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Classical Theories of Religion Autumn Quarter 2012 Christian K HREL 32900 / AASR 32900 / ANTH 35005: Classical Theories of Religion Autumn Quarter 2012 Christian K. Wedemeyer M/W 10:00–11:20 AM Swift 310B Swift Hall Rm. 201 Office Hrs: M 3:00–4:00PM T 10:00–11:00AM All readings will be on electronic reserve, with the exception of items marked with an asterisk (*). Course Requirements: Regular, active attendance at all scheduled meetings is required. Absences will affect your grade. Attendance at weekly discussion sections with the teaching assistant are similarly an integral and required element of the course. Readings should be done thoroughly and carefully before (and, also, it is to be hoped) after the class in which it is to be discussed. There are two exams: one in-class and one take-home. There may be occasional quizzes, as needed. Schedule of Meetings: 1 October 2012: Organizational/Introductory Meeting Reading(s): none 3 October 2012: Natural Religion through Immanuel Kant Reading(s): Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, pp. 3–13, 139–90 Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, De Veritate, pp. 289–307 8 October 2012: David Hume Reading(s): “A Natural History of Religion” (entire: in three files) 10 October 2012: Friedrich Schleiermacher Reading(s): On Religion, pp. 77–95, 189–223 15 October 2012: Ludwig Feuerbach and Karl Marx Reading(s): Feuerbach, Essence of Christianity, pp. xxxiii–xliv, 1–32, 150–59, 185–212, 270–278 Marx, “Contributions to a Critique of Hegel’s Theory of Right,” “Concerning Feuerbach,” and “On the Jewish Question” 17 October 2012: F. Max Müller Reading(s): “The Perception of the Infinite” (Lectures on Origin and Growth, pp. 1–51) “Forgotten Bibles” (from Last Essays, pp. 1–35) 22 October 2012: C. P. Tiele Reading(s): Elements of the Science of Religion, pp. 1–57, 155–181, 208–236 24 October 2012: Edward B. Tylor Reading(s): “Religion of the Savages” Primitive Culture, vol I, pp. 1–25 and vol. II, pp. 443–453 29 October 2012: William Robertson Smith and James George Frazer Reading(s): Robertson Smith, Lectures on the Religion of the Semites, pp. 1–27 Frazer, The Golden Bough (abridged), pp. 1–69 and 812–827 “The Crucifixion of Christ” (note to GB 3rd ed., Part IV: The Scapegoat) 31 October 2012: Emile Durkheim Reading(s): Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, pp. 13–63 and 462–96 5 November 2012: In-class Midterm Exam Reading(s): none 7 November 2012: Max Weber Reading(s): *The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (entire) 12 November 2012: Psychological Perspectives ([Nietzsche/]Freud/Leuba) Reading(s): Sigmund Freud, *Future of an Illusion (entire) Leuba, Psychological Study of Religion, pp. vii–x, 3–54 and “Appendix” (pp. 339–361) 14 November 2012: William James Reading(s): Varieties of Religious Experience, pp. 3–76 and 475–509 19 November 2012: No class (AAR Conference) 21 November 2012: No class (Thanksgiving) 26 November 2012: Rudolf Otto Reading(s): The Idea of the Holy, pp. 1–40, 112–42, 175–178 28 November 2012: Gerardus van der Leeuw Reading(s): Religion in Essence and Manifestation, pp. 671–95, 23–36, 339–42, 459–62, 591–96, 631–67 3 December 2012: Joachim Wach & Mircea Eliade Reading(s): Introduction to the History of Religions, pp. 159–67, 3–52 “Universals in Religion” Myth of the Eternal Return (or, Cosmos and History), pp. 3–48, 141–62 “History of Religions and a New Humanism” “Foreword” to Shamanism 5 December 2012: Concluding discussion *Take-home Final Exam papers distributed* Reading(s): none ** Final Exams due in Swift 204 by noon Monday, December 10th ** Bibliography of Course Readings Kant, Immanuel. Reason Within the Limits of Reason Alone. Trans. Theodore M. Greene and Hoyt H. Hudson. Chicago: Open Court Publishing, 1934. Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury. De Veritate. Trans. Meyrick H. Carré. Bristol: J.W. Arrowsmith, 1937. Hume, David. “The Natural History of Religion” in Four Dissertations. London: A. Millar, 1757. Schleiermacher, Friedrich. On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers. Trans. Richard Crouter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Feuerbach, Ludwig. The Essence of Christianity. Trans. George Eliot. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1957. Marx, Karl. “Contributions to a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right,” “Concerning Feuerbach,” and “On the Jewish Question,” in John Raines, ed., Marx on Religion (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002), pp. 170–182, 182–184, and 44–69. Müller, F. Max. “The Perception of the Infinite,” in Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion: as illustrated by the religions of India (London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1858), pp. 1–51. Müller, F. Max. “Forgotten Bibles,” in Last Essays (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1901), pp. 1–35. Tiele, C.P. Elements of the Science of Religion. Two volumes. 1897–99. New York: AMS Press, 1979. Tylor, Edward B. “Religion of the Savages,” Fortnightly Review, vol. 6 (1866), pp. 71–86. Tylor, Edward B. Primitive Culture. Third edition, revised. Two volumes in one. London: John Murray, 1891. Robertson Smith, William. Lectures on the Religion of the Semites. New Edition, revised. 1894. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1914. Frazer, James George. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Abridged edition. New York: Macmillan, 1958. Frazer, James George. “The Crucifixion of Christ,” in The Golden Bough, Third edition, Part Four: The Scapegoat (London: Macmillan, 1913), pp. 412–423. Emile Durkheim. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. Trans. J.W. Swain. 1915. New York: Free Press, 1965. Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Trans. Talcott Parsons. New York: Scribners, 1958. Freud, Sigmund. The Future of an Illusion. Trans. James Strachey. New York: Norton, 1961. Leuba, James Henry. A Psychological Study of Religion: Its Origin, Function and Future. 1912. New York: AMS Press, 1969. James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: Modern Library, 1902. Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. Trans. John W. Harvey. Second edition. London: Oxford University Press, 1950. Van der Leeuw, Gerardus. Religion in Essence and Manifestation. Trans. J.E. Turner. Two volumes. 1938. Gloucester, Mass: Peter Smith, 1967. Wach, Joachim. Introduction to the History of Religions. Edited by Joseph Kitagawa and Gregory Alles with Karl W. Luckert. New York: Macmillan, 1988. Wach, Joachim. “Universals in Religion,” in Types of Religious Experience: Christian and Non-Christian (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951), pp. 30–47. Eliade, Mircea. Myth of the Eternal Return or, Cosmos and History. Bollingen Series XLVI. Second printing with corrections. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965. Eliade, Mircea. “History of Religions and a New Humanism,” History of Religions, vol. I, no. 1 (Summer 1961), pp. 1–8. Eliade, Mircea. “Foreword” to Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (Trans. Willard R. Trask; London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964), pp. xi–xxii. .
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