Religion 363: Faith and Justice Winter 1998 Doyle

Religion 363: Faith and Justice Winter 1998 Doyle

Section X1 MWF 1-1:50 HM 112 office: HM 333 X-4219

Section X2 MWF 2-2:50 HM 112 +4 zip 1530 home: 278-0577

Description:Faith and Justice explores the writings of religious activists and visionaries such as Dorothy Day, Jim Wallis, Rigaberto Menchu, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Jon Sobrino, and John Paul II. Special attention is given to the relationship in their works between faith and justice. The development and principles of Catholic social teaching as well as other perspectives provide a framework for the course.

Course Objectives:

a. Students will be able to demonstrate a knowledge of the basic principles of Catholic Social Teaching, as well as the history and development of these principles.

b. Students will be able to demonstrate a knowledge of the theoretical, historical, cultural, and religious background necessary for understanding the writings of figures such as Dorothy Day, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and other religious/social visionaries.

c. Students will be able to analyze basic presuppositions about the human person that underlie visions of faith and justice, such as the dignity of the human person, the social nature of the human person, freedom and victimization, gender and equality, social rights and responsibilities, the link between faith and justice, etc.

d. Students will be able to demonstrate a knowledge of the lives and writings of some exemplary religious thinkers and activists.

e. Students will be able to draw upon Catholic Social Teaching and other religious/social criteria to make critical appraisals of whether specific social, political, and economic institutions work to foster or diminish human dignity.

f. Students will be able to make concrete connections between the vision informing Catholic Social Teaching and other religious/social visions and their own past, present, and future experience of justice and service.

g. Students will be able to explain how faith and justice concerns draw upon various domains of knowledge and orients such knowledge toward the solution of shared human problems.

h. Students will be able to relate social justice concerns on local and regional levels to concerns that are national and international in scope.

Texts:

Martin Luther King, Why We Can't Wait

Roberto S. Goizueta,Caminemos Con Jesús: Toward a Hispanic/Latino Theology of Accompaniment.

Faith and Justice, a reader specifically for this course

Two papal encyclicals:

Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (On Social Concerns)

Centesimus Annus (On the One Hundredth Year)

selections from Dorothy Day, Rigaberto Menchu, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, etc., as well as various social theorists.

(These readings are on reserve at the library).

Expected from students:

class attendance and participation

completion of six objective-style quizzes

(lowest one will be dropped).

completion of the essay exams

completion of two projects that include class presentations

Evaluation:

Objective style quizzes: 1/3 of grade

Essay exams: 1/3 of grade

Projects/Presentations: 1/3 of grade

Projects: There are two options in this course for completing your project/presentations: a service-learning option and a research option.

For both options:

Each student will complete two projects. It is possible to do projects in teams. Presentations will be scheduled to coordinate with the time that relevant material will be covered by the teacher in class.

The paper for each project should be three to five pages in length.

Each student will make two class presentations of three to five minutes (or, if done as a group, five to ten minutes) based on the papers.

Each individual presentation of three to five minute will include the additional possibility that further class discussion might ensue.

If the presentation is by a group, it should last from five to ten minutes.

For the service learning option:

Each student will fill out and sign a service-learning contract that will name the service experience and the anticipated number of hours of service throughout the course of the semester. The ideal total number of hours should come to between twenty and twenty-four. The hours need to be reasonably spread throughout the semester.

Each student will keep a personal journal that will record significant experiences, thoughts, etc. about their service, about the readings assigned for class, and--especially-- about how the experiences and the readings relate to each other.

Each student will be involved in one significant semester-long service activity such as:

A.One of the many service clubs coordinated through campus ministry

B. Some other form of service, approved by the instructor, that involves significant contact with people in need or advocacy for people in need. Several service-type experiences with a variety of agencies will be announced in class.

Service experiences should involve either:

a.direct, hands on delivery of services to people in need or the environment, Or

b. involvement in an agency that advocates for peace, justice, or the environment.

Each student will turn in two papers of three to five pages. These papers will draw upon the student's journal and the readings assigned for class. The main point of the paper is to reflect on the experience of service in the light of the readings, as well as to reflect on the readings in the light of the experience of service. These papers are expected to include a balance of the:

academic, in that they draw specifically upon class readings and service experience to show an indepth understanding of concepts, AND the

personal, in that they show your ability to integrate the material from the readings with your own service experience.

