SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS

Discipline: Sociology
Spring 2008
SEMS 400-2: Sociology of Religion
Upper Division
Instructor: James McClenon


Suggested Pre-requisites: Introduction to Sociology or equivalent social science class such as
Introduction to Psychology or Introduction to Social Work


COURSE DESCRIPTION
Religion exists in all societies. It is shaped by its social context. Some sociologists argue that
religion reflects a society and that it is socially constructed. This course will examine these
arguments and also review evolutionary theories implying that religion has physiological basis.
The course will analyze the beliefs, practices, organizations, and experiences typically labeled as
religious, paying particular attention to religions experiential basis. Port visits will include
ethnographic projects talking with people to gain an understanding of why they believe as they
do. Topics covered will include religious organizational structures, secularization, and the
influence of family, ethnicity, social status, and politics on religious thought.


COURSE OBJECTIVES
1. This course will cultivate an understanding of the distinctively sociological approach to
studying religion. We will discuss the kinds of questions sociologists ask when they analyze
religion.
2. This course will familiarize students with some of the major theoretical orientations pertaining
to the sociology study of religion Major theorists include Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl
Marx. We will also be discussing more modern innovative orientations using Darwinian and
sociological perspectives.
3. This class will deepen knowledge of the major issues, problems, and findings such as religious
conversion, new religions, shifting church attendance rates, religiously inspired political
activism, and secularization.
4. This class will introduce the basics of quantitative and qualitative sociological analysis.
Sociologists often employ statistical analyses when testing hypotheses and drawing conclusions.
We will be discussing the nature of science and the use of science for studying religion.
5. This class will improve cognitive and communication skills through exercises and reports so
that students ability to read, analyze, interview, discuss, and write will be improved.



TOPICAL OUTLINE OF COURSE
Text = Johnstone - Religion in Society: A Sociology of Religion
Reader = Monahan et al. Sociology of Religion: A Reader
Supplement = McClenon Wondrous Healing: Shamanism, Human Evolution, and the Origin of
Religion
On-line texts are listed by authors name these materials will be assigned in preparation for port
visits and students will be selecting which they wish to read.

Class number/lecture topic/assigned readings
1. The Definition of Religion
Assignments: text chapter 1
reader pp 1-5 (Introduction)
online: McClenon (2005)

2. Elementary Forms of Religious Life
Religion in Brazil
Assignments: reader pp. 9-15; 16-30 (Durkheim, Geertz)
text chapter 2
on-line: Wright
online: McClenon (2000)

3. Anthropology and Religion: Shamanism
Assignment: supplement Introduction
reader Part X (Alternative Religions)
on-line: Hoskovec and Svorad
Hood
Heide

4. The sources of religion
Assignment: text Chapter 2
supplement chapter 1
on-line: Gibbons
reader: pp. 30-35 (Monahan, Turner)

5. Religion and Human Evolution/Religion and Ancient History
Assignment: supplement chapter 2
on-line: Bourguignon
Kass

6. The Nature of Ritual
Assignment: reader pp. 35-54 (Belief and Ritual)
supplement chapter 3 (anthropology of healing)
on-line: Heide
Kok
QUIZ #1




7. Max Webers Sociology of Religion
Prepare for Cape Town
Assignment: supplement chapter 4
reader: Part IX
on-line: Horton
Spanos

8. Religious Experience
Discuss Traditional Religion/Islam/Christianity in Africa
Assignment: reader Part III (religious experience)
reader Part XIII (science and religion)
supplement Chapter 5 (seeds of religion)

9. Religion as a Group Phenomena
Prepare for Port Louis (ethnic identities)
Assignment: text chapter 3, Chapter 12
supplement chapter 6
on-line: Wade

10. Church/Sect Phenomena
Discussion of Hinduism/Buddhism
Assignment: text: Chapter 4
reader: Part IX

11. EXAM #1

12. Race, Ethnicity, and Religion
Prepare for Chennai
Assignment: reader: Part IV
text: Chapter 13

13. Buddhism, Islam Prepare for Penang
Assignment: text Chapter 5 (Becoming Religious)

14. Religious Conflict Marx and Religion
Assignment: text Chapter 6

15. Religion and Politics
Prepare for Ho Chi Minh City
Assignment: text: Chapter 7
reader Part XII
Prepare for Hong Kong, Shanghai

16. Religious Fundamentalism (Christianity and Islam)
More preparation for Hong Kong, Shanghai
Assignment text Chapter 8

17. Religions and the Economy
Prepare for Kobe
Assignment: text Chapter 9

18. Religions and the Class System
Assignment text: Chapter 10
reader Part VI
Prepare for Honolulu
QUIZ#2

19 Women and Religion
Assignment text: Chapter 11
reader Part V
supplement chapter 2 (again)

20 Denominational Society
Assignment text Chapter 14
reader part VII
Prepare for Honolulu

21 The Secularization Debate
Assignment reader Part VIII (Secularization Debate)
reader Part XIV (Social Movements)

22. The Future of Religion
Assignment: text Chapter 15
reader Part XI
supplement - conclusion

23. Review for Final Exam

24. Final Exam


FIELD COMPONENT AND FIELD COMPONENT ESSAY
You are required to write a 20-page paper based on visits to a minimum of two religious centers at
two different ports. Your essay should also draw from information you have gathered about the
religious practices associated with these centers.

