Religious Studies 353 W2018 Dark Self East
& West: Comparative Conceptions CRN 25905
Instructor:
Mark
Unno, Tel. 346-4973 munno@uoregon.edu
http://pages.uoregon.edu/munno/
MW 12:00 - 1:50 p.m. Esslinger 107:
Office Hours: M 11:00-11:45 a.m.; W 2:00-2:50 p.m. Susan Campbell Hall
334
This
course
on comparative religious and philosophical thought examines selected
Asian and Western thinkers and conceptions of the self, with a special
focus on the dark side of the self. Although comparisons are often
made between ultimates - God, Buddha,
Dao, and the like - it is often overlooked that they are responses to
what are regarded as the fundamental problems or dark sides of the
inner life. Through comparing views of the dark side including sin in
Christianity, karmic evil and delusion in Buddhism, disharmony in
Taoism, and suffering in psychology, it will become evident that that
there are both significant similarities and deep differences among
diverse religious and philosophical views.
In the latter
part of the course, films together with readings will be used to
explore the dark side through various cultural themes including
racism, gender discrimination, and war. In turn, possible responses to
these issues from various thinkers in the first half of the course
will be considered. This is an intermediate-level course with a
lecture/discussion format. Some meetings will be entirely in lecture
format. Others will involve a combination of lecture and discussion.
Requirements
1. Attendance: Required. Students can have one unexcused absence
without penalty. Each class missed thereafter without prior permission
will result in 1/2 grade penalty for the course grade.
2. Short exams: There will be two short, in-class exams, based on
materials from the readings, lectures, and course web site. The first
exam will also contain questions on writing papers.
3. Short papers: Students will write three short papers based on
topics that will be provided by the instructor.
4. Final paper: Each student will hand in a medium length final paper
of 5-7 pages double-spaced. Suggested topics will be provided.
Students may choose to create their own topics with the consent of
their section leader. In the case of the latter, a one-paragraph
description of the topic must be submitted by email to the instructor
one week prior to the due date.
5. Late policy on written assignments: Three grace days total will be
allotted excluding the medium-length final paper for which no
extensions will be given. For all other assignments, a cumulative
total of three late days will be allowed without penalty. Thereafter,
each late day will result in a two-point deduction from the course
grade. Weekends are not counted against the grace days.
Learning
Outcomes
In this course students will:
A. Develop their paper writing skills through regular feedback on
papers and an exam containing questions regarding the process and
elements of writing university essays.
B. Develop a sophisticated understanding of how diverse religions and
philosophies define the dark or problematic dimensions of human
existence.
C. Acquire tools for the study of comparative religion through the
examination of the philosophical anthropology (views of human nature)
as characterized by diverse strands of religious and philosophical
thinking, using primary sources and secondary scholarly literature.
D. Learn to identify and analyze thematic presentations of the dark or
problematic dimensions of human existence concerning diverse factors
of human culture such as gender, sexual orientation, race and
ethnicity, and class.
E. have their work assessed through exams, papers, and class
discussion.
Grades
*
Short Paper I - 10%;
Short Paper II - 15%; Short
Paper III - 15%
Short Exam A - 10%;
Short Exam B - 10%; Final
Paper - 30% Attendance and Participation - 10%
*Note: You must complete all assignments in order to receive course
credit. Even if you are too late for an assignment to receive a
passing grade, you must hand it in.
Required Texts
Shinmon Aoki, Coffinman: The
Journal of a Buddhist Mortician (Anaheim, CA: Buddhist
Education Ctr, 2002).
Rubin Carter, Eye of the Hurricane, My Path from Darkness to
Freedom (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2011).
Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for
Meaning (NY: Washington Square Press, 1997).
Alice Walker, The Color Purple (NY: Mariner Books,
2003).
Burton Watson, trans., Zhuangzi
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2003).
Mark Unno, ed., REL 353 Course Reader, UO Duckstore
Weekly Schedule REL353 Dark Self East & West
(Reading assignments
are to be completed by the date under which they are listed.)
CR = Course Reader;
RT = Required Text
Week
1 INTRODUCTION; KIERKEGAARD AND SIN
1/8
Introduction:
The Dark Side of Human Existence: Contrasts and Comparisons
Reading:
Suzy
Hansen, "Ordinary People, Extraordinary
Evil" (CR1).
1/10
Reading: Soren Kierkegaard, The
Sickness Unto Death, 13-21, 29-47 (CR5); Fear and Trembling,
5-23; 34-53 (CR4). Paper I due in class.