Individuals are expected to write their own papers. Presentations may be joint.

For the research option:

Each student will fill out and sign a contract that will briefly name/describe the two projects/presentations that the student intends to do.

Each student will turn in two papers of three to five pages. These papers are expected to help the class either with:

1.Giving further background on the full work from which selections for class readings were drawn

e.g.: read all of The Autobiography of Malcolm X

2.Giving further background on a work written by one of the figures covered in class

e.g.: read Dorothy Day's The Long Loneliness

3.Giving further background on a figure covered in class by reading and presenting a significant work that influenced them

e.g.: read Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God Is Within You, or John Ruskin's Unto This Last, which influenced Gandhi

4.Demonstrating how issues from this course are relevant to concerns within your major field of study.

e.g.: a History major might write about Thomas Muenzer's approach to blending faith and justice; an Education major might write about racism in the schools in a way that blends matters of faith and justice.

Students may want to make group presentations by reading different works by the same author or different works that influenced the same author. Students with the same major might want to collaborate on a project. Individuals are still expected to write their own paper. Presentations may be joint.

Rel. 363 Faith and Justice Winter 1998 Schedule of Readings

Jan. 5intro

Jan. 7 John Paul II, On Social Concern, chapter 3

Jan. 9 John Paul II, On Social Concern, chapter 4

Jan. 12"Pilgrimage to Non-Violence" Pp. 1-4

Jan. 14Why We Can't Wait, 15-75 (read quickly)

Jan. 16 Why We Can't Wait, pp. 76-95 (concentrate)

Jan. 19 Martin Luther King Day-- no class

Jan. 21 Why We Can't Wait, pp. 96-152 (read quickly)

Jan. 23 Malcolm X P. 29-42

Jan. 26 Gandhi Pp. 5-16

Jan. 28 Gandhi Pp. 17-28

Jan. 30 Malcolm X Pp. 43-54

Feb. 2 Day, selections from Little by Little

Feb. 4 O'Connor, "The Lame Shall Enter First" 55-74

distribute test 1

Feb. 6 workshop for test 1

Feb. 9no assigned reading test 1 due

Feb. 11Baum on Marx and Engels Pp. 75-85

Feb. 13Rigoberta Menchu, selections Pp. 103-123

Feb. 16 Sobrino on Romero Pp. 124-132; 141-144.

Feb. 18 Novak on Liberation Theology Pp. 145-151

Feb. 20 Caminenos Con Jesús chapter 1

Feb. 23 Caminenos Con Jesús chapter 1

Feb. 25 Caminenos Con Jesús chapter 2 to the top of p. 32

Feb. 27 Caminenos Con Jesús chapter 2 finish chapter

Mar. 2 Caminenos Con Jesús chapter 3 to the top of p. 65

Mar. 4 Caminenos Con Jesús chapter 3 finish chapter

Mar. 6 Caminenos Con Jesús chapter 7 to the top of p. 191

Mar. 9 Caminenos Con Jesús chapter 7 finish chapter/test 2 dist

Mar. 11Workshop for test 2

Mar. 13 no assigned readingtest 2 due

March 16, 18, 20 Spring Break - no classes

Mar. 23John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, chapters 2 and 3

Mar. 25John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, chapters 4 and 5

Mar. 27 Novak, "Capitalism Rightly Understood" Pp. 152-166

Mar. 30Jim Wallis, "I Shop, Therefore I Am" Pp. 167-176

Apr. 1 Thomas Merton, selections

Apr. 3 Clouds of Witnesses, St.Francis/Dorothy Day

April 6Clouds of Witnesses, Jon Sobrino/Jean Vanier

Apr. 8Clouds of Witnesses, William Stringfellow/ML King

Apr. 10 and 13 Easter Break - no classes

Apr. 15Clouds of Witnesses, Sojourner Truth/Sanctuary

Apr. 17Clouds of Witnesses, John Howard Griffin/Brian Willson

Apr. 20 Clouds of Witnesses, Joan Chittister/Heirs of Gandhi

Apr. 22Clouds of Witnesses, Dom Helder Camara/Daniel Berrigan

distribute take home final

Apr. 24Clouds of Witnesses, Thomas Merton/Four U.S. Martyrs

+ workshop for final

all take-home finals due in my office, HM 333 by Mon. Apr. 27