Philosophy of Religion
Dr Tom Kerns

Philosophy of Religion

assignments homepage

Assignment for week 6 (full)

Due: The discussion of these readings will begin on Thursday May 9th and will be completed by 6pm on Wednesday May 15th.

But: while May 15th is the official deadline for completing these discussions, the assignment actually requires that, for discussions to proceed well, you must i) complete your reading much earlier than that (say by Saturday or Sunday), ii) post your responses to the SQs and DQs much earlier than that (say by Sunday or Monday), and iii) respond to ideas others have posted well before the last day of the week.

If these reading and writing assignments are not posted well before the final Wednesday deadline, that would be a little like -- if we use a campus-based class as an analogy -- trying to start a big class discussion three minutes before the class is over.

Participation in discussions is essential in this class, so you'll want to allow time for that to happen.

Read:

• A Phenomenology of the Great Spiritual Traditions
  • an outline of Phenomenology
• Gordon Allport, The Individual and His Religion (see my message in the classroom)
• Rudolph Otto, The Idea of the Holy (Das Heilige). You do not read the entire book, but only the following sections.
  • Forward by Otto
  • chapters I, II, III, IV, V and VI (these chapters express Otto's central thesis, a description of "the Numinous."
  • read any one chapter of your choosing from chapter VII through XII (these are examples of "the Numinous."
  • Appendix XI
• An outline of Otto's concept of The Numinous

 

Write:

• Feel free to discuss any of these texts while you are reading them, if you like; it is not necessary to fully complete the reading before you post anything into the classroom.
• DQs for Phenomenology (see Discussion Questions at the end of that reading)
• SQs and DQs for Allport's The Individual and His Religion
• SQs and DQs for Das Heilige

Research projects:

See this important note about requirements for writing your final research project paper

 

email Dr Kerns

Philosophy of Religion homepage | Requirements | Weekly schedule
Huston Smith | William James | Rudolph Otto | Evelyn Underhill
Other Philosophers | Lectures | Lecture support | Assignments
Discussion questions | Study questions | Self evaluations
TK homepage | Curriculum Vita | Public lectures
Jenner homepage | EVT homepage
Business stuff | Site map

© copyright Dr Tom Kerns