TRS 121: Belief and Unbelief/Spring, 2013
Classroom: D120
Prof. Paul Giurlanda
Office: Dante 326 (Office hours are posted on my office door, as are
other announcements and cool cartoons.)
Email: pgiurlan@stmarys-ca.edu
Are you interested in any of these questions?
Is there a God?
If so, so what?
If not, so what?
Is the universe benign, malign or just indifferent?
Is there a life after death, and if so, do I need to bring along a change of
underwear?
Are you capable of serious, sustained intellectual inquiry? Read on!
By the end of the course, I hope and expect that you will be able to:
Explain, either orally or in writing, to an intelligent person, some of the major
arguments offered against religious faith
Explain, either orally or in writing, the responses of a person of faith might offer to
those arguments.
[More specifically] Set the thought of atheists like Camus and Sam Harris in
dialogue with religious believers like Tillich (Dynamics of Faith) and Gregory
Ganssle (A Reasonable God: Engaging the New Atheists).
Offer a reasoned agreement or disagreement with William James in his updating
of Pascal’s wager that demonstrates you have understood his (often
misunderstood) main point in his lecture, “The Will to Believe.”
Course Requirements:
1. Five 25 point objective tests
2. Midterm paper of 4 to 5 pages
3. Final paper of 6 to 8 pages
Honor code:
125
50
100
You may be aware that, as a college, we have created an “honor code” system
for dealing with violations of academic integrity. For more information:
http://smcnet.stmarys-ca.edu/ahc/
For the moment, you need to know that I will not tolerate any forms of academic
dishonesty. If you’re not clear what “academic dishonesty” means, consult the
website. There’s an old legal principle: “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” In a
nutshell: if you write something, unless you tell me differently, I assume that it’s
your production, not your best friend’s or roommate’s or that of a writer you’ve
read. Learn the principles of citation and use them in any paper you write.
Attendance Policy
1. Absences, whatever their reason, have a negative effect on learning,
especially in a course like this one, which depends on student/student and
student/professor interaction.
2. There is no distinction between excused and unexcused absence;
however, I would appreciate it if you would let me know when you’re not going to
be in class.
Cell phone Policy
These should be PUT AWAY, TURNED OFF and NOT VISIBLE. If I have to
tell you to put away your phone, I’ll put a dreaded “CP” on your attendance
card. Two of these = one point deduction on final grade. This could be the
difference between B- and B, for example.
Participation
1. This involves a lot more than bodily presence. Participating in the class
means contributing to the learning process and thus making the classroom
experience a positive one for all. I look for the following markers:
a. having the right book for the day’s discussion
b. asking good questions & being ready to answer some
c. remaining focused in class (no cells, laptops, etc.)
d. not initiating or participating in cross-talk
e. being on time
f. being respectful of other students and professor
2. Admittedly, judging participation is somewhat subjective, so I will use a rather
coarse scale:
Average:
Above average:
Below average:
no effect on grade
three pts. addition to final grade
three pts. deduction from final grade
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Required Texts:
Camus, Albert. “The Myth of Sisyphus.” (Essay) in The Myth of Sisyphus and
Other Essays. New York: Knopf Doubleday, 1991. (Available on-line at
http://www.kdtamre.com/camus)
Camus, Albert. The Plague. New York: Random House, 1991.
Ganssle, Gregory, A Reasonable God: Engaging the New Face of Atheism.
Waco: Baylor University Press, 2009.
Harris, Sam, The End of Faith. New York: Norton, 2005.
James, William. Varieties of Religious Experience. Barnes and Noble Classics,
2004.
James, Will to Believe and Other Essays. New York: Dover, 1956. (Photocopied
selections; all of this book is in the public domain and available on-line.)
Steinfels, Peter, “Further Adrift: The American Church’s Crisis of Attrition.”
Commonweal, October 22, 2010.
Tillich, Paul, Dynamics of Faith. New York: Harper, 1957.
Various photocopied materials.
Suggested Resources:
Allen, Woody, dir. Bullets over Broadway. 1994. [Film]
Allen, Woody, dir. Crimes and Misdemeanors. 1989. [film]
Allen, Woody, dir. Match Point, 2005. [Film]
Bruce Beresford, dir., Black Robe. 1991. [Film]
Endo, Shusaku. Silence. New York: Taplinger, 1980. [Novel]
Mendes, Samuel, dir. American Beauty. 1999. [Film]
Required (and most of the suggested) resources are on reserve.
