Instructor in Charge: Office Hours:

Professor David Klemm 105 Gilmore Hall

Department of Religious Studies Tuesday, 10:30am-12:00 noon

Departmental Office: 314 Gilmore Hall telephone: 335-2166

Email: david-klemm@uiowa.edu

We live deeper than we think. In both our individual lives and in our lives with others, we are aware of a depth dimension in human experience that we can scarcely think about. Minimally, we can think of this "depth dimension" as the source and goal of ultimate meanings and values in life. Plato called this depth dimension "The Highest Good." In the search for knowledge, it has been called "Ultimate Truth." Paul Tillich named it "the power of being-itself." This depth dimension is what gives humans hope for the future, courage to deal with the threats to their existence, and love of the world and others. This dimension of depth sometimes eludes us. We may be aware of it only as an ideal or as a demand that is remote from real life—as something that we feel compelled to pursue, but that we never seem to have. At other times, this dimension of depth actually breaks into everyday experience. It intrudes on us and overwhelms us. In both cases, when we touch the depth dimension we find ourselves in contact with the sacred or holy dimension of life. Somehow we understand that contact with the depth dimension can result in spiritual knowledge, power, and conviction. As a result of such contact, we discover that our familiar understanding of what life means is overturned, transformed, and empowered in a new direction. Religion is about gaining, sustaining, and directing our contact with that depth dimension. This is how the course proposes to understand religion.

At the same time, we recognize that the desire for contact with a depth dimension of meaning and power can give rise to distortions in human lives. Dogmatism, fanaticism, and holy wars can arise out of the distorted desire for certainty of salvation. Humans seem infinitely capable of twisting the meaning of the depth dimension to serve their own selfish purposes and to justify their own narrow desires. Paul Tillich says that such distortions stand behind all forms of idolatry: humans substitute the search for wealth, the nation, or social standing for the true depth of meaning.

The primary goal of this course is to begin to comprehend the nature of religion conceived as the quest for, and discovery of, a depth dimension in life. This seeking and finding takes place in various levels of human social life or culture. Hence the course is entitled Religion and Society. The course will unfold in four domains of inquiry:

• Religion and the community—depth meanings given in the communal/political life of the state
• Religion and the individual—depth meanings arising within personal experience
• Religious traditions—depth meanings expressed by individuals for historical communities of faith and practice
• Comparative religious practice—depth meanings arising in the encounter between different religious traditions

Our task is to see how the religious depth makes its appearance in each of these distinct domains, and what impact that depth has on each of them when it appears. To do that, the lectures will identify the structure of each of these domains and show how the depth dimension breaks into that structure. We will pay special attention to the transitions between each of these different domains. For example, reflecting on depth meanings appearing in the state naturally gives rise to the question of the individual self, because a state is a collection of individuals. Reflecting on depth meanings appearing in the individual’s experience naturally gives rise to the question of religious traditions in which the individual is embedded. Reflecting on depth meanings appearing in traditions naturally gives rise to the question of how different individuals and communities put their religion into practice.

Some secondary intellectual goals of the course include the following. 1) Students should become more self-critical about their own place within the social world and culture generally speaking. 2) Students should become more capable of imagining new possibilities for their own being in the world. This course values the ability to think clearly and rationally about what really moves people—that is, their "ultimate concerns." 3) Students should acquire a desire and ability to think not just technically about problems facing society, but meditatively about what it means to be human in a complex and confusing world.

Some secondary technical goals of the course include the following. 1) Students should improve their ability to read sophisticated texts for meaning. 2) Students should improve their writing of analytical-interpretative essays. 3) Students should improve their ability to speak clearly and conversationally to their classmates about the meanings and values they discover in the texts and lectures.

This course is embedded in the General Education program of the College of Liberal Arts within the Department of Religious Studies. Most students take the course to satisfy part of the Humanities GE requirement. Many students decide to include it as a basic course in the Religion major. It is easy to have Religion as a second major, and many students start from here to study Religion alongside their other major course of study. Taking Religion as a second major is a way of adding meaning and depth to their studies.

The following books are required for the course. They are all available at the Iowa Memorial Union Bookstore. No other materials are needed.

• Plato, The Republic, translated with an Introduction by Desmond Lee, second edition (revised), Penguin Books
• Carl Gustav Jung, The Undiscovered Self, Princeton University Press
• Chaim Potok, My Name Is Asher Lev, Fawcett Columbine
• The Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New Millenium, Riverhead Books

Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30-10:20 a.m.

Exams: Midterm exam: Thursday, March 13, 9:30 a.m., Buchanan Auditorium

The midterm exam will have 50 multiple-choice questions. The final exam will have 70 multiple-choice questions. See the Schedule of Courses, under "Examination Policies," for University policies concerning conflicts in the final examination schedule. All students are required to take the final examination during the scheduled hour unless the University's "Examination Policies" dictate that an alternative time must be scheduled.

January 21 The Concept of "Religion" no reading

January 23 The Setting and Topic Plato, The Republic, pp. 3-16

Of Plato's The Republic:

What Is Justice?

