Reli 194-02: American Heretics Spring 2012 Instructor: Paula Cooey Office Hours: Wednesdays 2:00-2:30 and by appointment

OM 104; Email: cooey@macalester.edu Course Description Just what is the Bible and what role has it played in shaping American life? How might it center a pattern of repeated political and cultural negotiation of power? Many if not most of the earliest Europeans who colonized what is now the U.S. were considered religious heretics by the Christian churches of their original homelands at the time of their immigration. Over the course of U.S. history, new traditions have also emerged, often considered heretical or not really Christian by the subsequently established Christian traditions. Much of the debate over who is and isnt heretical or really Christian has focused on what counts as authoritative Christian sacred text and how to interpret it. Controversy over what does and does not count as sacred scripture, how it is to be interpreted, and who gets to determine right teaching of these texts for human life has gone on to shape American culture and politics in distinctive ways. The debates and the texts on which conflicts focus have provided the primary scripts, the central narratives, and the cultural discourse, from worship to moral practice, politics to the courts, and secular ceremony to economic life in this country. Moreover, self-identified Christians have turned to scripture to justify opposing views and political action on issues from slavery to the Civil Rights, Womens suffrage to the second wave of Feminism, capitalism to socialism, and heterosexually exclusive civil marriage laws to Gay Rights. This course will examine this pattern, characterized by dispute, adaptation, and power, even violence, by looking at a number of these groups, their sacred texts, and their impact through the use of film, guest lecture, visual arts, field work in various different religious communities, on-line virtual churches, and, most importantly, the sacred texts themselves.
This course is scheduled as an MWF course; however, class will not meet on Fridays due to required fieldwork and required attendance at other events. This course counts in fulfillment of the Multiculturalism requirement.

Required Materials: American Scriptures, Ed. Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp [AS] Bible (Oxford annotated with Apocrypha, NRSV preferred) [on 2-hour reserve]

2 The Bible and American Culture, Eds. Claudia Setzer and David Shefferman [BAC] The Book of Jerry Falwell, Susan Friend Harding [BJF] The Soul of Hip Hop, Daniel White Hodge Short articles and visual images posted on Moodle, the film The Apostle (on 4-hour reserve in Media Studies); all required books are on 2-hour reserve as well. Required Lectures:
2/5/12 - Shana Sippy (Professor - Religion and Women and Gender Studies Departments @ Carleton College) 4:30 pm Weyerhaeuser Board Room Beyond Lake Wobegon: Diving into the Depths of the Global Religious Worlds of the Twin Cities: Fieldwork Reflections, Inspirations and Techniques from research on Minnesota's Diverse Religious Communities 2/12/12 - Robert Orsi (Professor of Religion/Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies @ Northwestern University) 4:30 pm Weyerhaeuser Chapel Secrets of the Confessional: Children, the Sacrament of Penance, and the Making of 20th Century U.S. Catholicism 3/4/12 - Bruce Forbes (Professor of Religious Studies @ Morningside College) 4:30 pm Weyerhaeuser Board Room Cults Controversies: Contested Religion and American Protestantism 4/1/12 - Dan Hodge (Lecturer in the Pan African Studies department at Cal State Los Angeles & at Citrus College in the Sociology department/speaker, writer, activist) 4:30 pm Weyerhaeuser Board Room The Hostile Gospel: Exploring the Socio-Religious Meaning within Hip Hop There are four additional lectures in this series that you are not required to attend, though I encourage you to go simply because they should prove very interesting. See Moodle posting for a full listing. Additional requirements: You are required to do fieldwork on a local religious community to be presented to the class orally at the end of the semester (more on this coming soon). In addition, I will also lecture regularly on the historical background to the readings (again, relatively briefly). Each week you will be required to write short responses (250 words) to the four public lectures and to the weekly materials including my lectures in order to facilitate class discussions on Wednesdays. These responses are due in my office on Tuesday mornings at 11:15 (promptly). At the end of the semester you will write a take-home essay exam covering the required materials, all lectures (mine and the public ones), and the fieldwork presented in class; we will do advance preparation in class for this exam (see schedule of classes below).

