Religion 331. The Idea of God

Block 1: September, 2002

Professor David Weddle
Armstrong 139
Office: 389-6615

dweddle@ColoradoCollege.edu

Introduction.  This course undertakes the ambitious task of examining the idea of God as the only single, universal, and eternal reality—Source and Sustainer, Redeemer and Judge, Beginning and End of the universe. Our primary guide will be Karen Armstrong’s A History of God, as she traces the idea through the texts and traditions of the Abrahamic religions. We will reflect on the belief, recurrent in many different cultural settings, of an utterly transcendent God who is nevertheless encountered in personal form. For millennia people have found that belief to be both inspiring and troubling, comforting and terrifying, but above all, indispensable.

Through disciplined concentration, reasoned arguments, ecstatic trances, and prophetic declarations, men and women have sought in God guidance and enlightenment. At its worst, religion degenerates into fatalistic passivity, fanatical intolerance, and sanctioned violence; but at its best, the search for God leads to inner calm and compassion for others. In order to test the moral implications of theology we will consider the relation of the idea of God to our thinking about power and love, justice and evil. Above all, we will keep in mind the mystics’ humble caution that every word about God is only a symbol, a fragmentary code, pointing to the Ultimate Mystery of existence.

            In our own time, however, the idea of God is said to be fading from our consciousness, replaced by the power of science, the insight of psychology, the skepticism of philosophy, and the despair of history. Yet, in this same time, we find ourselves with the familiar human longings for peace within our own souls and for moral order in society: the same desires for individual and communal fulfillment that have been directed for centuries to God. Some of our contemporaries are moved by the revival of religious passion known as “fundamentalism.” But even the most secular among us, in Paul Tillich’s phrase, continue to be “grasped by ultimate concern,” that is, shaken to the core by the question of the meaning of our lives. 

            Is the idea of God relevant to our own search for an answer to that question? Or is “God” merely an elegant echo of past conviction, whispered in the nostalgia of family holidays or shouted in moments of anger and despair?  Even if only as sentiment or curse, the word “God” figures in our discourse, tantalizing yet unsettling—of uncertain significance, yet full of accumulated meaning. This course is designed to help us understand how the idea of God has been construed within monotheistic religions so that we can engage more skillfully in the disciplined work of qeologia, theology: “thoughtful talk about God.”  

Text:  Karen Armstrong, A History of God: The 4,000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam  

Requirements:

            1. Class Participation (20% of the grade).  This class will be conducted as a seminar. In both its Greek and Latin roots, the term refers to a “seed plot,” a fertile ground that requires the hard work of cultivation to yield a mature crop. It is work in which we will all be engaged. You are responsible for being present at each class meeting, ready with questions and observations about the reading. Armstrong’s book contains examples ranging over four millennia of religious history, including special words from several languages. There will be much that is unfamiliar to you, so each class session will begin with an invitation for you to pose questions about any aspect of the reading. You should keep a log of questions as they occur to you while reading or, at the very least, draw question marks in the margin of sections of the texts you find puzzling. We will take as much time as necessary to answer your questions. If you do not find it easy to speak up during class, you may submit your questions in writing beforehand.

            During our discussion, you should not allow conclusions with which you disagree to pass without challenge. The primary goal of this course is to engage you in the careful review of your own opinions and judgments regarding theology. As we proceed through this complex field of study, you will find it impossible to agree with everything we discuss. It is your intellectual responsibility to give voice to your criticisms, as well as to defend ideas that persuade you. You may find it helpful to discuss the material with other students in the class, who will also be struggling to define their beliefs and may welcome your insights.

            This course will require of you careful reading, thoughtful speaking, and precise writing. You will need to arrange your schedule to provide for adequate time to read and reflect on the texts, as well as to keep research notes. There will be no examinations on the readings, but they will be the basis of our discussions. So the quality of your class participation (and grade) will depend upon the care with which you read. It will not be possible in class to “cover” each page of the readings, but you are responsible for whatever material on the syllabus is relevant to your paper. You should take extensive reading notes that you can later incorporate into your paper.

            2. Paper (20%, 20%, 40% of the grade).  The goal of this course is for you to compose, in three progressive stages, a major paper on “The Idea of God.” Your essay should include both a critical analysis of the theological methods and conclu­sions we consider during the term, and also a constructive state­ment of your own understanding of God, as informed by our reflection on the readings. As always in courses in the Department of Religion, you are not required to accept a particular theology or any theology at all. But you are required to develop coherent arguments and offer relevant evidence for your conclusions. In addition:

  You should write in conventional English style, with attention to spelling, syntax, punctuation, and grammar. Consult the Guidelines for Writing Essays. For reasons adduced there, your papers will be judged for technical accuracy, as well as content.

  To avoid any hint of plagiarism, cite the sources of all direct quotations, as well as substantial paraphrases, in endnotes, using the standard format for scholarly writing in the humanities. A formal bibliography should follow the endnotes, listing all sources consulted or referred to in the writing of the paper. Sign the HCU mantra on each draft.

  Drafts of the paper are due on the dates listed in the syllabus. You are expected to respond to comments and criticisms of each draft on subse­quent versions and to incorporate insights, arguments, and evidence from the readings and discussions of the intervening period. You should resubmit the previous draft of the paper along with each subsequent version for the purpose of comparative evaluation.

·  You will find extensive comments regarding both style and content on each of the drafts. These are designed to help you clarify what you are saying as well as how you are expressing your thoughts. You are expected to correct any technical errors that slipped through your proofreading. If you do not understand any problem my annotations refer to, please ask me.

·  My questions or comments about the content of your paper have several purposes: to direct you to further analysis, to suggest sources you may find helpful in developing your position, to raise objections to your argument that you need to address in the paper, to correct erroneous statements or claims, to indicate where you may have contradicted yourself, or to ask for clarification of a term or statement. The paper develops as a dialogue between us. As in any serious conversation, you are not required to adopt anyone else’s views (certainly not mine!), but to develop your own thinking.

·  Consider asking a friend or colleague in this course to proofread your paper before you submit it. Often we become so familiar with an essay in the process of working on it that we overlook errors or let stand passages that are perfectly clear to us but which are unintelligible to another reader. You might even arrange with a classmate to proofread each other’s essays. Even in as highly personal an enterprise as writing your own theology, you will find collaboration of that kind valuable.

  Each essay should have a title page, including your name (which should not appear elsewhere), the title of the paper, the name of the course, and the date. You should also put the title at the top of the first page. Use standard margins and 12-point type. The final paper should be 30 pages long (printed and double-spaced), including endnotes and bibliography. It is due on the final day of the course at noon.

Technical note:  It will be to your advantage to use a word processor to write the paper since each revision may require extensive rewriting. But computers can cause disasters if they are not used carefully. It is imperative that you use a new disk and that you save your work frequently. Also, you should make back-up copies of every­thing and be sure that the proper printer is selected for your program.

Policy regarding late work.  Because of the rigorous schedule of writing in this course, it is practically impossible to accommodate late work. In order for me to review and evaluate your drafts in time for you to complete the rewriting, we must keep to the deadlines in the syllabus. Nevertheless, life does on rare occasions present us with genuine contingencies, utterly unforeseen and profoundly dire emergencies. In those cases, please see me as soon as possible.