January 28 The Case for Injustice Plato, The Republic, pp. 16-55 and Socrates’s Rebuttal

January 30 Nature and Origin Plato, The Republic, pp. 57-69;

February 4 Justice in the State and Plato, The Republic, pp. 137-165

Individual

February 6 Education in the State: Plato, The Republic, pp. 200-239

What is a Philosopher?

February 11 The Good as Highest Plato, The Republic, pp. 239-264, 280-285

Object of Knowledge

February 13 The Soul and Its Fate: Plato, The Republic, pp. 378-393

Why Be Just?

February 18 Religion and the Individual: Jung, The Undiscovered Self, pp.3-18

On Self-Knowledge

February 20 Religion as Counterbalance Jung, The Undiscovered Self, pp. 19-39

To Mass Society

February 25 Jung’s Depth Psychology Jung, The Undiscovered Self, pp. 40-61

February 27 The Individuation Process Jung, The Undiscovered Self, pp. 65-95

March 4 Dreams, Symbols, and Jung, The Undiscovered Self, pp. 96-123

Archetypes

March 6 Psychological Types Jung, The Undiscovered Self, pp. 124-44

March 11 Summary and Review of Units #1 and #2

March 13 Midterm Exam in class

March 25 Overview of My Name Is Potok, My Name Is Asher Lev, pp. 3-50

Asher Lev: Three Books (Chapter One)

March 27 Judaism in Potok’s Potok, My Name Is Asher Lev, pp. 51-100

Novel (Chapters Two and Three)

April 1 More on Judaism; Potok, My Name Is Asher Lev, pp. 101-150

(Chapters Four and Five)

April 3 Books One and Two Potok, My Name Is Asher Lev, pp. 153-97

(Chapters Six and Seven)

April 8 Modern Art as Religion I Potok, My Name Is Asher Lev, pp. 198-247

(Chapters Eight and Nine)

April 10 Modern Art as Religion II Potok, My Name Is Asher Lev, pp. 251-90

(Chapters Ten and Eleven)

April 15 Book Three Potok, My Name Is Asher Lev, pp. 291-332

(Chapters Twelve and Thirteen)

April 17 Concluding Interpretation Potok, My Name Is Asher Lev, pp. 333-369

April 22 Life of the Buddha; The Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New

April 24 The Eightfold Path The Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New

April 29 The Foundation of Ethics The Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New

May 1 Buddhist Spiritual Practice The Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New

May 6 Christian Spiritual The Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New

May 16 Final Exam, 2:15 p.m.

In planning their schedules, students should be aware that each semester hour of discussion or lecture normally entails at least two hours of outside preparation for the average student (e.g., in a three-credit-hour course, standard out-of-class preparation is six hours). This standard is the basis on which the Registrar's Office assigns hours of University credit for courses.

All students in the College have specific rights and responsibilities. You have the right to adjudication of any complaints you have about classroom activities of instructor actions. Information on these procedures is available in the Schedule of Courses and on-line in the College's Student Academic Handbook http://www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/). You also have the right to expect a classroom environment that enables you to learn, including modifications if you have a disability.

Your responsibilities to this class--and to your education as a whole--include attendance and participation. See the syllabus for your discussion section for information about penalties for missing lectures or discussion classes. You are also expected to be honest and honorable in your fulfillment of assignments and in test-taking situations. You have a responsibility to the rest of the class--and to the instructor--to help create a classroom environment where all may learn. At the most basic level, this means that you will respect the other members of the class and the instructor, and treat them with the courtesy you hope to receive in turn.

If at any time you as a student feel that the instructor or teaching assistant have treated you unfairly or acted unprofessionally or otherwise failed to meet their responsibilities, please bring the matter to my attention so that we can work together to resolve the problem. I am the DEO in the Department of Religious Studies. If you remain unsatisfied you may submit a written complaint to the Associate Dean for Academic Programs, 120 Schaeffer Hall (335-2633). Students are directed to the full policy on complaints printed in the Schedule of Courses and the College's Student Academic Handbook.

I would like to hear from anyone who has a disability, which may require some modification of seating, testing, or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements may be made. Please talk with me after class or during my office hours.

Plagiarism and cheating may result in grade reduction and/or other serious penalties. Plagiarism and cheating include, but may not be limited to:

• presentation of the ideas of others without credit to the source;
• use of direct quotations without quotation marks and without credit to the source;
• paraphrasing without credit to the source;
• participation in a group project which presents plagiarized materials;
• failure to provide adequate citations for material obtained through electronic research;
• downloading and submitting work from electronic databases without citation;
• submitting material created/written by someone else as one's own, including purchased term/research papers;
• copying from someone else's exam, homework, or laboratory work;
• allowing someone to copy or submit one's work as his/her own;
• accepting credit for a group project without doing one's share;
• submitting the same paper in more than one course without the knowledge and approval of the instructors involved;
• using notes or other materials during a test or exam without authorization;
• not following the guidelines specified by the instructor for a "take-home" test or exam.

If you are unclear about the proper use and citation of sources, or the details and guidelines for any assignment, you should discuss your questions with the instructor before you complete the assignment.