Grade Calculation: Written responses 25% Fieldwork presentation (oral) Class participation 25% Final Exam 25%

25%

Class policy: Because this course depends heavily on group work and class participation, keeping up with the readings and lectures, coming to class on time and attendance are required throughout the semester unless there are extenuating circumstances for which you have written documentation. For the same reasons, all electronic equipment, including cell phones, must be either left at home or turned off. Again for the same reasons, there will be no extension of deadlines, unless there are dire circumstances for which you have written documentation. In regard to written assignments, I accept only paper copy turned in to my office (OM104) on time. Last, but not least, it helps to have a good sense of humor.

4 Possible Field Sites: Living Word Church (St. Paul, Midway, and University, NonDenominational, multi-ethnic) Emmanuel Tabernacle (Minneapolis, E. 22nd & 25th, LDS/Mormon; check also Oakdale Temple) African Methodist Episcopal (St. Paul, University St., largely African American) Pilgrim Baptist (St. Paul, African American) St. Paul on the hill (St. Paul, Summit & Saratoga, Episcopal/largely white) Pentecostal Church (St. Paul, on Lexington, near Summit, multi-ethnic) SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS Unit One Jan 23-25 Unit Two Jan 30-Feb 1 live it? course BAC, chapter 1 BJF, A Guide to Terms, chapter 1 NOTE REQUIRED LECTURE on FEB 5 Unit Three Feb 6-8 Scripture as text for the New Republic BAC, chapter 2 AS, The life & Morals of Jesus of Nazareth WORKSHOP on FIELDWORK NOTE REQUIRED LECTURE on FEB 12 Unite Four Feb 13-15 Scriptures role in race & gender: Slavery to Civil Rights AS The Rise & Progress of the Kingdoms of Light & Darkness, pp. 170-193 BAC, chapter 3, pp.95-148 Mecca, Malcolm X (Moodle) Unit Five Feb 20-22 Scripting social reform through politics & Introductions, the film The Apostle, & The Acts of the Apostles 1-13 (Moodle) What is a sacred scripture? How do believers Theoretical categories & assumptions for the

5 science BAC chapter 3, pp.148-197 BJF, chapters 2 & 8 Unit Six Feb 27-29 sexuality Re-scripting scripture on gender & BAC chapter 4, pp.199-215 The Coming of Lilith, Judith Plaskow (Moodle) BJF, chapters 6 & 7 NOTE REQUIRED LECTURE on MAR 4 Unit Seven Mar 5-7 Holy Spirit Re-scripting through experience by the BAC chapter 4, pp. 215-221 AS, A Holy Sacred & Divine Scroll & Book pp. 63-93 AS, The Book of Mormon pp. 32-62 SPRING BREAK Mar 10-18 Unit Eight Mar 19-21 modernity Fundamentalism as a creature of BJF, 3, 4, 5, 10, & Post Script Unit Nine Mar 26-28 part I Extending the Word into the 21st Century, Scripting from the Streets The Soul of Hip Hop NOTE REQUIRED LECTURE on APR 1 Unit Ten April 2-4 II Extending the Word into the 21st century, part Digital Religion and Apocalypticism BJF, chapter 9 BAC, chapter 4, 221-243 Unit Eleven April 9-11 Putting it all together

6 Workshop on oral presentations Meet with small groups Unit Twelve April 16-18 Unit Thirteen April 23-25 Unit Fourteen April 30 Fieldwork Presentations Fieldwork Presentations (4/23) Exam Prep (4/25)

COURSE EVALUATIONS ATTENDANCE ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dates not to forget: Public Lectures Dinner at the Cooey-Nichols Fieldwork Presentations Final Exam due February 5, February 12, March 4, April 1 SEE SCHEDULE ON FIRST PAGE January 31, 5:30-7:00 April 16, 18, 23 May 2, 10:00, OM104