COURSE OUTLINE:

WEEK
TOPIC
READING
week of September 11 Introduction to the course, and to the academic study of religion
week of September 18 Feminism and religion Reader
Video: Susan Henking (Hobart and William Smith Colleges)
week of September 25 Max Müller Reader; Comparative Religion, ix-71
week of October 2 Emile Durkheim Reader; Comparative Religion, 72-143
[October 9: Thanksgiving; University holiday]
week of October 16 Mircea Eliade Reader; Comparative Religion, 144-219
week of October 23 Wilfred Cantwell Smith Reader; Comparative Religion, 220-319
week of October 30 Religious Studies in Ontario: An Overview Religious Studies in Ontario and the Update in the Reader
week of November 6 Religious Studies Academics in Canada (1)  
week of November 13 Religious Studies Academics in Canada (2)  
week of November 20 Religious Studies Academics in Canada (3)  
week of November 27 Religious Studies Academics in Canada (4)  
week of December 4 Religious Studies Academics in Canada (5)  
December 6 Religious Studies Academics in Canada (6); Course Review  

 

ANTHOLOGY OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCE READINGS

Week 2 (September 18)

  • Cady Stanton, Elizabeth, The Woman's Bible (introductory selections). Seattle: Coalition Task Force on Women and Religion, 1974 [1898].
    Gross, Rita, "Appendix A: Here I Stand: Feminist as an Academic Method and as Social Vision." In R. Gross, Buddhism After Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis and Reconstruction of Buddhism, 291-304. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.
  • King, Ursula, "Introduction: Gender and the Study of Religion." In U. King, ed., Religion and Gender, 1-38. Oxford: Blackwell, 1995.
    Leonard, Ellen, "Experience as a Source for Theology: A Canadian and Feminist Perspective." Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 19 (1990): 143-162.

Week 3 (September 25)

  • Müller, Max, "Preface." In M. Müller, Chips from a German Workshop. Volume 1: Essays on the Science of Religion, vii-xxxiii. Chico: Scholars Press, 1985 [1869].
    Müller, F. Max, "First Lecture." In F. M. Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 1-51. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1893.
    Klimkeit, Hans J., "Müller, F. Max (1823-1900)." In M. Eliade, ed., The Encyclopedia of Religion, vol.10, 153-154. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
    Masuzawa, Tomoko, "Accidental Mythology: Max MŸller in and out of His Workshop." In T. Masuzawa, In Search of Dreamtime: The Quest for the Origin of Religion, 58-75. Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press, 1993.
    Strenski, Ivan, "Misreading Max MŸller." Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 8 (1996): 291-296. [A critique of Masuzawa's reading of Müller]
    Masuzawa, Tomoko, "Reading in the Wake: Supplementary Remarks on the Dreamtime." Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 8 (1996): 311-315. [A rejoinder to Strenski's critique of her reading of Müller]
    Dorson, Richard M., "The Eclipse of Solar Mythology." In T. M. Sebeok, ed., Myth: A Symposium, 25-63. Bloomington/London: Indiana University Press, 1971 [1955].

Week 4 (October 2)

  • Durkheim, Emile, "Concerning the Definition of Religious Phenomena." In W. S. F. Pickering, ed., Durkheim on Religion, 74-99. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994.
    Durkheim, Emile, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. In W. S. F. Pickering, ed., Durkheim on Religion, 102-166. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994.
    Lukes, Steven, "Durkheim." In M. Eliade, ed., The Encyclopedia of Religion, vol.4, 517-519. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
    J. Samuel Preus, "Sociogenic Theory: Emile Durkheim." In J. S. Preus, Explaining Religion: Criticism and Social Theory from Bodin to Freud, 157-177. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987.

Week 5 (October 16)

  • Eliade, Mircea, "Forward" and "Approximations: Structure and Morphology of the Sacred." In M. Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion, xi-xv, 1-37. Trans. R. Sheed. London: Sheed and Ward, 1958.
    Eliade, Mircea, "Methodological Remarks on the Study of Religious Symbolism." In M. Eliade and J. Kitagawa (eds.), The History of Religions: Essays in Methodology, 86-107. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959.
    Eliade, Mircea, "History of Religions and a New Humanism." History of Religions 1 (1961): 1-8.
    Eliade, Mircea, "Preface." In M. Eliade (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 1, ix-xii. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
    Kitagawa, Joseph M., "Eliade, Mircea (1907-1986)." In The Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 5, 85-90. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
    Christ, Carol P., "Mircea Eliade and the Feminist Paradigm Shift." Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 9 (1991): 75-94.

Week 6 (October 23)

  • Smith, Wilfred Cantwell, "On the Comparative Study of Religion." In W. H. Capps (ed.), Ways of Understanding Religion, 1-14. New York: Macmillan, 1972.
    Smith, Wilfred Cantwell, "Comparative Religion: Whither -- and Why?" In M. Eliade and J. M. Kitagawa (eds.), The History of Religions: Essays in Methodology, 31-58. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1959.
    Smith, Wilfred Cantwell, "Introduction" and "Is the Concept Adequate?" In W. C. Smith, The Meaning and End of Religion, 1-14, 119-153. London: SPCK, 1978.
    Oxtoby, Willard G., "Editor's Introduction." In W. G. Oxtoby, ed., Religious Diversity: Essays by Wilfred Cantwell Smith, vii-xxiv. New York: Harper & Row, 1976.
    McMullin, Neil, "Introduction [to a 1992 conference held in honour of Smith]." Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 4 (1992): 1-3.
    Hick, John, "On Wilfred Cantwell Smith: His Place in the Study of Religion." Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 4 (1992): 5-20.
    Smart, Ninian, "W. C. Smith and Complementarity." Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 4 (1992): 21-26.

Week 7 (October 30)

  • Remus, Harold, "Religious Studies in Ontario, 1992 to 1999: State-of-the-Art Update." Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 28 (1999): 197-208.