History of Religion in America

In this block we will probe, discuss, and analyze the multiple religious traditions in America. Each student will prepare and present a research project, which may be historical or contemporary, that will focus on a particular religious tradition. Additionally, “fieldwork” will be done in which each student will be asked to participate in a religious event of some sort which will be foreign to your experience, whether that be in a fundamentalist mega-church, a Jewish synagogue, or a New Age temple. We will make a trip to the Baca campus and visit the Carmelite monastery there, and observe their ritual day. Class time will be oriented around discussion of specific texts, with period short lectures to fill in necessary factual material. To encourage discussion of the material, students will also be asked to prepare one or two email responses a week in reaction to questions set by the moderator of our email discussion group (I will serve as the moderator).

 

This syllabus was created for the Young Scholars in American Religion program.

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