Faculty Syllabus

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• Student Process Journal Reflections (10%):  Approximately every three weeks, you will be asked to write a short (200 - 300 word) reflection on your work from the week and your process as a student. These will be accepted late, with 10 points removed for each week late. They will not be accepted late after 2 weeks.
• Quizzes (10%): As you work through the Religion Matters textbook, you will be asked to complete review quizzes using the InQuizitive tool maintained by the publisher. These are open-book quizzes and can be taken until you achieve the grade you desire. These may be completed by the Sunday of the week they are assigned with no penalty for late submission.
• Participation and responses (15%): Before every class meeting, you will be required to submit a response through Blackboard. These are informal reactions to the reading, and may address themes, content, or connections between other texts. Responses may not be turned in late. You are expected to actively participate in class discussions. You are to come to class having already finished the reading for the day, prepared to contribute to our class discussions. Failure to do so will impact your participation grade for the course.
• Presentations (15%): You will do two presentations this semester. These will presentations you put together using PowerPoint and present to the class. In the first presentation, you will focus on a specific teaching or practice from one of the religions we have studied. These may not be turned in late.
• Source Text Explorations (30%): A major form of written assignment for this class will be your analysis (400 - 600 words) of 5 texts or sets of texts from The Religion Matters Readers. These will either ask you to focus on a single text or to consider two texts comparatively. These may be turned in late, but will receive a loss of 5% on your grade for each day they are late (including weekend days and holidays).
• Final Comparative Essay (20%): At the end of the semester, you will be asked to write an 800 - 1200 word essay in which you will be asked to address a prompt asking you to explore, comparatively, some aspect of religion we have studied this semester. You will be given a series of prompts, and will be able to choose the one you want to address, and the essay should not require additional research to write. You will submit a draft of this essay and have the opportunity to engage in peer review with classmates on this draft. As this is due at the end of the semester, it may not be turned in late.

Required Course Materials: For this class, we will be using an electronic version of Stephen Prothero’s Religion Matters textbook as well as the companion The Religion Matters Reader, to which you can find a link in Blackboard. This is a First Day Access course, so your textbook materials have already been billed to your tuition account.

In this class you will be introduced to the comparative study of religion and to major world religions. You can expect to learn the fundamentals of several religious traditions and to think critically about the issues that religion presents to the world today. You will also gain an understanding of the approaches scholars use to understand religion.

• Departmental Course Student Learning Outcomes

• Students will demonstrate understanding of the central beliefs and concepts of major living religious traditions of the world, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. 
• Students will demonstrate familiarity with the structure and ritual life of religious communities, including significant holidays and rituals. 
• Students will demonstrate a basic grasp of the methodology of the study of religion.

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  Instructor Course Level Outcomes

   

• Students will discuss and analyze primary texts related to the world’s religions
• Students will discuss the historical development of specific religious traditions.
• Students will describe and analyze religion in the contemporary world

• General Education Competencies

• Communication Skills: Develop, interpret, and express ideas and information through written, oral and visual communication that is adapted to purpose, structure, audience, and medium.
• Critical Thinking Skills: Gather, analyze, synthesize, evaluate and apply information for the purposes of innovation, inquiry, and creative thinking.
• Personal Responsibility: Identify and apply ethical principles and practices to decision-making by connecting choices, actions and consequences.
• Social Responsibility (Civic and Cultural Awareness): Analyze differences and commonalities among peoples, ideas, aesthetic traditions, and cultural practices to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities.