** What follows is what, in September, we planned to do. At the beginning of the second term we -- Parkhill, Mckenna, and Belyea-Geddes -- modified the structure in light of the results of the first term..

Course Outline

First Quarter:
Michael George office: EC 337, e-mail: mgeorge@StThomasU.ca

Second Quarter:
Parveen Hasanali office: EC 314, e-mail: hasanali@StThomasU.ca

Third Quarter:
Rebecca McKenna office: EC 319, e-mail: mckenna@StThomasU.ca

Fourth Quarter:
Thom Parkhill office: EC 315, e-mail: parkhill@StThomasU.ca

September 9, 1997

Overview

RS 400, Religious Studies: Scope and Methods, is intended as "an in depth analysis of selected issues in Religious Studies, focusing on the distinctive concerns of the discipline and the furthering of research skills appropriate to it" [University calendar, 161]. We also intend the course to provide a venue where senior students can integrate their four years of religious studies learning. This year, two books, She Who Is by Elizabeth A. Johnson and Interpreting the Sacred by William Paden, will be the lodestones of our inquiry into the discipline of religious studies.

This year's RS 400 will be in four parts, each lasting one quarter of a term. Professors George, Hasanali, McKenna and Parkhill will each in turn coordinate one part of Scope and Methods. You will receive a mark at the end of each quarter; each mark will count 25% towards your final grade. At the beginning of each quarter you will receive further details on that quarter's grading methods and procedures.

The first quarter

In the first part of this course we will be reading Johnson's "She Who Is". The main focus of inquiry, other than the usual critical responses of understanding and discernment, will be of the issues surrounding interpretation. What happens when a reader engages a text, or people engage in discussion? What is the role of historical consciousness in this process? What constitutes "context"? How is this process further complicated by the addition of a religious or theological claim or assertation? Each student will be responsible for providing a single page synthesis for each week's reading. This will form the basis of our discussion and reflection. There will be one major paper, maximum of 6 typed pages, in which you will respond to a published review of Johnson's text on the basis of your own reading of the text and the class discussion. Details will be provided in class.

The second quarter

By late October, you will begin to address how the different ways of viewing religion[s] tie into the courses that you have been (are) doing during your years at St. Thomas. Using a two-tier approach, you will first read and respond to select chapters from the text by Paden. Having identified issues and questions from your reading and responses, you will apply your analysis to select readings from your earlier courses in Religious Studies and introduce your reviews to the class. Evaluation for this quarter will derive from your timely responses to the readings as well as the breath and quality of your analytical reviews. [Some of these responses were electronic.]

The third quarter

Toward the end of January you will be required to submit a bibliography of six sources that you have read for your work, usually in other courses, that if the rest of us in the course read them, will focus our attention on method. This bibliography will be annotated with both a description of the sources (usually articles or book chapters) and a persuasive argument for or against reading each of them. This annotated bibliography will be used as the text to persuade the rest of your class colleagues, including professors, of the sources we will read for the rest of the term. The selection of the term's reading will take place in class in seminar-like presentations towards the end of January. The remainder of the third quarter will be spent reading and responding to these texts, for the most part electronically. Each text will require an introduction, written by the text's suggester.

Evaluation for this quarter will derive from the annotated bibliography, the seminar-like presentation used for text selection, as well as the regularity and quality of electronic postings.

The fourth quarter

As we slog through February toward March break, we will turn to the application of method to your own work. During this quarter you will be responsible for your continuing participation in the process of reading and responding to student suggested texts begun in the third quarter as well as sharing with your class colleagues an example of your own work which demonstrates the method you are using. This work may be something completed for another course or project, or it may be written specifically for RS 400. In either case, it will need an introduction for the purposes of the Scope and Methods course. Discussion of these readings and those of your class colleagues will be both in class and electronic.

Your mark for this quarter will be based on the quality of your introduction to your work and your role in the ongoing online conversation, as well as on written learning reflections due during the exam period.

The modifications to the second term are here

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