REL241
Religions of the World II: The Newer Traditions
Wofford College, Spring 2013
Dr. Dan Mathewson
Office: Main 207
Phone Extension: 4560
Email: mathewsondb@wofford.edu
Office Hours:
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The phrase “religions of the world” is often taken to designate a handful of extremely old and
august religious traditions that have had, and continue to have, a significant number of adherents
– traditions like Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. These “established”
religious traditions, moreover, are often thought to be qualitatively different from those religions
and religious groups of more recent vintage, whose founding figures and sacred texts are not
shrouded by the passage of millennia, but emerged in recent decades and centuries. Into this
latter category fall hundreds of groups – some obscure (e.g., Raelians, Nuwaubians), some well
known (e.g, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Scientologists); some very small (e.g., Heaven’s Gate, Branch
Davidians), some very large (e.g., Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists).
Oftentimes, in mainstream society, the newer religious groups are treated dismissively and
viewed with suspicion, contempt, and/or derision, while the older groups are treated with respect
or at least a grudging tolerance (the recent eruption of Islamophobia in the Western world,
notwithstanding). Scholars of religion note, however, that there is very little that distinguishes
the older religions qualitatively from the newer ones: one the one hand, every religious tradition
has been new at some point in history; on the other hand, most of the so-called newer religious
traditions originated from one of the older religious traditions – just as some of the older
religious traditions, themselves, originated from yet earlier religious traditions, too (for example,
Christianity from Judaism, Islam from Christianity and Judaism, Buddhism from Hinduism,
etc.). The ongoing presence throughout history of newer religious traditions illustrates an
important historical truth about religious traditions: they are not timeless and changeless entities,
but are constantly shifting and developing as they adapt themselves to the needs of individuals
and societies in disparate historical and geographical contexts.
This course will emphasize this important feature of religion by focusing on a handful of newer
religious traditions – ones that emerged in the 19th Century or later, have undergone significant
expansion, and now have a global presence. Specifically, we will focus on four main traditions:
Mormonism, Adventism, the Jehovah’s Witnesses tradition, and the Baha’i faith. The first three
trace their origins to the the19th Century American frontier and the patterns of Christianity that
emerged there; the latter traces its origins to 19th Century Persia and the Twelver (or Ithna
’Ashariyya) branch of Shi’a Islam. All four spread around the globe from their countries of
origin; all four have an important presence in the Carolinas; and all four can be found even in
Spartanburg.
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Before we can properly appreciate these four as rich and full religious traditions, we first need to
develop a robust understanding of religion, in general, and religion’s function as a locus of
human identity and meaning formation. During the first part of the course, we will focus our
attention on developing this robust understanding of religion; we will turn our attention to the
four newer traditions explicitly only in the second part of the course after we have given
attention to this more basic issue.
Here is what I hope you will come to understand after having taken this course:
1. A broad and full understanding of religion and religion’s place in identity formation and
meaning construction;
2. The Mormon, Adventist, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Baha’i traditions as specific and
distinct examples of this broad and full understanding of religion;
3. Religious traditions as entities undergoing constant transformation and development;
4. A general grasp of the basic history, doctrines, scriptural traditions, and rituals of
Mormonism, Adventism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Baha’i.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS
Richard Lyman Bushman, Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford UP,
2008).
Frederick J. Ruf, Bewildered Travel: The Sacred Quest for Confusion (Charlottesville: U of
Virginia P, 2007).
Many other readings are on e-reserve or are to be read online.
REQUIRED SOFTWARE: Moodle
We will use Moodle for the following purposes in this course:
1. For me to post instructions for written assignments (see below)
2. For you to turn in written assignments (no hard copies, please!)
3. For me to return to you graded assignments
4. To communicate and/or disseminate certain assigned readings
COURSEWORK AND GRADES
Attendance and Participation
This grade is made up of two parts:
Class participation: I expect that you will come to class each day prepared to participate
in class discussion. The key element of your preparation will involve completing the
assigned readings carefully.
