African American Religion, Introduction – Mon 10/22

by admin - October 22nd, 2012

Reading: Charles H. Long, “African American Religion in the United States of America: An Interpretive Essay” (found on Blackboard PDF)

Relevant Links to Use in Class (not part of the pre-class readings):

The Ringshout and the Birth of African American Religion, PBS (6:51)
Georgia Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters, Part II (10:13)
African American Spirituals, PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly 5/4/2012 (8:35)
A Closer Look at Black Liberation Theology, NPR/ Barbara Bradley Hagerty 3/18/2008 (3:45)
Anthony Bradley, Black Liberation Theology, the One-Minute Apologist (1:44)
Mary, Did You Know? Black Nativity (Langston Hughes) (2:58)
Doing Black Liberation Theology in the Age of Obama, academic panel at the Schomburg Center with Howard Dodson, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., Dr. Obery Hendricks, and Dr. Anthea Butler

The Site Visit Digital Project

by admin - October 14th, 2012

This week we’re working on the Site Visit digital project. Everyone’s site visit should be done and you should be working on the write-up and the congregational profile. We will spend class time doing this on Monday and Wednesday; I would advise bringing laptops both days.

Also – for Monday 10/15, please glance through/read this report from the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) by J. Gordon Melton, “American Religion’s Mega-Trends” over the last 40 years. How many of these mega-trends do you think are at work in Worcester? Do you see evidence of them in your field research with a local congregation? How has the religious landscape changed in Worcester in the last several decades and how can our collective documentation efforts help not only our own understanding but that of other scholars who are interested in Worcester’s history and culture?

There’s a new Friday Forum open for 10/19 on Blackboard – please be checking your news feeds for interesting recent religion news and contributing to the forums, either online or in class by bringing something ready to discuss.

Unit 3: Worcester’s Religious Landscape – Then and Now

by admin - October 10th, 2012

In this unit, we’re starting with a look at two cities where religious pluralism gains a toehold in the era of massive European immigration. On Wed 10/10 we glanced at Chicago in the 1890s, site of the Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the World Parliament of Religions. On Fri 10/12 we will look at Worcester around the same time period and consider the essential debates that such immigration caused in American cities like Worcester – and the effect of those arrivals on the religious landscape of our city.

Throughout this unit, you’ll be writing and preparing to post your analysis of a local religious organization or congregation on the Digital Worcester archive, and that will hopefully give us a better sense of the religious landscape of the early 21st century in our locality.

For Fri 10/12 – please READ and BRING Diana Eck’s article “In the Name of Religions” (posted to Blackboard in Unit 3) as well as adding to, or prepping for, our 4th Friday Forum.

Re-examining Religious Freedom

by admin - October 2nd, 2012

As we finish up The Myth of American Religious Freedom, think about these questions –

Sehat paints the “moral establishment” as implicitly state-sanctioned, coercive, and relatively monolithic in the 19th century. Are all of those characteristics also true for the 20th century? What are the key features of the religious landscape today? Is there still a “moral establishment” in our time, and in what arenas might it be powerful or weak?

Sehat tells much of the story of the last 50 years through the lens of Supreme Court cases. Could you discuss his argument for the fragmentation of a Protestant moral establishment and the mis-use of history by both sides in the culture wars using some other lens?

After having read the book, do you agree (based on what evidence) that American religious freedom is a myth? Remember, myths can have powerful functions in culture – labeling something a myth may not make it “wrong” or worth dismissing, but might instead help us explain its staying power and coherence. Myths reflect and even shape reality and give narrative structure to history.

To what extent do you, personally, experience degrees of religious freedom and unfreedom? Which of the people, events, court cases, or themes in this book connected with your own identity as an American?

Important Reminders:

The Unit 2 exam on Friday will be a take-home test. You will receive it by email on Thursday 10/4 by 9pm and it will also be posted to Blackboard. It will be due by 10 am on Monday 10/8 (Columbus Day, no class). The next time we meet will be Wed 10/10 and the reading is Diana Eck, “In the Name of Religions,” which is posted to Blackboard. Please make sure to complete your site visit by Mon 10/8.

Fragmentation – Sehat Part IV for Mon 10/1

by admin - October 1st, 2012

Monday’s discussion on Sehat Chs 9-12 will take us through a grand sweep of the 20th century, covering these topics:

the rise of the corporation and “rival systems of authority,” particularly in the modern university

the challenge of socialism and labor radicalism to the moral order and to jurisprudence

competing “moral visions” in the 1910s and the limits of free speech and civil liberties

the context of growing American diversity and what that means for states, courts, churches, and governments

the development of distinct Protestant factions (evangelical, liberal, and fundamentalist, among others)

a cultural context of anti-Communism that begins, really, in the 1930s and lasts for something like six decades

social upheaval of the 1960s, as seen through the lens of the Warren court

a profound conservative realignment that ignited “culture wars” at the end of the 20th century

…it’s a lot. Don’t get mired in the details so much as look for the overarching argument. What are the broad brushstrokes that Sehat is painting here about American thought, society and religion in the modern age? If this is cultural fragmentation, where (and when) were the fault lines? Who emerges in your reading as the heroes, key cultural figures, or important inflection points in twentieth century American religious history?

