RT1111: Introduction to the Study of Religion 1

School Religion
Department Code SHARE
Module Code RT1111
External Subject Code 100339
Number of Credits 20
Level L4
Language of Delivery English
Module Leader null null null
Semester Autumn Semester
Academic Year 2014/5

Outline Description of Module

Introduction to the Study of Religion 1 is a user-friendly introduction to both the study of religion and the rigours of undergraduate research in the Humanities. Through a series of case studies this module explores both the history and contemporary relevance of key debates concerning religious and cultural products and processes, and suggesting ways in which scholars of religion use concepts such as ritual, gender, and place, to illuminate these debates.  Students will have the opportunity to consider a range of objects and actions relevant to the study of religion, including poetry, art and drama and will thereby be encouraged to contextualize their understanding of religious traditions with insights into ways in which those traditions are continuously shaped, contested, and re-formed in the course of both social action and scholarly analysis. The module sets out to train students in all the basic skills required of a university undergraduate in the Humanities. In this way, the module offers a double foundation. It takes up both the ‘how to’ aspect of the study of religion and the ‘how to’ of getting the most out of University-level study in the Humanities.  

On completion of the module a student should be able to

Investigating:

  • Identify and gather relevant primary and secondary source materials using appropriate information technologies.
  • Manage engagement with primary and secondary source materials by means of the production of annotated bibliographies, reviews, and critical and question-relevant notes on primary source materials.
  • Recognise the argument structure of secondary source works and to consider (a) their logic of argument and (b) their use of evidence
  • Engage critically with a small selection of primary source materials and be able to (a) historically contextualise them (b) explore the logic of their composition.
Knowing:
  • Identify and explain the relevance of themes introduced in lectures and other course material.
  • Use accurately technical terminology for the study of religion.
  • Be able to contextualise technical terminology for the study of religion (i.e. know to which individual or school of thought a particular term belongs).
Arguing:
  • Answer questions on the basis of research (formulate a demonstrable hypothesis).
  • |Break down a proposed answer into logical and manageable parts (formulate subordinate hypotheses that adequately support main hypothesis).
  • Substantiate with evidence an argument/hypothesis (by means of the sequential substantiation of subordinate hypotheses).
  • Communicate effectively, orally and in writing, academic argument.
Developing:
  • Show an awareness of the value of the Humanities and/or Social Sciences to wider society.

How the module will be delivered

The module will be delivered in one-week blocks during the Autumn Semester. Each block will consist of three contact hours and will take up a discrete topic in the Study of Religion. The three contact hours will typically be made up of 2 lectures and 1 small group seminar.

Skills that will be practised and developed

Investigating:

  • Distinguish between the designations ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ as contextually derived categories.
  • Negotiate and establish an order of priority and an order of extent of engagement with materials gathered for research.
  • Consider critically the  logic of argument in secondary source materials.
  • Isolate topic- and question-relevant evidence in primary source materials.

Knowing:

  • Consider critically the use and value of such terminology.
  • Contextualise research and argument in terms of aspects of the intellectual history of the study of religion and the development of the     Humanities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  • Address the critical issues involved in assessing the value of translated textual sources for the study of religion.

Arguing

  • Formulate grammatically correct sentences.
  • Formulate stylistically appropriate sentences.
  • Reference such that the use of secondary and primary source materials can be audited by examiners.
  • Show an awareness of the appropriate forms of use of materials that are the intellectual property of others (both in the legal and the more general sense of ‘ownership’).
  • Use appropriate information technologies in the written and oral presentation of research findings.
  • Formulate an effective introduction:

§  present the reader/hearer with an overview of the logical structure of an argument (hypothesis).

§  present the reader/hearer with an overview of the evidence upon which an argument will be substantiated.

§  present the reader/hearer with a break-down of the order of substantiation of main points (subordinate hypotheses) of argument.

  • formulate an effective conclusion:

§  present reader/hearer with a closing synopsis of an argument.

§  present reader/hearer with suggestions as to the further development of an argument in subsequent research.

§  present reader/hearer with an overview of the significance of the argument: for the topic; for the discipline; and for the wider society.

Developing

  • Reflect upon and adjust practice:

§  apply lecture, seminar and tutorial experience to the research and assessment process.

