REL 372.001
Rhetorics of Religious Conviction

"Become the change you seek in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi

Professor
Dr. Ted Trost
ttrost@bama.ua.edu

Office: 206 Manly Hall
Office Phone: 348-7534
Office Hour: to be announced
Course: TR 3:30-4:45
Location: 210 Manly Hall

About Online Readings

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Description

What is the relationship between the individual and society? Can one person really change the course of history, or do great cultural forces simply create moments when certain individuals can be heard? How does an individual's appeal to common—or even "universal"—religious values challenge accepted societal norms and lead to social change? These kinds of questions will guide our study of three significant public personages, Soujourner Truth, Mohandas Gandhi, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose social activism was shaped by their religious convictions.

Syllabus

Fall 2006

Books (required)

Sojourner, Truth.
Narrative of Sojourner Truth
NY: Penguin 1998
ISBN 0140436782

Painter, Nell.
Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol
New York: Norton 1997
ISBN 0393317080

The Penguin Gandhi Reader
NY: Penguin, 1995
ISBN 0140236864

Parekh, Bhikhu C.
Gandhi: A Very Short Introduction
NY: Oxford Univ Press 2001
0192854577

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich.
A Testament to Freedom,
ed. Kelly & Nelson
San Francisco: Harper 1995
ISBN 0060642149

Arnett, Ronald C.
Dialogic Confession: Bonhoeffer's Rhetoric of Responsibility
Peoria: So IL Univ Press 2005
ISBN 0809326418

Online Readings

To be announced