Steven Epperson Course Syllabus
Prepared for the Center for the Study of Religion and American
Culture by:
Steven Epperson
formerly of Department of History
Brigham Young University
The Center is pleased to share with you the syllabi for
introductory courses in American religion that were developed
in seminars led by Dr. Harry S. Stout of Yale University.
In all of the seminar discussions, it was apparent that
context, or the particular teaching setting, was an altogether
critical factor in envisioning how students should be introduced
to a field of study. The justification of approach, included
with each syllabus, is thus germane to how you use the syllabus.
For the personal use of teachers. Not
for sale or redistribution.
© Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture,
1998
I. Syllabus Justification
Some Thoughts on History of Religions in America
I teach at a very large (30,000 students) private University
with intimate institutional ties to the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. "History of Religions
in America" is a semester length course offered through
the History department. To date I have taught it twice.
Enrollment is opened to all undergraduates, but the majority
of those who take the course (class size averages about
forty students) are juniors and seniors. At BYU, this means
that most of the male students have already served full-time,
two year proselyting missions (many of them in countries
outside of the United States) and that many female students,
along with most of the lower division male students, are
actively preparing to also "serve a mission for the
Church." This almost always translates in class into
keen interest about the histories and beliefs of other religions.
At the same time, that interest is often informed by adversarial
and triumphalistic ideologies common to sectarian and mission
oriented religious communities.
My students are mostly caucasian, American-born, and hail
from suburban, "middle class," and public school
backgrounds. They know very little about the belief systems
of other religions and the quotidian piety of their adherents.
They tend to be conservative politically, yet animated by
issues of social justice; hence, a large number of them
are no strangers to volunteer social service work and projects.
Most arrive at BYU with deeply ingrained restorationist
and providential views of history; that is, they progress
backwards towards a future whose outcome is divinely orchestrated.
They seem profoundly alloyed beings whose elements relate
uneasily: they affect outwardly both assimilation to the
signs of our consumer meta-culture and devoutly ascetic
lifestyles; they are au courant on political and civic affairs
and view institutional and ideological constructs and passions
as "all sound and fury;" they are simultaneously
prophetic and priestly, watch MTV and want to get into professional
finishing schools.
In light of the above, I work to address through the syllabus
of readings, lectures, discussions, field trips, examinations,
and research papers what I perceive as abiding interests
and needs:
- History of Religions. The beginning sessions of the
semester are given to brief phenomenological sketches
of religious experience, belief, and functions. We focus
on those religions whose adherents came into contact in
the Americas in the colonial period. Other religions we
introduced in the semester as the course proceeds to periods
of later immigration.
- Histories of Religions. Given the historical nature
of Mormon religious experience and belief, Mormon students
can be particularly adept in reading, with interest, the
stories of other religions in the United States. They
also wish to know more about the context from which their
religion grew and flourished. Therefore, we follow the
varied careers of a number of individual denominations
and faiths: mainline and evangelical Protestant, Catholic,
Unitarian, Anabaptist, and Jewish. Significant individuals
are introduced and we examine institutional and doctrinal
innovation, continuity, and acculturation.
- Religious Themes. The histories of those living out
their faiths in America entail multiple and on-going encounters
with cultures and "others" which give rise to
the creation of meta-narratives. Hence we examine the
principal rubrics employed to reconstrue religious orientation
and practice, including: Puritanism, evangelicalism, primitivism,
republicanism, a "Christian nation," missionary
America, the "goldene medinah, modernity, irony,
fundamentalism, pluralism, etc. and their impact on this
nation's history and culture.
- Religious Experience. En lieu of domestic apprenticeships,
we schedule field trips to religious/cultural museums
and attend religious services in alternative settings:
high and low Church, and Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, or
native American. The intent is to raise critical awareness
of the role material culture plays in religious life and
to enable students to encounter
living religions in a non-adversarial environment: that
is, not in missionary debates but in places of worship.
I hope that by the end of the semester we will have started
to address their desire to know more about other religions,
examine significant structural similarities and differences
between religious communities, introduce key interpretive
models and assess their relative merits, and experientially
encounter and appreciate living religions.
II. Introductory Course Syllabus
History of Religions in America
A large acquaintance with particulars often makes us
wiser than the possession of abstract formulas. William
James
All these elements [of religion], describable in themselves,
would nonetheless be falsely described if isolated from
the medium in which they are borne. History is that medium.
Arthur A. Cohen
The most important single matter to remember in all
this is that ultimately we have to do not with religions
but with religious people. Wilfred Cantwell Smith
Introduction to the Course:
We intend to examine the story of the religious "experience"
of the American people from the 16th century to the present.
Our principal concerns are to gain a better understanding
of a) the essential beliefs and practices of America s religious
communities, b) the major interpretive themes employed to
make sense of the American religious story, c) aspects of
the interaction between religion and American culture, and
d) the role individuals play in the formation and sustenance
of religious movements and institutions.