Class Attendance: An accumulation of absences from class will affect your grade
adversely. You are permitted two unexcused absences to use at your discretion (job
interviews, doctor’s appointments, studying, long weekends, sleeping in, etc.). You will
not be penalized for excused absences (officially sponsored Wofford events, illness).
Each unexcused absence beyond two will result in a deduction of a single point (out of a
total of 10) from your attendance and participation grade.
Attendance and participation comprise 12% of your final grade.
In-Class Writing Assignments
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During Part One of the course I will ask you to complete several short in-class writing
assignments. These assignments will ask you to reflect on elements of the assigned readings. I
will collect your writings at the end of class and I will read them and grade them on a pass/halfpass/fail basis. An assignment will receive a passing grade if you demonstrate in your writing
that you completed the assigned reading and that you reflected upon it carefully, as directed by
the in-class writing assignment. An assignment will receive a failing grade if your writing shows
that you did not complete the assigned reading, or if you fail to follow the assignment
instructions. An assignment will receive a half-pass if it’s on the borderline between a pass and a
fail.
In-Class Writing Assignments will comprise 5% of your final grade. If you pass all of the writing
assignments, you will receive the full 5%. If you fail one assignment total, you will receive 4%.
If you two assignments total, you will receive 3%, etc.
Two half-passes are the equivalent of one fail. Thus, if you half-pass two assignments and pass
all of the others, you will receive 4%.
Pop-Quizzes:
There will be an un-predetermined number of pop-quizzes during the second part of the course,
when we turn our attention to our main religious traditions. The quizzes will contain a few
questions that will gauge whether or not you completed the readings that were assigned.
I will drop your lowest pop-quiz grade at the end of the semester if you have completed four or
more quizzes. Missed quizzes cannot be made up. If we have more than four quizzes but you
miss enough quizzes such that you only have three on record, your lowest quiz grade will not be
dropped.
Pop-quizzes will be worth 8% of your final grade.
Terms Quizzes:
There will be a total of three Terms Quizzes during the semester, one each for the Mormon,
Adventist-Jehovah’s Witnesses tradition, and Baha’i traditions. The quizzes will have (likely) a
fill-in-the-blank format. The three quizzes will not all be of the same length and they will count
proportionally toward your Terms Quiz grade.
Terms Quizzes will be worth 10% of your final grade.
Short Papers:
You will be required to write a total of two short papers, which will be between 2.5-3.5 pages
long, unless you are instructed otherwise. I will post to Moodle specific instructions about each
paper, including grading rubrics, closer to their due dates. All short papers must be posted to
Moodle before the beginning of the class on which they are due. If you fail to turn your paper in
on time, I will deduct a half letter grade for each 24-hour period your paper is late.
The short papers will be worth 20% of your final grade.
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Exams
There will be two exams, a midterm and a final, which will be cumulative.
 Midterm Exam:
The midterm will be a take home essay-exam and will focus on the first textbook
we read, Ruf’s Bewildered Travel. You will have 48 hours to complete the exam
and to post it to Moodle. If you turn in your exam late, your grade will be reduced
a half-letter per hour late (e.g., a two-hour late B+ quality exam will receive a B-).
You must work on this exam on your own; you may not consult with anyone else,
classmate or not. I will post more specific instructions about this exam on Moodle
closer to the exam date. The Midterm will be worth 15% of your final grade.
 Final Exam:
The final exam will be an in-class exam at the scheduled exam timeslot during
exam week. This exam will have an objective section (term identifications, short
paragraph answers) and an essay. I will provide you a study guide for this exam.
The final exam will be worth 20% of your final grade.
Site Visit Report:
An introduction to world religions would not be complete without the firsthand experience of
worship in different religious traditions. To this end, you must attend worship services in two of
the religious traditions we will examine this semester. These site visits will culminate in a 4-5
page (double-spaced) discussion of your experience of worship in the two traditions.
