patricia R.   
Times: ..T.R.. 10:30AM-11:50AM;     Location: PAC421;
Reserved Seats:    (Total Limit: 30)
SR. major: 5   Jr. major: 10
SR. non-major: 5   Jr. non-major: 5   SO: 5   FR: 0

Special Attributes:
Curricular Renewal:    Ethical Reasoning
Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-21-2005


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