How the Course Works:
We meet in-class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I will, for
the most part, lecture on Tuesdays, reviewing and commenting
on the issues presented in the Williams and Butler books.
I will ask questions at the end of class directed at the
assigned readings in Williams, Gaustad, and Butler. On Thursdays
we will discuss those questions, and I will offer some concluding
observations. I expect that everyone will have read the
assigned material and that they will participate during
in- class discussions.
Field Work:
We will go, as a class, to the Museum of Church History
and Art and the Hellenic Cultural Center on an evening to
be agreed upon by the class in February. In addition, each
student on his/her own will attend three religious services
during the semester: two Christian and one non- Christian.
We will talk about venues, schedules, and transportation
(if necessary) before February. Students will write and
turn in a two to four page field-report on each religious
service they attend which will describe the order and nature
of the worship service; architecture and decoration; music
and movement; audience participation; and a brief interpretation
of the role each of the above played in promoting attendance
upon the divine.
Required Books:
- Peter W. Williams, America's Religions: Traditions and
Cultures.
- Edwin S. Gaustad, A Documentary History of Religion
in America, vs. 1-2.
- Jon Butler, Awash in a Sea of Faith: the Christianizing
of the American People.
On Reserve for Reference:
- Sidney Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American
People. (on reserve)
- Richard Wentz, Religion in the New World: The Shaping
of Religious Traditions in the United States. (on reserve)
- Charles Lippy and Peter Williams, editors, Encyclopedia
of the American Religious Experience: Studies of Traditions
and Movements. (4th floor Humanities Reference)
Exams and Written Assignments:
There will be a final exam 3-6 p.m. on Saturday, 20 April
1996.
Each student will turn in field reports on the following
days:
Report One: 15 February
Report Two: 14 March
Report Three: 4 April
Each of you will also write a 10-15 page research paper
on a topic to be determined in consultation with me by 12
March 1996. The paper is due 18 April by 4 p.m.
Grading will be based on:
class attendance and participation - 10%
field reports - 20%
research paper - 30%
final exam - 40%
Reading and Class Schedule: (Tentative)
January
9-11 Introduction: the study of religion; native American
and African religions. First contact with European Christians.
Williams chs. 1-2; Butler ch. 5; Gaustad 5-19, 57-79, 84-5,120-24,
192-3.
16-18 European Religions in a New Land: Catholicism, Protestantism,
Orthodoxy and Judaism. Williams chs. 3-11; Butler chs. 1-2;
Gaustad 93-119, 129-80.
23-25 Colonial American Religion: Authority, Awakening,
and Popular Religion. Williams chs. 12-14, 16-18; Butler
chs. 3-4, 6; Gaustad 194-220, 214-20.
30 - February 1 Religious Outsiders and Revolutionary Faith.
Williams chs. 15, 19-20, 22; Butler ch. 7; Gaustad 230-279.
6-8 Christian Power in a New Nation: White Evangelicalism.
Williams chs. 23- 25; Butler ch. 9; Gaustad 322-39, 382-90,
436-58.
13-15 Countervailing Religions: Protestant Alternatives.
Williams chs. 26-28; Gaustad 280-92, 340-81.
20-22 Countervailing Religions (II): New Religious Movements.
Williams chs. 29-30; Butler ch. 8; Gaustad 280-92, 340-81.
26-28 Religion and the Civil War and Victorian Evangelicals:
An Almost Chosen People. Williams chs. 31, 33; Butler conclusion;
Gaustad 467-525, 438-525; II 6-11.
March
5-7 Progressive Protestantism: Intellectual Ferment, and
Missions at Home and Abroad. Williams chs. 21, 32-33; Gaustad
(II) 104-53, 157-94, 308-26, 327-47, 356-66, 395-99.
12-14 Reactions to Modernity: From Fundamentalism to Acres
of Diamonds. Williams chs. 33-35, 39-41; Gaustad (II) 209-220,
237-259, 262-303.
19-21 A Time for Building: European Immigrant Religion
in Transition--Catholics, Eastern Christianity, and Jewish
Denominationalism. Williams chs. 36-38; Gaustad (II) 32-
60, 187-90, 385-394, 400-411, 481-487.
26-28 End of the Protestant Establishment, or Beginning
of the New; From Mainline to Conservative Protestant America.
Williams ch. 42-44; Gaustad (II) 412-418, 456-467, 507-
521, 550-64, 501-509, 618-28.
April
2-4 Coming of Age: Vatican II and American Catholics; American
Jews and the States of Israel; Black Christianity. Williams
chs. 45-49; Gaustad (II) 442-448, 468-480; 488-506, 555-558,
559-564, 590-92, 598.
9-11 Mainstreaming Religions Old and New: Islam, Asian
Traditions and New Religious Movements. Williams chs. 50-52;
Gaustad (II) 85-93, 526-549, 565-569.
18 Religion and the Next Century: A Community of Communities?
Williams ch. 53; Gaustad (II) 570-580, 629-637.
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