Spring 2012 Rel 2096 Section 001 MWF 8:00-8:50am Tuttleman 405A
Instructor: Holly Gorman
Email: holly.gorman@temple.edu
Office: Anderson 638
Cell: 443 745 6514
Email is the best way to reach me; I will generally respond within 24 hours.
Office Hours: Mon/Fri 10-11:30 or by appointment.
Course Description
The central goal of this course is to provide an introduction to the academic study of death, dying, and grief in the field of comparative religion. To that end, we will explore the beliefs and rituals of different religious groups in approaching death, as well as explore contemporary issues surrounding death from a multidisciplinary perspective. Students will be expected to keep an open mind about different religions’ beliefs and practices that may differ widely from their own. The course will include both lecture and discussion, with course readings setting the tone of discussion. Additionally, there will be flexibility to address in a critical and reflective manner issues arising from contemporary events and student experience. This course fulfills the Writing Intensive requirement.
Course Goals
By the end of the course, the successful student will:

Be aware of a variety of approaches to death, dying, and remembering the dead

Engage with questions and debates surrounding death in contemporary America

Critically reflect upon the relationship between social structures and human death beliefs and practices


Synthesize information about the beliefs and death rites of different religions in order to make an argument

Display the ability to critically engage and utilize academic sources

Clearly express ideas in writing
A Cautionary Note: The subject matter we are addressing is potentially very sensitive and painful and will require students’ willingness to confront deeply held attitudes and emotions that surround death and dying. If you do not think that you can handle this type of material in an academic setting, please reconsider your participation. If you find troublesome issues arising during the course of the semester, I recommend seeking assistance through the University’s Tuttleman Counseling Center
( http://www.temple.edu/studentaffairs/counseling/ ).
Required Texts
Death and Religion in a Changing World , ed. Kathleen Garces-Foley ( DRCW )
Additional readings, available on Blackboard
Assignments
Course Engagement
Reading Quizzes
Film Response Paper
10 points
10 points
5 points
Religion Response Papers
Team Presentation
Annotated Bibliography
Peer Review of Final Paper
Rough Draft of Final Paper
Final Paper
15 points (3 x 5 points each)
15 points
10 points
5 points
5 points
25 points
Total Possible Points 100 points
Full descriptions and rubrics for all assignments are available on Blackboard.
Breakdown of Grade:
A = 93-100 A- = 90-92 B+ = 88-89 B = 83-87 B- = 80-82 C+ = 78-79
C = 73-77 C- = 70-72 D+ = 68-69 D = 60-67 F = 59 and below
Course Policies
Disability Statement: This course is open to all students who meet the academic requirements for participation.
Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible. Contact
Disability Resources and Services at 215-204-1280 in 100 Ritter Annex to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.
Academic Freedom:
Members of Temple’s faculty are encouraged to include the two sentences that follow in their syllabi: “Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom. The University has adopted a policy on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and