In your paper, evaluate theories you have learned from your texts and lectures. Base your essay on
the concept that sociology is a social science. This means that the sociology of religion uses
scientific methods to generate knowledge about religion. Science involves devising theories for
generating hypotheses that are then evaluated through analysis of information. As a result, the
theory may be revised. Your site visits, coupled with knowledge gained from outside reading,
provide you with the kind of data that you can use to evaluate hypotheses derived from social
scientific theories. In your essay, show an understanding of how theories from the scientific study
of religion can be used to evaluate your observations and experiences.

You might consider specific theories while visiting religious centers. For example, you might
evaluate theories pertinent to the questions: Do people make rational choices when engaging in
religious practices? What factors determine the degree that someone benefits from a ritual?

People, in their everyday life, use parallel forms of analysis often without thinking about it. Some
people regard this process as common sense. People devise theories that they test by evaluating
hypotheses and modify their theories as a result of their experiences. In your essay, tell about your
own use of this process. Discuss how your opinions have been changed by specific experiences
during this semester at sea. Such changes imply that you formulated hypotheses that were refuted
by your experiences. Describe how experiential confirmations or refutations have affected your
thinking.

Be aware that your perceptions are influenced by your beliefs. In your essay, show an awareness of
the limitations of your analysis and the difficulties of cross-cultural observation. You should
consider differences in your thinking regarding common sense, religiosity, and the scientific
process.

METHODS OF EVALUATION
Midterm exam: 35%
Final exam 35%
Field Component 20%
Class Participation 10%
Quizzes 0%

Exams will include multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions.

The field component will involve a 20-page paper based on your analysis of at least two port visits.

This class will include two quizzes these quizzes will not count toward your final grade. The goal
of these quizzes is to grant students insight into the nature of coming examination questions.

Classroom activities will involve discussion. Your professor will work directly with each
individual to insure adequate class participation. Students will be required to bring in summaries of
class readings in order to provide themselves guidance during class discussions. Your professor
will be inspecting these summaries and your class discussion grade will be based on their
adequacy. Students will receive immediate feedback regarding inadequate preparation. Class
discussion will also include talking about experiences during port visits.














REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS


AUTHOR: Ronald L. Johnstone
TITLE: Religion in Society: A Sociology of Religion
PUBLISHER: Pearson Prentice Hall
ISBN #: 0-13-1888407-7
DATE/EDITION: 2007 (Eighth Edition)
COST: $61.01

AUTHOR: Susanne C. Monahan, William A. Mirola, Michael O. Emerson
TITLE: Sociology of Religion: A Reader
PUBLISHER: Prentice Hall
ISBN #: 0-13-0253800-4
DATE/EDITION: 2001
COST: $57.20

AUTHOR: James McClenon
TITLE: Wondrous Healing: Shamanism, Human Evolution, and the Origin of Religion
PUBLISHER: Northern Illinois University Press
ISBN #: 0-87580-284-2
DATE/EDITION: 2002
COST: $19.95


RESERVE LIBRARY LIST


AUTHOR: Lester R. Kurtz
TITLE: Gods in the Global Village: The Worlds Religions in Sociological Perspective
PUBLISHER: Pine Forge Press
ISBN #: 1-4129-2715-3
DATE/EDITION: 2007 (second edition)
COST: $45.95 (Amazon)

AUTHOR: Irving M. Zeitlin
TITLE: The Religious Experience: Classical Philosophical And Social Theories
PUBLISHER: Pearson Prentice Hall
ISBN #: 0-13-098239
DATE/EDITION: 2004
COST: $39.49 (Amazon)




AUTHOR: Meredith B. McGuire
TITLE: Religion: The Social Context
PUBLISHER: Wadsworth Publishing Company
ISBN #: 053416986
DATE/EDITION: 2001 Fifth edition
COST: $75.95 (Barnes and Nobel)


ELECTRONIC COURSE MATERIALS

Bourguignon, Erica (1976). The effectiveness of religious healing movements: A review of
recent literature, Transcultural Psychiatry, 13: 5-21.

Gibbons, Don (1972). Hypnotic susceptibility and religious experience, Journal for the Scientific
Study of Religion, 11: 152-156.

Heide, Frederick J., et al. (1980). Hypnotic responsivity as a predictor of outcome in meditation,
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 28: 358-385.

Hood, Ralph (1973). Hypnotic susceptibility and reported religious experience, Psychological
Reports, 33: 549-550.

Horton, Robin (1967). African traditional thought and Western science, Africa: Journal of the
International African Institute, 37: 50-71.

Hoskovec, J. and D. Svorad. (1969). The relationship between human and animal hypnosis,
American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 11: 180-182.

Kass, Jared D. et al. (1991). Health outcomes and a new index of spiritual experience, Journal of
the Scientific Study of Religion, 30: 203-211.

Kok, L. P. (1989). Hypnotic susceptibility in Kavadi carriers in Singapore, Annals of Academic
Medicine, Singapore, 18: 655-7.

McClenon, James. (2000). Content analysis of an anomalous memorate collection: Testing
hypotheses regarding universal features, Sociology of Religion, 61: 155-169.

McClenon, James (2005). Rootlore as therapy: Evolutionary impacts of ritual suggestion,
Journal of Ritual Studies, 19: 115-128.

Spanos, Nicholar P. and Jack Gottlieb. (1979). Demonic possession, Mesmerism, and hysteria: A
social psychological perspective on their historical interrelations, Journal of Abnormal
Psychiatry, 88: 527-547.


Wade, Michael J. (1978) A critical review of the models of group selection, Quarterly Review of
Biology, 53: 101-114.

Wright, Peggy Ann. (1995). The interconnectivity of mind, brain, and behavior in altered states
of consciousness: Focus on shamanism. Alternative Therapies, 1: 50-56.