Description, Syllabus and Expectations:

Democracy, Dissent and the Da Vinci Code (Spring ’09)

ARTL – 100

Course Description

Any religious tradition is inescapably “enculturated,” that is, affected by the culture in which it is born and the cultures in which it continues to live. When Catholics began to arrive in the United States, they entered a land of Protestants who prized religious freedom and insisted on the separation of Church and State. This course explores how Catholics, beginning in the 19th century, adapted to, interacted with, influenced and opposed this American Protestant, and then increasingly affluent and secular, culture.

Two types of issues will be especially singled out for study: those which may be considered foundational and those which are developmental. Among the foundational issues are revelation, scripture and tradition (e.g., fundamentalist vs. liberal understandings of the Bible), incarnation and dogma. Among the developmental issues are the intellectual life and faith of believers, the development, understanding and application of social justice teachings, the relationship between faith and science, the basis for sexual moral teachings, feminism, key teachings of the Catholic Church’s Second Vatican Council (1962-1965, such as religious freedom, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue), and the widespread current cultural assumptions about religion and especially Catholicism, as manifested in the Da Vinci Code.

Reading materials include primary texts written by those who found themselves in the midst of these developments, official Church documents, a scholarly treatment of Catholicism and a popular novel.

Required Texts

Creative Fidelity: American Catholic Intellectual Traditions, Eds. R. Scott Appleby, Patricia Byrne and William L. Portier (Orbis Books, 2004).

Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, ed. Austin Flannery, O. P., (Liturgical Press, 1980).

The Church Emerging from Vatican II: A Popular Approach to Contemporary Catholicism, by Dennis Doyle (Twenty-Third Publications, Rev’d ed., 2004).

The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (Anchor Books Paperback, 2003).

Required Research Papers

The purpose of the three required papers is to acquire a clearer understanding of some aspect of Catholic tradition (e.g., a particular teaching or movement within the Church), a major issue faced by Catholics in the United States (e.g., fundamentalism, eugenics and anti-Catholic bigotry), or engage in an exploration of several sides of a controversy within Catholicism (e.g., the ordination of women or dissent from Church teaching) or between Catholic teaching and modern culture (e.g., homosexuality, secular humanism, the contemporary “spiritual but not religious” movement).

At least one of your papers needs to be about one of the sixteen documents of the Second Vatican Council. Some of those documents are longer than others. For example, Gaudium et spes, “The Church in the Modern World,” is quite long. On the other hand, that same document contains substantial treatments of the morality of war, the nature and purpose of marriage, economics and social justice. If you wish to focus on one topic in a longer document, you may do so. However, please check with me before you plunge in.

The main purpose of the papers you will write is exposition. For example, in a four page paper, I want to understand in the first fthree pages what you have learned about the issue or topic you have chosen to write about; only on the last page will I expect you to tell me your personal opinion about the subject. Good bibliographical sources for your research may be found, for example, at the end of each of Doyle’s chapters. You may also use the primary sources in Creative Fidelity. I will provide on a separate sheet a number of reliable sources on the internet. Note: there are quite a few internet sites that claim to be Catholic which are not.

Grading

Be forewarned that I will grade your papers on the basis of both content and form; that is, I will pay close attention not only to the clarity and understanding you show in the treatment of the topic, but also to your ability to write clearly. Grammatical mistakes and misspellings will result in a lower grade. Plagiarizing in any form will merit an F. Therefore, if you quote directly from any source, put the quotation within quotation marks, and provide appropriate bibliographical information to identify its source. There are now websites professors may access to track down unidentified quotations that sneaky students pass off as their own thinking; be not among such students!

Appointments

You can always email me for consultation or to make an appointment to talk. Just email my assistant, Ms. Shelia Garrison () or me, and we will make it possible for you to meet with me. I will also be arranging for a fifteen minute meeting with each of you in the first two weeks of the semester, to get to know you better. My office hours are each Monday and Wednesday, 10:00 AM to 11:30AM, and, as just indicated, at other times through individual arrangements. My office is in URC Suite 102. My email is .

Summary of Expectations and Grading

1. Attend all classes.

2. Be on time for class.

3. Three exams (essay questions).

4. Three four page research papers.

5. Grading Scale: 90 – 100 A

80 – 89 B

70 - 79 C

60 - 69 D

6. Weight given to tests and papers:

First Exam 15%

Second Exam 15%

Final Exam 20%

First Paper 15%

Second Paper 15%

Third Paper 15%

Participation 5%

Total 100%

Syllabus

M Jan 12 Introduction of the Course

W Jan 14 CEV, pp. 2-79, Mystery of the Church; Ecumenism

M Jan 19 (No Classes)

W Jan 21 CEV Con’t

M Jan 26 CEV, pp. 82-137 Bishop/Pope; Priesthood; Levels of Authority

W Jan 28 CEV, pp. 140-202 Holiness; Rel. Communities; Lib Theology

M Feb 2 CEV, pp. 203-245 Purpose; Sts.; Mary and Ecumenism

W Feb 4 EXAM #1

M. Feb 9 CEV, pp. 248-274 Church and the World

W Feb 11 CEV, pp. 278-306 Cath Social Teaching; Marriage and Fam; Culture

M Feb 16 (No Classes)

W Feb 18 CEV, pp. 308-338 Economics, Politics, and Environment

M Feb 23 CF, pp. xvii-xxvii, pp. 1-27, Intro., Intellectual Life

W Feb 25 CF, pp. 29-54 Scholasticisms and Thomisms

M Mar 2 CF, pp. 55-94, Catholic Education; Foundations

W Mar 4 CF, pp. 95-136, Catholic Education, Development

M Mar 9 EXAM #2

W Mar 11 CF, pp. 137-161, Church and State (Rel. Freedom Document)

M Mar 16 SPRING BREAK

W Mar 18 SPRING BREAK

M Mar 23 CF, pp. 163-189, Moral Theology and Social Thought

W Mar 25 CF, pp. 191-213, Spirituality and Art

M Mar 30 CF, pp. 215-245, Theology and Science

W Apr 1 CF, pp. 247-283, Paths to Vatican II (1962-1965)

M Apr 6 CF, pp. 285-319, Contested Legacy of Vat II

W Apr 8 Catholicism and World Religions

M Apr 13 Open

W Apr 15 Da Vinci Code

M Apr 20 Continued

W Apr 22 “

M Apr 27 Open

W Apr 29 Last Class, Open and Review

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