HUM 2093: Group Assignments and Presentations
Group Assignments and Presentation Schedule
YOUR PARTICIPATION AS PART OF YOUR ASSIGNED GROUP IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR FINAL GRADE!
See below for additional information on group presentations and discussions
- Group 1
Discussion of Kimball, When Religion Becomes Evil (due Sep 13, 20, Oct 4, 11, 18, 25, Nov 1)
Presentation #1: The problem of evil (due Nov 17)
Presentation #2: Myth and Cult (due Dec 3)
Final Group Presentations on Other Religious Traditions: Urban chaps. 2-3 (due Dec 8)
- Group 2
Discussion of Kimball, When Religion Becomes Evil (due Sep 13, 20, Oct 4, 11, 18, 25, Nov 1)
Presentation #1: Divine-human mediators (due Nov 17)
Presentation #2: Religion and Culture (due Dec 3)
Final Group Presentations on Other Religious Traditions: Urban chaps. 4-5 (due Dec 8)
- Group 3
Discussion of Kimball, When Religion Becomes Evil (due Sep 13, 20, Oct 4, 11, 18, 25, Nov 1)
Presentation #1: Eschatology (due Nov 19)
Presentation #2: War, peace, & violence (due Dec 1)
Final Group Presentations on Other Religious Traditions: Urban chaps. 6-7 (due Dec 8)
- Group 4
Discussion of Kimball, When Religion Becomes Evil (due Sep 13, 20, Oct 4, 11, 18, 25, Nov 1)
Presentation #1: Nature of god(s) and (semi-)divine beings (due Nov 19)
Presentation #2: God(s) and sexuality (due Dec 1)
Final Group Presentations on Other Religious Traditions: Urban chaps. 8-9 (due Dec 8)
- Group 5
Discussion of Kimball, When Religion Becomes Evil (due Sep 13, 20, Oct 4, 11, 18, 25, Nov 1)
Presentation #1: Religious expression in art & architecture (due Nov 21)
Presentation #2: Sacred texts (due Dec 1)
Final Group Discussions on Other Religious Traditions: Urban chaps. 10 & 12 (due Dec 8)
- Group 6
Discussion of Kimball, When Religion Becomes Evil (due Sep 13, 20, Oct 4, 11, 18, 25, Nov 1)
Presentation #1: Life, death, and afterlife (due Nov 21)
Presentation #2: Sacred places, objects, and times (due Dec 3)
Final Group Presentations on Other Religious Traditions: Urban chaps. 13-14 (due Dec 8)
Presentations on Kimball's When Religion Becomes Evil
Starting with Week 3 and continuing through Week 10 (but excluding Week 5),
all students will read a designated chapter in Kimball's book, meet with their
group, and record a discussion of between 10 and 15 minutes about the material
covered. Each group will designate one person in the group to submit the
recording (or a link to the recording) on behalf of the group. The recording should include both the name of the group and a
list of everyone who participated in the discussion and/or in the preparation
of the recording (just list all the names at the beginning of the
recording).
Presentations on Religious Topics
For the group presentations assignment during weeks 13–15, each group will
present to the class on the assigned topics. These presentations should be
accompanied by visual aids (e.g., a PowerPoint presentation or something
similar). Everyone in the group must participate in some way on each
presentation to get credit, though not every person has to speak on the day of
the presentation. For example, the group may choose to allow one or more group
members to focus on research or creating the visual aid. Each presentation
should be a minimum of 15 minutes long, and it must include a bibliography of
at least ten sources, relevant to the topic of discussion, that meet the
criteria found in the document on the class website entitled "Sources for Academic
Research." A list of the students who participated in creating the
presentation should be included in the visual aid. Each group should choose a
student in the group to be responsible for submitting the visual aid (or a
link to the visual aid) and the bibliography in Canvas by the designated due
date.
The discussion of the specified presentation topics should encompass
multiple religious traditions (a minimum of four) and answer questions
such as these: How do different religious traditions address the topic? Are
there variations within a religious tradition, or do most voices within a
single tradition speak with the same voice on the topic? Which religious
traditions have views that are most similar on the topic? Most different? Have
views on the topic changed over time? Are ancient views on the topic similar
to or different from views on the topic today? What are the complexities in
the analysis of the topic?
Here are some ideas to get you started on your discussion topics (groups
don't need to address all these questions; they're just prompts to start
conversations and investigations):
- The problem of evil: How did evil arise? Are there evil divine
beings? If a tradition is monotheistic, how is evil explained? Is evil merely
the absence of good? What about the problem of theodicy? What is sin (an
affront to the gods, to social or religious customs, to other people?)? How
can sin be expiated? If the tradition is polytheistic, is there consistency in
the definition of evil?
- Divine-human mediators: What are the various classes of mediators
(e.g., priests, prophets, clergy, shamans, mediums, witches, curanderos,
saints, tricksters)? What are the similarities and differences in the roles
they play within the faith community? Within the larger community? How are
mediators chosen/recognized by the community? Are certain types of roles
passed down in families or limited to certain types of people (e.g., men or
women, people with certain characteristics or with certain educational
achievements)?
- Eschatology (the end of the world, not the end of individual
people—issues of a personal afterlife are a different topic): Does
the world/universe ever come to an end? If so, what happens? Is time linear or
cyclical? What are the signs that the end is coming? Is a messianic or savior
figure expected? Which religious traditions put more emphasis on eschatology,
and which de-emphasize discussion of it? What varieties of views exist within
single religious traditions? (E.g., in Christianity, there are historicist,
futurist, millennial, amillennial, and other views of the end times.)
