RLS226_Wenisch_Syllabus—Page 5
RLS 226 Christian Thought—Agreements and Differences (3)
RLS 226-0001, Fall, 2016
Dr. Fritz Wenisch; 874-2226;
Class Time and Location: Mondays and Wednesdays 3:00-4:15 pm in [Location to be determined].
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays; 12:45-1:45 pm, and by appointment.
Office Location: Chafee 231.
Course Description
Non-sectarian study of the teachings and historical development of various Christian groups, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, the major Protestant denominations, and liberal Christianity. (Lec 3)
Course Goals
1. To understand common teachings that most groups of Christianity subscribe to;
2. To understand the historical origin and the differences between the chief denominations of Christianity;
3. To appreciate that tolerance, even friendship, among members of the various Christian denominations is possible and desirable, and that the intolerance that often plagued Christianity in its history is opposed to human dignity.
RLS 226 and General Education
The course is designed to provide general education credits for the following two outcomes:
1. Humanities;
2. Information literacy.
Course Materials
Text: Fritz Wenisch, Christianity—Agreements and Differences. This text exists at this time as a draft in its final stages of completion and will be posted on the SAKAI site for this course. On that site, you will find links to on-line versions of the Bible and of other important documents (decisions of ecumenical councils, Luther’s 95 theses, and other items). Study questions and other course materials will also be posted on SAKAI.
Course Outline
INTRODUCTION
Explanation of the approach to be taken in this course: “Proselytizing” vs. neutral presentation—the former is characteristic of teaching in Christian churches and religiously affiliated schools; the latter is mandated by the United States Supreme Court for secular institutions of higher learning, such as URI.
I. TEACHINGS SHARED BY MOST CHRISTIAN GROUPS
A. Christianity on human nature as originally created and as “messed up” by original sin
B. Christianity on God’s relationship to humans, and humans’ relationship to God
C. Christianity on the purpose of human existence
D. Christianity on the purpose of Jesus’ suffering and death
E. Christianity on the lifestyle demanded of humans
1. Prayer
2. The moral teaching in Jesus’ message
II. HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT AND CONFLICTING TEACHINGS AMONG CHRISTIAN GROUPS AROUND THE GLOBE
A. The a.d. 431 Council of Ephesus and the origin of the Assyrian Christians, aka “Nestorians”
B. The a.d. 451 Council of Chalcedon and the origin of the so-called Oriental Orthodox Churches (Syrian Orthodox Church, Armenian Apostolic Church, Ethiopian Church, Coptic Church, Ethiopian Church, Eritrean Church)
C. The 1056 split of mainstream Christianity into eastern and western Christianity: The Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodoxy
D. The Protestant Reformation
1. Martin Luther and Lutheranism
2. John Calvin and Calvinism
3. Anglicanism
4. Protestant groups of minor importance in Europe (as opposed to the United States)
III. CHRISTIANITY IN THE UNITED STATES
A. The Protestant Episcopal Church
B. Catholicism in the United States
C. Lutheranism in the United States
D. Baptists (including a nod to the local hero Roger Williams)
E. Methodists
F. Presbyterians
G. Other groups (Salvation Army, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarian Universalists, liberal denominations and liberal wings in denominations split into liberal and traditional camps; additional groups if time permits)
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Additional Course Information:
Note: Prior to the second class meeting, you must read this entire syllabus and the more detailed syllabus posted on SAKAI. Lack of awareness of the information contained in these documents will jeopardize your grade and will not be accepted as an excuse.
Attendance: Required. If you miss more than eight class meetings, you will not receive a passing grade; for each absence, there will be a two-point deduction from your semester average and/or a score of “0” for a quiz you may miss, unless you are excused through a legitimate and verifiable reason to be presented to me in the classroom at the beginning of the class meeting within a week following your absence. In addition, you also must give me written answers to the study questions on the material covered when you were absent. You must staple your absence verification and the answers to a copy of the Absence Make-up Work Cover Sheet (to be printed from the SAKAI site). You must fill that sheet in and follow all instructions on it.
Very important: For an absence to be excused, you must have a legitimate reason and do the makeup work by the deadline, as well as submit the work according to the procedure specified in the preceding paragraph.
Quizzes and exams: Four quizzes [dates: To be determined]; first exam on [date to be determined], during class; final exam on [date and time to be determined]. Quiz and exam questions will be similar to the study questions posted on SAKAI.
Material on quizzes and exams: At each quiz, you will have to know the material for which you will not have been held responsible at an earlier quiz or exam. The first exam will cover the material from class # 1 on; the final exam will be limited to the material for which you were not responsible at the first exam.
Web research assignment: A web research paper is due on [Date] (an index card with your name and the topic you selected is due on [Date]). You also must see me individually to discuss the paper. You must submit a written response to the discussion, due within a week of the discussion. Each of these three items will be graded “acceptable” or “unacceptable.” For each acceptable item, two points will be added to your final sore; for each unacceptable item, two points will be subtracted. For details, see the “Information Literacy Competency Area” file on the SAKAI site for this course. [Note to the General Education Committee: The content of the SAKAI site mentioned here is appended to this syllabus.]
Missing of quizzes and being late on quiz days: Quizzes cannot be made up. A quiz missed will be recorded as a “zero,” unless you are excused for your absence through complying with the rules set under “Attendance,” above (see also the “Very important” segment). If the absence is excused, the quiz will be dropped, and your quiz score will be based on the remaining quizzes only. If you are late for a class at which there is a quiz, your score also will be “zero.”