At the beginning of Part Two of the course, I will post to Moodle more specific instructions
about the Site Visit Reports.
The site visit report is worth 10% of the final grade. Essays handed in late will result in a
reduction of your grade: one day late will reduce an ‘A’ paper to an ‘A-’; two days late will
reduce the same paper to a ‘B+’; etc. (A 24-hour “day” will be calculated the same way as for the
portfolios.)
If you fail to attend worship services at the two places, you will receive an F on this assignment.
DUE DATE:
All site visit reports are due on the last day of class, May 10. You are free, however, to do your
site visits at any point during the semester. If you plan to visit an unfamiliar place of worship that
we have not yet covered in class, you should discuss this with me before you go.
Grading Breakdown:
Attendance/Participation
In-Class Writing
Readings Pop Quizzes
Terms Quizzes
Short Papers
Site Visit Report
12%
5%
8%
10%
20%
10%
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Midterm Exam
Final Exam
15%
20%
HONOR CODE: I expect you to abide by Wofford's Honor Code. See the link "Avoiding
Plagiarism" on Wofford's library page at http://libguides.wofford.edu/citesources.
PART 1: UNDERSTANDING RELIGION
Feb 4
Course Introduction
Feb 6
Religion in Contemporary America
Reading: Diana Eck, A New Religious America: How a “Christian Country” Has Become the
World’s Most Religiously diverse Nation, 1-25 (on e-reserve)
Feb 8
“Strange” Religions
Reading:
•Stephen J. Stein, Communities of Dissent: A History of Alternative Religions in America, 2-12
(on e-reserve)
•Barbara Bradley Hagerty, “Is the End Nigh? We’ll Know Soon Enough,” NPR (you can either
listen to the story or read the article)
•Barbara Bradley Hagerty, “Doomsday Believers Cope with an Intact World, NPR (you can
either listen to the story or read the article)
Feb 11
What Religion Does: Orientations and Surfaces
Reading: Ruf, 1-22
Feb 13
Ruptures and Religion
Reading: Ruf, 22-33
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Feb 15
Arnoldian Travel and Self-Improvement
Reading: Ruf, 34-54
Feb 18
Religious Tourist vs. Religious Traveler
No Class (I need to attend the Board of Trustees’ meeting)
Reading: Ruf, 55-65 + assignment on Moodle
Feb 20
Religious Tourist vs. Religious Traveler
Reading: Ruf, 65-71
Feb 22
The Post-Colonial “Other”
Reading: Ruf, 71-80
Viewing: Southpark, “All About Mormons”
Due: Short Paper #1 (instructions will be posted in Moodle)
Feb 25
Religious “Pathology”
Reading: Ruf, 81-106
Feb 27
Religious Strangers
Reading: Ruf, 107-142
Mar 1
Religious Guides
Reading: Ruf, 143-159
Mar 4
6
Sacred Space
Reading: Ruf, 160-191
Mar 6
Exam #1
PART 2: NEWER WORLD RELIGIOUS
A.NEW RELIGIONS WITH CHRISTIAN ROOTS
Mar 8
Evangelicalism:
The Great Awakenings
Randall Balmer, The Making of Evangelicalism: From Revivalism to Politics and Beyond, 1-25
(on e-reserve)
Mar 11
Evangelicalism:
19th Century Frontier Religion and the Burnt Over District
Reading:
•www.teachushistory.org, “Religious Revivals and Revivalism in 1830s New England”
If you’re interested in the reading more about the wild and crazy camp meetings of the 19th
century, see the following:
•Winthrop S. Hudson, “Shouting Methodists”
•Andrew Reed and James Matheson, A Narrative of the Visit to the American Churches, by the
deputation from the Congregational Union of England and Wales, 187-197, 203-205
And, because you’re in college, you should read this 1830s account of a small town in
Massachusetts where “The drinking habit had been universal.” Let this be a lesson to you…
Mar 13
Mormonism:
Joseph Smith and Mormonism’s Founding Mythology
Reading: Bushman, 8-13; 16-34
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Mar 15
Mormonism:
Zion and Missionary Activity
Reading: Bushman, 35-48
Mar 18
Mormonism:
19th Century Development
Reading: Bushman, 81-102
Mar 20
Mormonism:
Priesthood
Reading: Bushman, 49-63
Mar 22
Mormonism:
Cosmology
Reading: Bushman, 64-80
Mormon Terms Quiz
Mar 25
Mormonism:
In-Class Film, “Mormonism” (PBS; we’ll watch a couple parts of the film)
Reading: Bushman, 103-116
Mar 27
No Class! (I’m at a conference in D.C.)