Challengers and Outsiders

by admin - September 24th, 2012

Sehat has introduced us to challengers to the Protestant moral establishment’s cultural hegemony, including radical abolitionists and female suffrage advocates. For Wednesday’s class, read and respond to some documents from two other groups who affronted Protestant moral sensibilities in antebellum America: the Oneida community and the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

The documents are posted on Blackboard under “Unit 2.” I’ve also opened up a new Friday Forum on Blackboard.

There is a 2-3 page response paper due Wednesday. Respond to some or all of these questions, or use your own sparked by the reading –

What kinds of “challengers” to the moral establishment were the Oneida “free lovers” and Mormon polygamists? And how did each of these groups represent themselves as moral, virtuous, and utterly American?

And/or

Why did both of these groups have roots in upstate New York (not coincidentally, the site of the Seneca Falls women’s rights convention) – i.e. what is so religiously generative about that part of the country in the mid-19th century?

Unit 2: Is American Religious Freedom a Myth?

by admin - September 17th, 2012

In this unit, we’re using David Sehat’s ambitious and provocative new book to talk about the concepts of religious freedom and pluralism in American history. We’ll read the entire book over the course of this unit and get to know its argument well. This is not a “textbook” in the conventional sense, so you shouldn’t read it only for historical content but also for scholarly argument and interpretation.

For Wed 9/19
– read the introduction (pp. 1-10) and Mark Douglas McGarvie’s review of Sehat’s book, published in the October 2011 issue of the American Historical Review. (Both of these are also posted on Blackboard in the Unit 2 section). Write a response paper (2-3 typed double-spaced pages, due in class) addressing one or more of these discussion questions, and be prepared to discuss them on Wed (bring the book with you to class, obviously).

How does Sehat define American religious freedom as a “threefold myth”?

With whom (or what) is Sehat arguing? In other words, why does he claim this book matters?

Describe the dominant narrative of American religious liberty. How does Sehat propose to dismantle this stubbornly persistent, and in fact rather important, set of claims about the past?

What purpose do these myths serve, according to Sehat? Do you agree or not? Based on what evidence?

Characterize McGarvie’s response to this book. How does he see it fitting into other recent scholarship on religion and law?

What are your initial responses to these readings? Where do you hope this book goes, or what are your guesses about what is (or should be) in it?

Mon 9/17 – the Site Visit Project

by admin - September 17th, 2012

Updated: Today we talked about the site visit project. I’ve created a tab for it on the site (above) – it contains the information for the project and PDFs of the guidelines, rubric and forms. Over the next few days I will create a template for the project and upload that as a Word document you can type directly into.

The project is based on the Pluralism Project, a multidisciplinary documentation project at Harvard University led by Dr. Diana Eck. I also mentioned a Worcester T&G article that is along the lines of what we’re after with a congregational profile, “Park Congregational, Ghana Wesley Churches Thrive” (2/27/12) to give you a flavor for some of the local diversity in our home community.

Unit 1 Exam

by admin - September 13th, 2012

For Friday’s in-class (but closed-note) exam, be prepared to:

Define these terms: Pluralism, relativism, exclusivism, inclusivism, synthesis, civil religion, ecclesial v. popular/lived religion, theology, the 4 c’s (creed, code, cultus, community)

Discuss or identify the documents from this unit (author, time period, basic circumstances) and explain why each is significant as an example of American religious history. Be able to characterize what the author is saying and what it means for the nation as a whole. This might take the form of comparing 2 documents from different time periods.

Identify and/or explain the two religion clauses of the First Amendment.

Explain Ann Braude’s argument that Women’s History is American Religious History.

Core Concepts and Documents: Wed 9/12 and Fri 9/14

by admin - September 11th, 2012

On Monday we covered some definitions: religion (both the generic concept of religion and some recognizable markers of “a religion”), diversity and various possible responses to diversity: exclusivism, inclusivism, relativism, synthesis, and pluralism.

We ended with the idea of “civil religion,” that in America the nation itself has sacred symbols and rituals, and can be thought of as an object of veneration and even worship. For some scholars, notably Robert Bellah who popularized Rousseau’s phrase in 1967, “civil religion” has been a powerful unifying force in American identity. Not everyone agrees with this idea (one of our assigned books, The Myth of American Religious Freedom finds the notion of civil religion problematic if not outright false), but it has been a compelling theory nonetheless and many find that it helps explain the persistence and coherence of a common national identity, one infused with religious language despite being officially secular. You might explore the Wikipedia article on “American Civil Religion,” as it decently explains this idea in useful shorthand.

For Wednesday, we will take a close look at the eight documents I’ve chosen to represent American religious history or civil religion’s “greatest hits.” Let’s be able to describe the main idea, cite a key quote, or explain the importance of each one in our class discussion. A table or set of index card flash cards might help you organize your thoughts and notes on these important documents and prepare for the exam on Friday.

(PS – FYI, an alternative set of texts, but in the same vein as what we’re after in our discussion, can be found here)