- Nature of god(s) and (semi-)divine beings: How many gods/goddesses
are there? What about angels, demons, spirits, jinn, deceased ancestors,
ghosts? Are (semi-)divine beings of a certain type totally good, totally evil,
neither, or a mixture of both good and evil? Are there hierarchies of divine
beings (e.g., Second Temple Period Judaism included beliefs in numerous named
angels, with different ranks)? Do different classes of divine beings cooperate
with or oppose one another? What are their origins? How do (semi-)divine
beings interact with humans or other non-divine beings?
- Religious expression in art & architecture: How are
(semi-)divine beings and religious figures (humans) expressed in art? Are
there limitations, either doctrinal or traditional, to these expressions? Does
art regularly appear inside centers of worship? If so, what types of art are
most common? Are there limitations? Has iconoclasm played a role in the
history of the tradition? Are certain artistic subjects taboo? Are certain
artistic styles preferred? In what ways does the architecture of a place of
worship reflect the beliefs/practices/priorities of the religious tradition?
Do the geographic orientation of the building or other architectural features
say anything about the notion of sacred space? What are common, acceptible, or
forbidden subjects for religious art? For those traditions that reject or
discourage representation of human figures, what artistic modes of expression
are used? What are some typical artistic expressions of different religious
traditions? What is the purpose of religious art in different traditions, and
how does it function within the religion?
- Life, death, and afterlife: When does life begin and end—or
does it begin and end? Is there an afterlife? If so, what is it like? If not,
what happens to people after they die? Do people have souls, spirits, or other
characteristics that transcend death? If there is an afterlife, is it eternal?
Do people assigned to a particular place in the afterlife stay there forever?
If there is a final judgment, what happens to people between the time that
they die and the judgment? What is the final judgment like, and what is the
basis for judging a person's destiny? Who makes the decision? For religions
that believe in samsara, what determines one's status in the next life?
What are the chances of achieving moksha after the present life? If
moksha is achieved, what happens then (both in the present life and
beyond)?
- War, peace, & violence: What are attitudes toward war,
according to various religious traditions? Toward peace? Is killing in war a
sin? What are the legitimate justifications for war and violence, if any
(e.g., self-defense, defense of others, propagation of the correct religious
tradition, preventing future atrocities)? Is violence against certain types of
people acceptible (e.g., criminals, heretics, children [corporal punishment],
collaborators with evildoers, family members or friends or neighbors [i.e.,
collateral damage] of evildoers)? Does the end justify the means? Are divine
beings perceived as being warriors or as having warlike characteristics?
- God(s) and sexuality: Are divine beings one sex or the other? Or
both/neither? If they are associated with a particular human sex, what does
that mean? Do gods engage in sexual activity among themselves or with humans?
What do different religious traditions teach about human sexuality (e.g.,
marriage/celibacy, sexual relations outside marriage, same-sex relationships,
polygamy/polyandry, nonbinary/trans identities)? Does one's sex limit access
to certain roles in the religion or society? Does the existence/nonexistence
of female deities or mediators (e.g., women priests, Jain nuns, the Virgin
Mary, God the Mother in the World Mission Society Church of God) affect the
role women can play in a religion, or how women view themselves? In what ways
are the structure of the family affected by gender roles?
- Sacred texts: Which religions have a specific set of sacred texts?
A large group of sacred texts with different levels of authority? No sacred
texts at all? How are the texts viewed in relation to God/the gods? Are they
viewed as the works of human beings, the divine, or some combination? In what
language(s) are a tradition's sacred texts written? Are they more
authoritative in one language as compared with others?
- Sacred places, objects, and times: Are specific places on earth
considered more sacred than others? Are some buildings or objects (e.g., icons
or statues) made by people considered sacred? How are sacred sites, buildings,
or objects sanctified (transformed into something holy)? Are certain times of
the week, month, or year considered sacred? What sorts of activities are
prescribed/proscribed or encouraged/discouraged on holy days? Are there days
of misfortune?
- Myth and cult: What stories are most meaningful in different
religious traditions? Do these stories involve sacred history or
religio-cultural heroes (myth)? Which stories are re-enacted in ritual fashion
(cult)? Aside from religious stories that are re-enacted in worship, what
other stories are considered especially meaningful or powerful?
- Religion and culture: How do people from different religious
traditions interact with the larger culture? Do they try to transform culture,
isolate themselves from the outside world, live in tension with culture? How
do religious groups deal with increasing secularization? How do they deal with
people from other religious traditions? With people from a different branch of
their own religious traditions (e.g., Catholics and Protestants, Sunni and
Shiites, Theravada and Mahayana)?
Final Group Presentations on Other Religious Traditions
In lieu of a final exam, students will meet with other members of their
assigned group and discuss two assigned chapters from the book by Hugh B.
Urban, New Age, Neopagan, & New Religious Movements. The group will
present a summary and analysis of the two assigned chapters in class on the
day designated for the final exam, Dec 8, between 1:00 and 2:50. The
presentation should be about 20 minutes long and should present information
about both assigned religious traditions. All members of the group should
participate in some way. A visual aid may be used to accompany the
presentation, but it is not required.