Missing the class prior to a quiz: Missing a class for a legitimate reason does not excuse you from a quiz scheduled for the class at which you return. Rather, you are expected to come prepared by reading and studying the textbook segment on the class(es) you missed (see the SAKAI “Textbook Draft” file).
Grading: The weight of the cumulative quiz score is 20%, that of the first exam 30%, and that of the final exam 50%. If there are penalty points for absences and/or missing or incomplete web research components, these points will be deducted from the score determined in this way. Two points will be added to that score for each web research component judged acceptable, up to a total of six points. In the case of students with no unexcused absences and no missing or unacceptable web research components, the lowest quiz will be dropped.
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Other Guidelines:
ACCOMMODATIONS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS
Any student with a documented disability is welcome to contact me as early in the semester as possible so that we may arrange reasonable accommodations. As part of this process, please be in touch with Disability Services for Students Office at 330 Memorial Union, 401-874-2098.
ACADEMIC HONESTY
All work on quizzes, exams, web research, and make-up work to be excused from absences for a legitimate reason must be your own.
ACADEMIC ENHANCEMENT CENTER
The work in this course is complex and intensive. To do the best you can, you may want to visit the Academic Enhancement Center (AEC) in Roosevelt Hall. The AEC offers a comfortable environment in which to study alone or together, with or without a tutor. AEC tutors can answer questions, clarify concepts, check understanding, and help you to study. You can make an appointment or walk in during office hours—Monday through Thursday from 9 am. to 9 pm, Friday from 9 am to 1 pm, and Sunday from 4 pm. to 8 pm. For a complete schedule—including when tutors are available specifically for this class—go to www.uri.edu/aec, call (401) 874-2367, or stop by the fourth floor in Roosevelt Hall.
STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOR
Students are responsible for being familiar with and adhering to the published “Community Standards of Behavior: University Policies and Regulations” that can be accessed in the University Student Handbook. If you must come in late, please do not disrupt the class. Please turn off all cell phones, pagers, or any electronic devices.
RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS
It is the policy of the University of Rhode Island to accord students, on an individual basis, the opportunity to observe their traditional religious holidays. Students desiring to observe a holiday of special importance must provide written notification to each instructor.
Information Literacy Components
[Note to the General Education Committee: As indicated earlier, this segment will not be included in the syllabus, but posted on the SAKAI site. It is included here because familiarity with it is presupposed for understanding the information in the “RLS226_Wenisch_outcome2.docx” file.]
I. Requirements and dates; the index card
The information literacy requirement consists of the following three components:
(1) A web research paper as described below, due [date to be determined; about four weeks after the start of the semester];
(2) A discussion of that paper with me on an individual basis. After the papers are submitted, sign-up sheets will be circulated for you to make appointments with me.
(3) A written response to the discussion, to be submitted within a week after the discussion or at the time of the final exam, whichever comes first. That response must also include your reaction to what was said during our discussion about the reliability of the websites you consulted.
On [date to be determined; about two weeks prior to the due date of the web research paper], you are to hand in a 3'' x 5'' index card with your name and the designation of the Christian group/denomination you plan to write your web research paper on. This does not mean that your paper topic is “carved in stone,” though. You may still change it, provided you send me an e-mail informing me of the change at least 48 hours prior to the paper submission deadline.
II. Description of the web research papers
For the web research paper, you are to select a Christian group or denomination (for suggestions, see IV, below). Further, you are to find a web site (or web sites) concerning the group selected, and identify on the site(s) at least three key items concerning teaching or practice important for the group. Finally, you are to submit a typed paper, containing the following points:
(1) An indication of the URL of the web page (or pages) from which you took the information, as well as an explanation of the method you used to find the page (that explanation is to be sufficiently detailed so that a person with the same resources as you—with the same search engine, for example—would be able in principle to find the site without knowing the URL).
(2) An assessment of the reliability of the web page (or pages) in terms of whether or not one can expect it (them) to represent fairly what the group stands for, and why.
(3) An identification of the three key items you selected as important for the group and a detailed explanation of each of the items.
(4) An explanation of the reason that made you choose a particular group. (In some cases, this may, of course, amount to nothing but, “I had no particular preference; but I had to decide on one of the groups/denominations to fulfill the course requirement.”)
III. Remark on the face-to-face discussion
The “flow” of the face-to-face discussion cannot be determined in advance, except that you must begin with an oral summary of your research project. We will “take it from there.” You must bring a copy of your web research paper. (Among the subjects of our discussion will, of course, be the question of the reliability of the websites you consulted.)
IV. List of groups/denominations (in alphabetical order)
You may write on any of the Christian group/denominations listed below, or on another group provided you clear it with me ahead of time. (This “clearance” is necessary to make sure that the group you chose actually belongs to Christianity).
Armenian Apostolic Church; Assyrian Christians; Baptists (either Southern Baptist Convention or American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A.); Church of Christ, Scientists (a.k.a. Christian Scientists); Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints (a.k.a. Mormonism); Congregationalists; Copts; Eastern Orthodoxy (either Greek Orthodoxy or Russian Orthodoxy); Episcopalians; Ethiopian Church; Jehovah’s Witnesses; Lutherans (either Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod or Evangelical Lutheran Church in America); Methodists; Non-denominational Groups; Pentecostals; Presbyterians; Roman Catholics; Seventh-day Adventists; Syrian Orthodox Church (a.k.a. “Jacobites”); Unitarian Universalists.