Mar 29
No Class! (I’m at a conference in D.C.)
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April 1
Spring Break
April 3
Spring Break
April 5
Spring Break
Apr 8
Mormonism:
Visit to Class by Casey Eichhorn, Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
Spartanburg, Second Ward
April 10
Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses:
Millerites and Early Adventists
Reading: Paul K. Conkin, American Originals: Homemade Varieties of Christianity, 110-133 (on
e-reserve)
Due: Paper #2 (instructions will be posted in Moodle)
April 12
Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses:
The Birth of the Jehovah’s Witnesses
Reading: Paul K. Conkin, American Originals: Homemade Varieties of Christianity, 134-159 (on
e-reserve)
April 15
Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses:
Reading: Andrew Holden, Jehovah’s Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious
Movement, 58-77 (on e-reserve)
April 17
Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses:
Millennial Vision
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Reading: Andrew Holden, Jehovah’s Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious
Movement, 82-97 (on e-reserve)
April 19
Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses:
In-Class Film: “Knocking”
B.NEW RELIGION WITH ISLAMIC ROOTS
April 12
Baha’i Faith:
Muslim Background: Prophets and Progressive Revelation
Adventism and Jehovah’s Witnesses Terms Quiz
Reading:
•Willard G. Oxtoby, ed., World Religions: Western Traditions, 348-354 (read the sections
entitled, “Prophets and Messengers” and “The Five Major Prophets”)
April 22
Baha’i Faith:
Muslim Background: Muhammad
Reading: John L. Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path, 2-14
April 24
Baha’i Faith:
Background: Twelver Shiism and 19th Century Persian Babism
Reading:
•Jamal J. Elias, Islam, 35-43
•Peter Smith, The Baha’i Religion: A Short Introduction to Its History and Teaching, 1-3
April 26
Baha’i Faith:
Progressive Revelation and Messengers
Reading: Peter Smith, An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith, 106-113; 124-132 (on e-reserve)
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April 29
Baha’i Faith:
Baha’u’llah, Abdu’l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi, Universal House of Justice
Reading:
•Peter Smith, The Baha’i Religion: A Short Introduction to Its History and Teaching, 3-14 (on ereserve)
•Peter Smith, An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith, 99-105 (on e-reserve)
•Abdul Baha, “Words Spoken by Abdu’l-Baha in Pastor Wagner’s Church (Foyer de l’Ame) in
Paris,” 86-88 (in Smith, Baha’i Religion) (on e-reserve)
May 1
Baha’i Faith:
Millennial Vision
Reading: Peter Smith, An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith, 133-147 (on e-reserve)
May 3
Baha’i Faith:
Spirituality and Community Life
Reading: Peter Smith, An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith, 151-164 (on e-reserve)
May 6
Baha’i Faith:
Visit to Class by Laurie Barnett, Leader of the Henderson County Baha’i Spiritual Assembly
May 8
Baha’i Faith:
Discussion, Questions
Baha’i Terms Quiz
May 10
Course Wrap-Up
Due: Site Visit Report
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