Instructor: Matt Recla Email: mrecla@umail.ucsb.edu Office: HSSB 3241 Office Hours: M 9:30–11:30 or by appt. Teaching Assistants: “All instruction is but a finger pointing to the moon; and those whose gaze is fixed upon the pointer will never see beyond. Even let him catch sight of the moon, and still he cannot see its beauty.” — Buddha Course Description: Welcome to Religious Studies 1—Introduction to the Study of Religion! According to your course catalog, RG ST 1 is “a consideration of major themes, issues, types of figures and phenomena, and traditions—all selected from the history of religion so as to illustrate the great variety of religious phenomena and to suggest some of the ways such things may be responsibly studied.” With such a vast and fruitful field of study, it is impossible to cover all of the topics available to the student of religion. Consequently, this course will not attempt to document the full range of religious traditions; rather, we will divide our time roughly equally between a range of comparative phenomena in religion and theories of religion drawn from numerous disciplinary perspectives. We will primarily focus on the following traditions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Required Texts (Available at the bookstore): Malory Nye. Religion: The Basics. 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2008). Stephen R. Prothero. God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World— and Why Their Differences Matter. 1st ed. (New York: HarperOne, 2010). Course Reader (available at the Associated Students Ticket Office) Additional texts will distributed via Gauchospace or handed out in class. Communication: A class this size represents a wide variety of world views, and one of our goals is to be as objective as possible when first encountering religious traditions and themes. Consequently, both in lecture and section discussion, be considerate and respectful in your comments to other students, especially concerning views not your own. You may contact the instructor or your TA via e-mail, but when doing so, please consider the high volume of e-mails we receive and formulate your communication carefully. Office hours are usually the best time to discuss course questions. Direct questions about assignments, sections, absences, etc. to your TA; questions related to the content of the course may be directed to the TA or the instructor. RG ST 1—Introduction to the Study of Religion - Spring 2011 RG ST 1—Introduction to the Study of Religion - Spring 2011 1