§  integrate feedback on Formative and Summative assessment into research practice such that the student will be able to demonstrate an  improve their performance over time.

§  articulate the value of university training to wider life.

How the module will be assessed

20% coursework (participation and group project), 80% seen examination

Assessment Breakdown

Type % Title Duration(hrs)
Written Assessment 20 Introduction To The Study Of Religion 1 N/A
Exam - Autumn Semester 80 Introduction To The Study Of Religion 1 2

Syllabus content

Discursive Content (by week)

Introduction to the Study of Religion 1 (Religion, Performance, and the Arts):
Wk. 1: Introduction to the Module x2 + 1 Seminar
Wk. 2: Identity and Place i  x2 + 1 Seminar
Wk. 3: Identity and Place ii  x2 + 1 Seminar
Wk. 4: Religious Speech and Blasphemy x2 + 1 Seminar
Wk. 5: Reading Week (or Wk. 6, TBC)
Wk. 6: Ritual x2 + 1 Seminar
Wk. 7: Drama and Anthropology x2 + 1 Seminar
Wk. 8: Drama and Religion x2 +1 Seminar
Wk. 9: Religion and Film x2 + 1 Seminar
Wk. 10: Religion, Poetry, and Music x2 +1 Seminar
Wk. 11: History of the Discipline of Religious Studies x 1
            Concluding Session (Exam Revision) x 1 + 1 Seminar

Essential Reading and Resource List

Please see Background Reading List for an indicative list.

Background Reading and Resource List

Indicative Reading and Resource List:

Bell, Catherine, (1997) Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions (Oxford)

Boyer, P., (2002) Religion Explained: The Human Instincts that Fashion Gods, Spirits and Ancestors (London)

Davis, B. (1993) Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion.

Hinnels, J. ed., (2009), The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion (London)

Kippenberg H. G., (2002), Discovering Religious History in the Modern Age (Princeton & Oxford)

Lawson, E. and McCauley, R., (1990), Rethinking Religion: Connecting Cognition and Culture (Cambridge)

Lincoln, B. (2000), Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Idoelogy and Scholarship (Chicago)

Olender, M. (2008), The Languages of Paradise: Race, Religion, and Philology (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Sharpe, E., (1986), Comparative Religion: A History (London)

Smith, J. Z. (1982), Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown (Chicago)

Waines, D. (2003) An Introduction to Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Woodhead, L. & Heelas, P. (eds) (2000) Religion in Modern Times: An Interpretive Anthology.  Oxford: Blackwell.

Indicative Specialist Reading

Israel J. I., (2006), Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man 1670-1752 (Oxford)

Armstrong, K., Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths, London 1996.

Asali, K.J. (ed.), Jerusalem in History, London, 1997.

Cresswell, T., Place: A Short Introduction, Blackwell, Oxford, 2004.

Goldhill, S., Jerusalem: City of Longing, Cambridge, MA., 2010.

Low, S. and Lawrence-Lunigais, D., The Anthropology of Space and Place: Locating Culture, Blackwell, Oxford, 2003.

Elisabeth Arweck and Martin D. Stringer Theorizing Faith: The Insider / Outsider Problem in the Study of Ritual (Birmingham: University of Birmingham Press, 2002)

Flood, Gavin D. Beyond Phenomenology: Rethinking the Study of Religion (London: Continuum, 1999), especially chapter 6.

Flood, Gavin ‘Reflections on Tradition and Inquiry in the Study of Religions’ Journal of the American Academy of Religion 74.1 (March 2006), 47-58

Russell T. McCutcheon (ed.) The Insider / Outsider problem in the Study of Religion (London: Continuum, 1999)

Kelly, P., “Introduction: Between Culture and Equality”, Multiculturalism Reconsidered, ed. Paul Kelly, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2002, pp. 1-17.

Modood, T., ‘Remaking multiculturalism’, Published on openDemocracy (http://www.opendemocracy.net) on 28 Sep 2005, available at: http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-terrorism/multiculturalism_2879.jsp

Johnson, W.J. (trans, intro & notes) (2001) Kalidasa The Recognition of Sakuntala Oxford: Oxford World Classics.

Richman, P. (ed) (1991) Many Ramayanas. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Walter, N. (1990) Blasphemy: Ancient and Modern.  London: Rationalist Press Association


Copyright Cardiff University. Registered charity no. 1136855