Religion in Culture Lunch Series

The Department's third 2004-5 lunctime discussion was held on March 16, 2005, to hear student reactions to the Department's REL 100 Introduction to the Study of Religion.

The event was prompted by a discussion initiated by students in Prof. Schaeffer's upper-level class.

The discussion revolved around such topics as the goals of 100-level Core curriculum courses, student experiences in differently-sized 100-level classes, and whether weekly tutorial sections, led by discussion leaders, enhance learning in such classes.

But most discussed was whether the 100-level introductory course ought to comprise an introduction to data (i.e., a traditional survey of the world's religions) or whether it ought to introduce a field of study by means of its skills (i.e., theories, approaches, etc.).

In preparation, students were invited to look at any of the following essays, all posted as PDFs on the Department's secure server:

Robert Bellah, "How I Teach the Introductory Course" (PDF)

Karen McCarthy Brown, "Religion as Language" (PDF)

Mark Juergensmeyer, "A Brief Argument of an Endangered Species: The World Religion Survey Course" (PDF)

Ninian Smart, "The Introductory Course: A Balanced Approach" (PDF)

J. Z. Smith's brief article, "The Introductory Course: Less is Better" (PDF)

A topic around which much of the ninety minute discussion revolved was whether the 100-level course provides a service to students majoring outside the study of religion (in which case the presentation of data might be the emphasis), or whether it serves as a gateway into upper-level REL courses, thereby constituting the first step in training majors in the tools of the academic study of religion.

In previous years the Department's introductory course was a survey of world religion, but in the Fall of 2001 it changed to a skills-based course that employed a variety of examples of human behavior to illustrate theoretical points. Most recently, the REL 100 course has been taught by Profs. Jacobs, McCutcheon, Murphy, and Schaeffer.

Thanks once again to Betty Dickey for organizing the event and to Prof. Schaeffer and his students for initiating it.

Eleven people attended the lunch discussion, including Profs. Murphy, Schaeffer (who hosted the event prior to his REL 490 class), Roach, and McCutcheon. Once again, it was held in the Student Services building.

Left to right: Marianne Stanton, Christine Scott, Samantha Sastre, Jessica McGinnis, Autry Pruitt, all of whom are enrolled in Prof. Schaeffer's Spring 2005 REL 490 Capstone Senior Seminar, and most of whom have taken REL 100 within the last four years.

Left to right: James Gilbreath, Marianne Stanton, and Christine Scott. Marianne has assisted twice in REL 100 and Christine has assisted in REL 105, the Honors section of the introductory course.

Prof. Tim Murphy, who has written widely on the role of theory in the study of religion, and Brian Robbins, an REL major who argued in favor of introductory courses that present novel cross-cultural data.

Interested in learning more about how some scholars of religion reflect on pedagogy? Try visiting the following site for back issues of "Spotlight on Teaching," published quarterly by the American Academy of Religion; unfortunately, only members of the AAR can access this site. Students can join the AAR for $25 per year. For information on joining, click here.