- Sum up the findings in the article "Portrait of Religion . . . ." Briefly characterize the method employed in the study.

Class

- Define or explain the following terms: positivism, empirical and normative statements, naturalistic fallacy.

Class

- Based on the materials presented in class, assess whether it is possible to make religious values the object of study. Are religious values necessarily irrelevant to social scientists? If not, in how far do can/should these values influence them?

Roberts

- Identify the central components of different definitions of religion. Also, identify shortcomings of these definitions.

Roberts

- Know the basic characteristics of surveys, documentary analyses, and ethnographies as research methods in the sociology of religion.

Bellah

- Identify the stages of "religious evolution."

Worsley

1. Be able to give a basic account of cargo cults/the cult of "John Frum."

2. Where did it originate?

3. What are some of the cult's basic beliefs, practices, symbols, and forms of organization?

4. In how far is it a millenarian movement?

K. Marx/F. Engels

1. What is Feuerbach's "projection thesis" about?

2. In how far did Marx agree with Feuerbach?

3. What are the functions of religion for Marx? How can religion be the opium of the people? How is religion a product of society?

4. Refer to Marx's base/infrastructure argument. Explain the terms "forces of production" and "relations of production." Where is religion in this account? Is it part of the base or superstructure? What, according to Marx, will happen with religion in a socialist country?

5. State 3 or 4 basic criticisms of Marx's account of religion.

G. Marx

1. Has religion been the opium of African-Americans? What, according to G. Marx, is the significance of a temporal or otherworldly focus for the relationship between religious commitment and political militancy?

Nietzsche

1. What does Nietzsche's notion of resentment refer to?

2. What function does asceticism fulfill?

3. What are core notions of Nietzsche's critique of religion?

Durkheim

(Note: Please try to answer the questions below. It is not an exhaustive list of questions, nor should you read only the pages directly related to them. Don't despair if you can't answer every question; generations of students and scholars before you have made futile efforts to do so. As always, having a friend to ponder these questions together with helps.)

1. What is "primitive religion"? P. 1

2. What are the characteristics of "lower societies"? P. 5 (Can you think of a better term for these societies?)

3. Why is religion "an eminently social thing"? Pp. 9, 15, lv-lvi (in the introduction)

4. Why is religion not properly defined as related to the "supernatural" or to divinity/the existence of spiritual beings? Pp. 22-23, 27-28

5. How can the sacred and the profane be distinguished? Pp. 34, 37-39

6. How does magic differ from religion? Pp. 39-44

7. How does Durkheim define religion? P. 44

8. Why does Durkheim want to study Australian tribes? Pp. 84-95

9. What is a clan, what is its social organization, and how is it related to totemism? Pp. 99-102 (Do you know of any totems, perhaps in Native American tribes?)

10. Why does a totem have a religious character? Pp. 118, 124

11. How is the totem a source for the clan's moral life? P. 192

12. How does collective action result in the creation of religious thoughts and actions? How is religion created in "effervescent social milieux"--in other words, in collective religious orgy? Pp. 211-25, 424-25

13. What is the manifest purpose (or function) of worship? Pp. 227, 231-32

14. What is the difference between negative and positive cults? Examples? Pp. 303-13

This assignment deals with the most important sociological work ever written, Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (abbreviated PE). In the following I do not provide page numbers because I assume that you will find the relevant sections on your own.