Responsibilities (Policy # 03.70.02) which can be accessed through the following link: http://policies.temple.edu/getdoc.asp?policy_no=03.70.02
.”
Those two sentences do not, of course, interpret themselves. If you would like to learn more about academic freedom in the United States and about the forces that imperil it, you could consult books such as Bok’s
Universities in the Marketplace
, Washburn’s
University, Inc
., Hofstadter’s
Anti-intellectualism in American Life , Schrecker’s No Ivory Tower , and Smith’s Killing the Spirit .
Policy on Religious Holidays: If you will be observing any religious holidays this semester which will prevent you from attending a regularly scheduled class or interfere with fulfilling any course requirement, your instructor will offer you an opportunity to make up the class or course requirement if you make arrangements by informing your instructor of the dates of your religious holidays within two weeks of the beginning of the semester (or three days before any holidays which fall within the first two weeks of class).
Policy on Electronic Devices: Electronic devices (cell phones, iPods, laptops, etc) must be turned off during class except with special permission from your instructor
Policy on Academic Honesty: The section in italics is quoted verbatim from the Temple University
Bulletin from 2006-2007 and applies to this academic year as well:
Temple University believes strongly in academic honesty and integrity. Plagiarism and academic cheating are, therefore, prohibited. Essential to intellectual growth is the development of independent thought and a respect for the thoughts of others. The prohibition against plagiarism and cheating is intended to foster this independence and respect.
Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person's labor, another person's ideas, another person's words, or another person's assistance. Normally, all work done for courses -- papers, examinations, homework exercises, laboratory reports, oral presentations -- is expected to be the individual effort of the student presenting the work. Any assistance must be reported to the instructor. If the work has entailed consulting other resources -- journals, books, or other media -- these resources must be cited in a manner appropriate to the course. It is the instructor's responsibility to indicate the appropriate manner of citation. Everything used from other sources -- suggestions for organization of ideas, ideas themselves, or actual language -- must be cited. Failure to cite borrowed material constitutes plagiarism. Undocumented use of materials from the World Wide Web is plagiarism.
Academic cheating is, generally, the thwarting or breaking of the general rules of academic work or the specific rules of the individual courses. It includes falsifying data; submitting, without the instructor's approval, work in one course which was done for another; helping others to plagiarize or cheat from one's own or another's work; or actually doing the work of another person.
In simple terms: DON’T plagiarize, and DON’T cheat. Plagiarizing will result in an F on the assignment, and you will be subject to an academic disciplinary proceeding.
Policy on Assignments: NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED.
We will go through an extensive review process with the final paper, so completing all the steps on time is crucial for getting feedback from your peers and from me.
Note carefully the dates for the due date for papers as listed on this syllabus. If you miss a deadline without a valid excuse (illness, family emergency, abduction by aliens) you will receive a zero. It is your responsibility to inform the instructor of your absence BEFORE the due date for a paper .

All assignments must be handed in as paper copies. Please staple all assignments and number the pages.
Do not send assignments by email without prior permission; they will not be read or graded. All written assignments should be 12 point, Times New Roman or equivalent font, double-spaced, with one inch margins.
Policy on Attendance: Regular attendance is expected; a large part of the course engagement grade is dependent on your being in the classroom. In addition, I will not accept assignments that are missed due to lack of attendance unless you have cleared your absence with me first.
If for any reason you must miss class, please let me know, either by voicemail or email. It's so much easier for me to be helpful if we can plan before things go wrong rather than after.
Drop/Add and Incompletes: The last day to drop classes is January 30. After that you may withdraw from the course, with permission of the instructor, until March 20. Note the university policy that no student may withdraw from a class more than once. You may not withdraw from more than 5 courses during your college career at Temple.
It is university policy that incomplete grades (I) may not be given unless a contract is signed by both the student and the instructor specifying the conditions necessary for completing the course. This means that if you disappear before the semester is over your grade will reflect the work you have done up to this point.
Schedule of Class Topics and Assignments
Introduction to Course
Wed, Jan 18: Syllabus and Introduction
Fri, Jan 20: Talking about death
DUE: Bring an object, film, song, piece of music, art, or poetry that helps you talk about or understand death
Unit I: Bereavement and the stages of grief
Mon, Jan 23: Film – The Fountain
READ: “Stage Theory” (on Blackboard)
Wed, Jan 25: Film, continued
READ: DRCW p283-304
Fri, Jan 27: Film discussion
DUE: Film response
Unit II: World Religions and Death
Native American Spiritualities
Mon, Jan 30: The Study of Religion; Introduction to Native American Religions
READ: Horace Miner, “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” (on Blackboard)
Wed, Feb 1: Beliefs/Practices
READ: DRCW p3-22

Fri, Feb 3: Ancestors/Spirits
READ: James Mooney, “Doctrine of the Ghost Dance”
DUE: Native American Religions Response
Judaisms
Mon, Feb 6: Beliefs
READ: DCRW p45-55
Wed, Feb 8: Practices
READ: DCRW p 55-68
Fri, Feb 10: Focus – Mourning
READ: Four perspectives on
DUE: Judaism response shiva (on Blackboard)
Christianities
Mon, Feb 13: Beliefs
READ: GROUP A: DCRW p93-106 (Catholicism)
GROUP B: DCRW p93-94, 114-118 (Orthodoxy)
GROUP C: DCRW p122-131 (Protestantism)
Wed, Feb 15: Practices
READ: DCRW p131-146
Fri, Feb 17: Focus – Punishment
READ: St Catherine of Genoa, “Treatise on Purgatory” (on Blackboard)
DUE: Christianity response
Islams
Mon, Feb 20: Beliefs
READ: DRCW p147-159
Wed, Feb 22: Practices
READ: DRCW p159-177
Fri, Feb 24: Focus - Reward
READ: Selections from three Sufi poets on God and reward after death (on Blackboard)
DUE: Islam response
Hinduisms
Mon, Feb 27: Beliefs
READ: DRCW p23-29
Wed, Feb 29: Practices
READ: DRCW p29-43

