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Contents
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Religion and LiteratureInstructor Lissa McCullough Institution
Course Level and Type
Enrolment and Year Last Taught
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Dont be alarmed by appearances: there is an average of 53 pages of reading per meeting. All the texts are available for purchase at the NYU Book Center and on reserve at Bobst Library. Bibles galore are located in the reference section at call numbers BS 180190. The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible is the one most widely accepted for academic use, but if you have a favorite version you are welcome to use it.
The One-Page Papers
As we go through the readings, you are to write 8 concise, concentrated, and thoughtful short papers on 8 of the 10 assigned authors. Each paper is to be 1 page minimum in length (double-spaced with normal margins). This means that by the last meeting of the class you will have handed in 8 short papers totaling 8 pages or more. You may skip writing on 2 of the authors, so try to skip those that interest you least; but everyone must write a short paper on either Sophocles or Euripides.
The challenge of the short paper: The paper should read like a brief, vigorous plunge into deep waters. Focus on the text, but do not spend time simply summarizing what the text says. I want you to address a fundamental theme, passage, or character(s) in the text: what does it mean, or seem to mean, and how does it convey this meaning? The theme should be fundamental enough that it approaches a religious or quasi-religious dimension, but you need not refer explicitly to religion. Choose an aspect of the text that "sticks like a burr on your conscience," then explore it using your perceptivity, intelligence, and creativity. Attention to the authors use of language, metaphor, mood, etc.; is always appropriate; so is prudent use of quotations.
The importance of rewriting: After you have finished a draft of your paper, take a good look at the result. Is it a thoughtful embodiment of your theme, or is it sloppy and facile? (Sloppy thinking and sloppy use of language often go together.) Probe and question what you have written. Critique it as though you were editing it for someone else. Have you reached some real depth or subtlety in your treatment? Can you rework the paper to make it more unified? convincing? powerful? Can you cut superfluous sentences or needless words? Rework your paper as though you were creating a gem, a diamond. Write a paper that impresses you.
Make-up papers: If you do not hand in a short paper on the day it is due, I will accept a make-up paper, but it must be longer (2 pages) and high quality.
The Term Paper
You are to write a longer paper, 5 pages minimum (typed/printed, double-spaced, with normal margins) exploring a religious or theological theme in one or more of the texts treated in the course. It may be an intensive study of a theme in one text, or a comparative treatment of a theme in two or more texts. It is a good idea to discuss your topic with me, unless you are especially independent-minded. You are welcome to discuss your vague ideas with me, before your topic takes a definite shape; if you have trouble deciding on a topic, I will be happy to help.
The importance of rewriting: Read "The importance of rewriting" above. Practice on the short papers should help you with writing and rewriting this longer paper. Your final grade for the course will depend more on the quality of your papers than on how you perform on the final exam.
I worked hard to convey to the class some inkling of the radically different historical worlds that we were encountering through each of these literary texts, which, I insisted, cannot be deeply read without some minimal grasp of cultural-historical context: e.g., the ritual-formal dimension of ancient Greek tragedy, the microcosmic symbolism of Shakespeares Globe Theater, the odd Calvinist-pantheist ground of Melvilles America. The secret endeavor of the course was to teach young people how to imagine themselves into historical worlds that are radically different from their ownworlds long disappeared from the face of the earth, yet still accessible as living realities through texts. This course worked well except for Moby-Dick, which was very difficult to teach (I think I failed completely); it inspired a glowingly passionate response in a tiny minority and groaning resentment (for the length) in all the rest. The students responded most spontaneously to Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Kafka, and Beckett, and it seemed apparent to me that this was because their cultural worlds are closest to ours today, therefore they could relate without much struggle. But what I am most proud of is precisely the struggle I put them throughwith Sophocles, Euripides, the Bible, Shakespeare, and Melville.
Latest update: August 02, 2002
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