A note on citation. Note that the above bibliography is in MLA style. If you go
to the SMC library webpage, then click on “Research” (left column), then on
“Citing Information” (right column), you will then be directed to the MLA style
guide. YOU MAY ALSO USE THE CHICAGO STYLE GUIDE, which makes use
of footnotes. This was the style I learned in graduate school, and I tend to prefer
it. I’m switching to MLA just because it seems to be more popular now.
However, you can follow either the MLA style or the Chicago style in ALL your
papers unless otherwise notified by me. Failure to do this will result in a lower
grade.
Handing in Papers/Late Paper Policy
Papers are to be handed in on time, in printed out form, not emailed (and NEVER
faxed). A paper handed in late will be penalized five points for each class it’s
late. Athletes and others in special circumstances may request to email their
papers.
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Schedule of Assignments
On this day:
February 6
February 8
February 10
You must have read:
First day of
Spring Term!
Peter Steinfels article, “Further Adrift: The
American Church’s Crisis of Attrition”
(photocopied)
Harris, Chapter One, “Reason in Exile”
February 13
February 15
Camus, 3-33
Harris, Chapter Two, “The Nature of
Belief”
February 17
Harris, Chapter Three, “In the Shadow of
God”
Camus, finish Part One
Harris, Chapter Six, “A Science of Good
and Evil”
Harris, Chapter Seven, “Experiments in
Consciousness”
Camus, 67-99 (end of Paneloux’s sermon)
Test on Harris
Camus, 100-130
Camus, finish Part Two
(SKIP PART THREE!) Camus, 189-219
Camus, 220-257
Camus, END
Test on Camus
Ganssle, Intro + ch. 1
Ganssle, ch. 2
Ganssle, ch. 3
Ganssle, ch. 4
Ganssle, ch. 5
Ganssle, chapter six
Ganssle, chapter seven plus “A Modest
Conclusion”
February 20
February 22
February 24
February 27
February 29
March 2
March 5
March 7
March 9
March 12
March 14
March 16
March 19
March 21
March 23
March 26
March 28
March 30
April 11
April 13
April 16
Drop/Add Period
ENDS
Last day to turn
in Drop/Add
form.
Mid-term week
Mid-term paper
due; Easter
break starts on
Saturday, the
31st
Test on Ganssle
Tillich, chapter one
Tillich chapter two
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April 18
April 20
April 23
Tillich, chapter three
Tillich, chapter four
Tillich, chapter five
April 25
April 27
April 30
Tillich, chapter six
Test on Tillich
William James, “The Will to Believe”
(essay)
William James, “Is Life Worth Living?”
James, Chapter 18 from Varieties of
Religious Experience
James, Chapter 19 from Varieties
James, Chapter 20 from Varieties
Test on James
Final Exam Time, 11:30 to 1:30
May 2
May 4
May 7
May 9
May 11
May 14
Last Day for P/F
Grading
Easter Recess
Final Paper Due
A note on the midterm and final papers:
One of my goals this semester is to work with you in writing an excellent final
paper. The general topic of your mid-term paper will be “A philosophical and/or
theological comparison of Camus’ The Plague and Harris.” I think you can
examine these two authors from a) a strictly philosophical perspective (what is
their view of reality and life) and also b) from a theological perspective (how do
they view the possibility that life has a supernatural or religious meaning). I can’t
emphasize enough that your first paragraph needs to tell us a) WHAT you intend
to do and b) HOW you intend to do it.
Did I mention that your first paragraph you need to your reader a) WHAT you
intend to do and b) HOW you intend to do it?
I’d like to clarify another point often made murky by professors, and it’s this: a
paper that simply repeats class discussion or simply re-tells the story of a
novel or text is a boring paper, in my view. I assume you already have the
read the material and understood it, at least on a basic level. The purpose of
your paper is to go deeper than that, show original (though grounded) thought,
and not to bore the pants off your beloved professor.
I’ll pass out a set of suggested final paper topics later; however, just to give you
a head start, I’ll tell you that I’m partial to papers which incorporate films, and I’m
a big admirer of the films above. They’re on reserve, and start watching them
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now. I would suggest starting with Crimes and Misdemeanors. As you watch
these films, take notes and ask yourself questions.
Your final paper will offer you choices, one of which is to respond to the defenses
of religious faith (and in Ganssle’s case a direct response to Harris) offered by
Ganssle and Harris, and to an extent, William James. (Whether James might be
considered a “Christian” is debatable, but that he defends religious faith is not.)
More on that later.
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