MTS Colloquium

Amy Erickson, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and Director of the MTS Program

“By gaining greater knowledge of how others think, we can become less certain of the knowledge we think we have, which is always the first step to greater understanding.” --Julian Baggini

The purpose of this course is three-fold: One, to give students a solid grounding in the basic issues involved in the academic study of religion, by addressing the question, “What is religion and how should we study it?” Two, to examine the various consequences of our response to this question, in order to more sharply define our own theoretical and practical positions as active scholars and teachers in the field. Three, to help students formulate a viable MTS Thesis project.

Old School Syllabus

The purpose of this course is three-fold: One, to give students a solid grounding in the basic issues involved in the academic study of religion, by addressing the question, “What is religion and how should we study it?” Two, to examine the various consequences of our response to this question, in order to more sharply define our own theoretical and practical positions as active scholars and teachers in the field. Three, to help students formulate a viable MTS Thesis project.

Click on the links below for more details on each assignment.

Weekly Posts: 30%

First Poster/Discussion Starter: 20%

Final Paper: 50%

Books

Required

Willie James Jennings, The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race . New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.

Jon D. Levenson, Inheriting Abraham: The Legacy of the Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012.

Elaine Pagels, Why Religion? A Personal Story . New York: HarperLuxe, 2018.

Recommended (this means I have PDFs of the assigned chapters of these books posted, but, depending on your research interests, you might want to read one or both of these books in their entireties)

Nancy Tatum Ammerman, Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life . New York, Oxford University Press, 2013.

David Chidester, Empire of Religion: Imperialism and Comparative Religion . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014.

I will provide PDFs or links of all the other articles and chapters you will be asked to read.

Degree Learning Goals: Please take some time to look over the Professional Degree Learning Goals (MDiv, MASC, MAPSC) and the Academic Degree Learning Goals (MTS, MA).

Incompletes:  If incompletes are allowed in this course, see the Master's Student Handbook for Policies and Procedures.

Pass/Fail:  Masters students wishing to take the class pass/fail should discuss this with the instructor by the second class session.

Academic Integrity and Community Covenant:  All students are expected to abide by Iliff’s statement on Academic Integrity, as published in the Masters Student Handbook, or the Joint PhD Statement on Academic Honesty, as published in the Joint PhD Student Handbook, as appropriate.  All participants in this class are expected to be familiar with Iliff’s Community Covenant.

Core Values: As a community, Iliff strives to live by this set of Core Values.

Accommodations:  Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146. 

Writing Lab:  Grammar and organization are important for all written assignments.  Additional help is available from the Iliff Writing Lab, which is available for students of any level who need help beginning an assignment, organizing thoughts, or reviewing a final draft. 

Inclusive Language:  It is expected that all course participants will use inclusive language in speaking and writing, and will use terms that do not create barriers to classroom community.