English 579. 3 credits
LIU Brooklyn, Fall 2012
Room: M605
Thursdays, 4:00-6:30 pm
Prof. Bernard Schweizer
email: schweizerb@yahoo.com
Office: H475
Office Hours: Tue.&Th. 10am-12
A heretic is one who is designated by the
bishop as a heretic. Since no objective
definition of ‘heretic’ is possible, this
definition was almost inevitable.
--Jeffrey B. Russell
Unholy Writ!
The Literature of Religious Dissent and Unbelief
Description:
This graduate course will focus on literature that is borne out of religious struggle,
spiritual rebellion, or even outright misotheism (God-hatred). We will explore
poetry, fiction, and drama that draws its creative energy and spiritual urgency from
the impulse to subvert or re-write Jewish and Christian religious tenets. Some of the
works we will read are motivated by atheism, others approach the theme of belief
from the perspective of reasoned, theological disputation; yet others marshal
Satanism in order to undermine Biblical teachings; finally, a misotheistic impulse to
protest against a powerful but malign God inspires a number of assigned works.
Questions that will preoccupy us throughout the semester include: what are the
religious targets of these writers? What are the reasons for enlisting creative
literature in the fight against matters of faith? What specific theological claims
underlie the various subversive endeavors? What role can literature play in the
religious arena? What is the relationship between religious subversion and legal
barriers against blasphemy?
Disclaimer:
This course does not endorse a particular religious (or non-religious) stance, be it
atheism, misotheism, polytheism, agnosticism, Catholicism, Protestantism, etc. What
it does is to explore the literary manifestations of ideas rooted in religious dissent
and disbelief.
Assigned Primary Texts:
- Selections from William Blake’s poetry*
- Selection from Shelley’s Queen Mab*
- Selection from Nietzsche’s The Gay Science*
- Selections from poetry by Algernon Charles Swinburne*
- “God’s Funeral” by Thomas Hardy*
- Mark Twain, “The Mysterious Stranger”*
- D.H. Lawrence, The Man Who Died
- Anatole France, Revolt of the Angels
- Elie Wiesel, The Trial of God
- Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God
- James Morrow, Blameless in Abaddon
Assigned Co-texts:
- Bible, “The Book of Job”*
- Selections from Albert Camus’s The Rebel*
- Selection from Paul Copan’s Is God a Moral Monster?*
- Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion*
- Selection from Sam Harris’s Letter to a Christian Nation*
- Selections from Elaine Pagels’s The Origin of Satan*
- Selections from Jeffrey Burton Russell’s Lucifer*
- Selections from Jeffrey Burton Russell’s Satan*
- Mark Twain, “Reflections on Religion”*
- Frans de Waal, “Morality Without God”*
- Rebecca West, “The New God”*
- John Roth, “A Theodicy of Protest”
* Item available in Course Pack
Date
Sept. 6
Sept. 13
Sept. 20
Sept. 27
Oct. 4
Oct. 11
Oct. 18
Oct. 25
Nov. 1
Nov. 8
Nov. 15
Nov. 29
Dec. 6
Dec. 13
Primary Text
Poems by Blake,
Shelley, Swinburne, &
Hardy; Nietzsche.
Lawrence, The Man
Who Died
Lawrence, The Man
Who Died; Twain, The
Mysterious Str.
Twain, The Mysterious
Stranger
Pages
All
Selections
Entire
story
France, Revolt of the
Angels
France, Revolt of the
Angels
Wiesel, The Trial of God
5-108
1-88
89140
109208
Acts
I & II
Wiesel, The Trial of God; Act III
Morrow, Blameless in
Abaddon
1-98
Morrow, Blameless in
99Abaddon
250
Morrow, Blameless in
253Abaddon
404
Goldstein. 36
3-163
Arguments…
Goldstein, 36
164Arguments…
333
Goldstein, 36
334Arguments…
503
Wrapping up
Co-Text
Pages
Schock, Romantic
78-97
Satanism
Pagels (Satan)  35-62
Russell (Lucifer)  282-301
Russell (Lucifer)
Twain, “Reflections
on Religion
Russell (Satan);
Proudhon
West “New God”
32-41; 76-91
30-51
Schweizer
51-79
Entire Select.
Entire
Selection
Introduction
The Book of Job
Russell (Lucifer)
Russell (Satan)
Russell (Satan)
All
306-311
15-29
186-218
Roth (“Theodicy of
Protest”)
Camus, from The
Rebel
Freud, Future of an
Illusion
Harris, Copan, &
Frans de Waal
Entire
selection
Entire
selection
Entire
selection
All selections
Requirements:
1. Two presentations:
A) One presentation on the primary text under discussion. Find one critical
source on this text, summarize it, and take a stance on whether or not you
agree with the argument of the chosen critical source. The critical source can
be a book review, a scholarly essay on the text, or an online publication, but it
has to be a serious, professional contribution. 20%.
B) A second presentation on one of the co-texts. Summarize the argument of
the chosen co-text, then establish a connection or relationship between the
co-text and the primary text currently under discussion. 20%.
Both presentations should be given FREELY, i.e. not read off the paper.
Presentations that are read off can be rhetorical disasters. While it makes it
easier for the presenter, it makes it that much more difficult for the audience
to grasp the presenter’s ideas. You can rely on notes, of course. But do not
rattle off the whole presentation while looking at a prepared text.
You must give the instructor a written summary of the main points of each
presentation afterwards. A copy of the chosen article (for presentation 1) is
to accompany the write-up as well.
2. Write a 3-4 page paper with a personal response to any one of the assigned
primary texts. Reflect on how the text affected your thinking about religion
and how you responded to it. This paper is due on October 25. 20%.
3. Write a final 10-page paper focusing on one of the larger themes treated in
this course. You may choose one of the following themes: theodicy, i.e.
literary treatments of the problem of evil; literature and blasphemy; Satan in
literature; literature and the Book of Job; transcendence and transgression;
and so on… You must use at least two of the assigned primary texts. I
addition, you are to utilize at least two external, secondary sources (either
those provided in the course-pack or sources of your own choosing). The
paper must contain a Works Cited page. An outline of this paper is due on
November 8; the draft is due on November 29; the final paper is due on
December 13. 40%.
Attendance:
Attendance at all class meetings is mandatory. Equally mandatory is completing all
of the reading assignments. If you miss more than 3 classes, you will receive a failing
grade for this course.