SYLLABUS-IN-PROGRESS

Religious Studies 3CC3 (Fall 2012)

Sovereignty and Secularization

This syllabus is posted at http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/danahol/3cc3 and is also accessible by way of my home page (see below) and the Dept. of Religious Studies website.  It will be updated periodically, and students in the class are asked to consult it regularly during the semester.

TEACHING ASSISTANT

Michael Worden, Department of Religious Studies, University Hall B125.  wordenmj@mcmaster.ca

Office Hours:  Thursdays, 5-6 p.m., or by appointment

**Staff in the office of the Department of Religious Studies will not date-stamp or receive written assignments.

Course Description / Course Readings / Course Requirements   |   SCHEDULE: September / October / November / December

Course Description and Objectives

This course is an introduction to some key approaches to thinking about the relationship between politics and religion in the West.  We will study two classic works on this topic:  John Locke, Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), the highly influential treatise on why and how religion and politics should be regarded as separate spheres, and Carl Schmitt, Political Theology (1922), a relatively recent influential attempt to argue that political sovereignty has essentially theological roots.  We will also read contemporary discussions of the challenges posed by the role of religion in public life--including debates about specific contemporary dilemmas, such as the 2004-5 "shariah debate" in Ontario.

Course Readings

• Books available for purchase at Titles:
  

• Please either purchase the Coursepack, or plan to make personal copies of readings contained in the Coursepack from the books on reserve (this is the less expensive option by far).
  

• Readings in the coursepack, plus some supplementary readings, are also on Mills Library reserve.

Course Requirements

• One Text Summary (1-1.5 pages) on a selection from the assigned reading for either September 20 or September 28, to be handed in at the end of the class session on those days.  Detailed assignments to be posted.
  

• One or two Text Preparations (2-3 pages) - on the assigned readings for Oct. 11, Oct. 18, Nov. 8, Nov. 15, or Nov. 23, to be handed in at the end of the class session on the day we are discussing the selection they are on. Detailed assignments to be posted for each week.

• Midterm Exam and Final Exam will consist of essay questions involving textual analysis.  The essay questions will be made known in advance and will be open-book.

Grades will be based on the following:

• for students who complete only one Text Preparation assignment: Text Summary (10%), Text Preparation (15%), Midterm Exam (35%), Final Exam (40%).
  
• for those who complete two Text Preparation assignments: Text Summary (10%), Text Preparations (12.5% each), Midterm Exam (30%), Final Exam (35%).

You are advised to retain copies of any written work you submit for this class, and all your research notes, until you have received an official grade.

SCHEDULE

September 6

INTRODUCTION

September 13

No tutorial meeting this week.

Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (authored by Thomas Jefferson, 1777; adopted by Virginia House of Delegates, 1786)  [handed out in class on Sept. 6]

Additional resources:

James Madison, A Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments (1785)

United States Constitution - see especially Amendment I (1791)

September 20

John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration, trans. William Popple (1689), ed. James H. Tully (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1983), 21-38 ("...to their own Consciences") [purchase book]

Schotten/Stevens, Religion, Politics, and the Law, chap. 1: 17-23 ("The Political Aftermath")

Text Summary 1 due in class from students with last names beginning in A-L.

Optional Background Reading:

William Uzgalis, "John Locke" (2001/2007), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition) - see especially section 4: "Locke and Religious Toleration"

September 27

John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration, 38 ("Having thus at length freed...") -58

Text Summary 2 due in class from students who did not complete Text Summary 1.

Optional:

Schotten/Stevens, Religion, Politics, and the Law, chap. 1: 13-17

October 4

Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pellegrini, Love the Sin. Sexual Regulations and the Limits of Religious Tolerance (2004): pp. 45–73 (notes on pp. 157–58) [selection in coursepack / book on reserve]

October 11

Beverley McLachlin, “Freedom of Religion and the Rule of Law. A Canadian Perspective,” and Jean Bethke Elshtain, “Response” in Douglas Farrow, Recognizing Religion in a Secular Society: Essays in Pluralism, Religion, and Public Policy (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004), 14–40. [print personal copy from online edition  / book on reserve]

Text Preparation 1 due in class from some students

Additional resources:

Canadian Bill of Rights (1960)

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982)

M. H. Ogilvie, Religious Institutions and the Law in Canada, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2003) [book on reserve]

October 18

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "On Civil Religion," book IV, chapter VIII of On the Social Contract (1762), trans. Donald A. Cress, in Basic Political Writings (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1987) [selection in coursepack / book on reserve] | French original

Robert N. Bellah, "Civil Religion in America" (1967), from Beyond Belief [article in coursepack / book on reserve]

Midterm Exam Preparation Sheet distributed in class today.

October 25

MIDTERM EXAM, 7 p.m.

November 1

No tutorial meeting this week.

Carl Schmitt, Political Theology. Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty (1922), trans. George Schwab (University of Chicago Press, 1985) [purchase book]: chap. 1

Optional Background Reading:

Lars Vinx, "Carl Schmitt" (2010) in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [online] - sec. 2 discusses the book Political Theology.

November 8

Carl Schmitt, Political Theology, chap. 1 (cont'd) and chap. 3.

Text Preparation 3 due in class from some students.

November 15

Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, "Civil and Religious Law in England: A Religious Perspective" (Lecture before the Royal Courts of Justice, February 7, 2008; Note that the text of the lecture begins after a lengthy summary introduction, which you may ignore) [print out personal copy and number the paragraphs on your printout for reference in class and in your writing]

Janice Gross Stein, “Religion, Culture, and Rights: A Conversation about Women” (2008) [print out personal copy]

Anver M. Emon, "Islamic Law and the Canadian Mosaic: Politics, Jurisprudence, and Multicultural Accommodation" (2008) (feel free to skim pp. 405-410) [print out personal copy]

Natasha Bakht, "Were Muslim Barbarians Really Knocking On the Gates of Ontario? The Religious Arbitration Controversy - Another Perspective" (2005) [print out personal copy]

Anna C. Korteweg, "The Sharia Debate in Ontario" in ISIM Review* 18 (Autumn 2006), pp. 50-51. (*Note: ISIM Review was a publication of the now-defunct International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World) [print out personal copy]

Text Preparation 4 due in class from some students.

Additional Resources on the 2004 Ontario "Sharia Debate":

Marion Boyd, "Dispute Resolution in Family Law: Protecting Choice, Promoting Inclusion" (Report to the Government of Ontario) (2004) 

Family Statute Law Amendment Act (2006) - see esp. 1.(1)(b)

Arbitration Act, 1991

November 22

CBC Radio “The Current,” March 31, 2008 – including documentary by Kathleen Goldhar, “Faith in the Law” [details on how to listen to be communicated by e-mail]

Suzanne Last Stone, "The Intervention of American Law in Jewish Divorce" (2000), pp. 174-85 [print out personal copy]