Fri, March 2: Focus – Reincarnation
READ: Selection from the Upanishads (on Blackboard)
DUE: Hinduism response
SPRING BREAK
Buddhisms
Mon, March 12: Beliefs
READ: DRCW p69-75
Wed, March 14: Practices
READ: DRCW p75-91
Fri, March 16: Experiences of Death
READ: Bryan Cuevas, “A Lama in Distress” (On Blackboard)
DUE: Buddhism response
Mon, March 19: Finding and Evaluating Sources – Explanatory Discussion of Final Project
Unit III: Death in Contemporary America
Visions of the Afterlife
Wed, March 21: Near-Death Experiences
READ: Susan Blackmore, “Near Death Experiences” (on Blackboard)
Fri, March 23: Literary views of heaven
READ: “Where Is No More Sea” (on Blackboard)
Rupert Brooke, “Heaven” (on Blackboard)
Mark Twain, excerpt from
Extract from Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven
(on
Blackboard)
The Science of Life and Death
Mon, March 26: Body Transplants and the Location of the Soul
READ: Mary Roach, “Just a Head: Decapitation, reanimation, and the human head transplant”
(on Blackboard)
Roald Dahl, “William and Mary” (on Blackboard)
Wed, March 28: Euthanasia
Guest Lecture: Amy Defibaugh
READ: John Keown, “Physician-assisted suicide” and “The value of human life” (on
Blackboard)
Fri, March 30: Right-to-Death/Right-to-Life
READ: Harriet McBryde Johnson, “Not dead at all” (on Blackboard)
Kalman Kaplan, “Zeno, Job and Terry Schiavo: The right to die versus the right to life”
(on Blackboard)

DUE BY EMAIL BY 5 PM: Annotated Bibliography
Martyrdom: Dying for a Cause
Mon, Apr 2: Dying for God
READ: “The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity” (on Blackboard)
Wed, Apr 4: Dying for politics
READ: Roxanne Euben, “Killing (for) Politics:
Jihad
, Martyrdom, and Political Action” (on
Blackboard)
Fri, Apr 6: The Language of Sacrifice
READ: David Chidester, “Sacrificial Religion” (on Blackboard)
Dead but not gone: Zombies, Vampires, and Spirits
Mon, Apr 9: Zombies
READ: Tina Pippin, “‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock’: The Living Dead and Apocalyptic
Dystopia” (on Blackboard)
Wed, Apr 11: Vampires
READ: David Keyworth, “The Aetiology of Vampires and Revenants: Theological Debate and
Popular Belief” (on Blackboard)
Fri, Apr 13: Spirits
READ: Robert Hare, excerpt from Experimental Investigation of the Spirit Manifestations,
Demonstrating the Existence of Spirits and their Communion with Mortals (on Blackboard)
Jeremy Biles, “Apparitions: authentic hoaxes” (on Blackboard)
Disposal of Bodies and Remembering the Dead
Mon, Apr 16: Peer Review of Final Paper
DUE: Bring in a hard copy of your draft of your final paper for peer review
Wed, Apr 18: Decomposition and Body Farms
READ: Mary Roach, “Life After Death: On human decay and what can be done about it” (on
Blackboard)
Fri, Apr 20: Body Disposal
READ: DRCW p228-243 (Up to “The Ongoing Relationship between the Living and the Dead”)
DUE VIA SAFE ASSIGN BY 5 PM: Rough Draft
Mon, Apr 23: Contemporary American Funerals
READ: DRCW p207-227
Wed, Apr 25: Food and Funerals
READ: Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays, “The Episcopal Ladies vs The Methodist Ladies”
(on Blackboard)
Selections from Death Warmed Over (on Blackboard)

Fri, Apr 27: Memorials and Memories
READ: DRCW p246-264
Mon, Apr 30: Wrap up and evaluations
Mon May, 7: FINAL PAPER DUE