Week
2 KIERKEGAARD (cont.); JUNGÕS PSYCHOLOGY & THE SHADOW
1/15
(No class: MLK Jr Day)
1/17
Reading:
Robert Aziz, Jung's Psychology of Religion and Synchronicity (CR8).
Week
3 EXISTENCE : MEANING &
MEANINGLESSNESS; INDIAN PHILOSOPHY: KARMA AND NEITHER/NOR
1/22
Reading:
"Hymn on Creation from the Rig Vedas," 206, 633-4 (CR2); The Bhagavad
Gita, 29-44 (CR3).
1/24
Reading:
Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
(RT).
Reading:
Peter
Schneider, "Saving Konrad Latte," 52-57,
72-73, 90, 95 (CR6).
Week
4 BLINDNESS, LIGHT, & INSIGHT
1/29
Reading:
Rubin Carter, Eye of the Hurricane, 1-196 (RT).
1/31
Reading:
Rubin Carter, Eye of the Hurricane, 197-320 (RT).
Second
half
of class: Special Guest Lecture: STEVE WEHRMEIER
Reading:
"The
Bill Wilson - Carl Jung Letters," 1-5 (CR7).
Reading:
Roger
Ebert, "My Name is Roger ..."
(online).
Week
5 DAOISM: ZHUANGZI WANDERING THE DAO
2/05
Reading:
Zhuangzi, 1-30, 31- 88 (focus
pages: 31-49, 62-63, 78-81) (RT). Paper II due
in class.
Reading:
P.J.
Ivanhoe, "Zhuangzi on Skepticism," 639-654
(CR9).
2/07
Reading:
Zhuangzi, 89-140 (focus pages:
94-95, 126-140) (RT). Exam A in class.
Week
6 PURE LAND BUDDHISM: SHINRAN & COFFINMAN
2/12
Reading: Mark Unno, Key Terms: "Pure Land Buddhism of Honen
& Shinran" (CR11).
Reading:
Tannisho: A Shin Buddhist Classic, 5-11,
16-17, 35 (CR13).
Reading:
Mark
Unno, "The Borderline between Buddhism and Psychotherapy," 139-158
(CR12).
2/14
Reading: Coffinman,
xiii-xvi, 3-111 (RT).
Week
7 MYSTICISM & THE QUESTIONING OF
REALITY
2/19
Film: Jacob's Ladder.
2/21
Reading:
Sandy Gunther, " An Alternate View of Reality:
Understanding Mystical Experience in Jacob's
Ladder," 1-10 (CR16). Paper III due
in class.
Week
8 SEXUALITY, EROS & SPIRIT: A WOMANIST
ACCOUNT
2/26
Film: Antonia's Line
Reading:
Alice
Walker, The Color Purple (RT).
2/28
Reading:
Audre Lorde,
"The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power," 53-59 (CR15). Exam
B
in class.
Week
9 BUDDHIST KARMA, EXISTENTIAL ABSURDITY
3/05
Film: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, . . . and Spring
Again
3/07
Reading: Albert Camus, "The Myth of Sisyphus," 88-91 (CR17);
Robert Akeret, Tales from a
Travelling Couch, 19-57 (CR18).
Week
10
MANY SELVES, ONE SELF, NO SELF; CONCLUDING BEGINNINGS
3/12
Readings:
"The Ten Oxherding
Pictures," 26-45 (CR10).
3/14 Concluding lecture and Discussion. Final papers due
in class
Course Reader, REL 353 Dark Self East & West
1.
Suzy
Hansen, "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Evil," Salon.com 08/21/2002.
2.
Ralph
Griffith, trans., "Hymn on Creation from the Rig Vedas" (Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass, 1973) 206, 633-34.
3. B. Srinivasa Murthy, trans., The
Bhagavad
Gita (Long Beach, CA: Long Beach Publications, 1985) 29-44.
4.
Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983) 5-23, 34-53.
5.
Soren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto
Death (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980) 13-21,
29-47.
6.
Peter
Schneider, "Saving Konrad Latte," The
New York Times Magazine (February 13, 2000) 52-57, 72-73, 90,
95.
7. "The Bill Wilson - Carl Jung Letters," 1-5.
8.
Robert
Aziz, C. G. Jung's Psychology of Religion and Synchronicity (Albany:
SUNY
Press, 1990).
9.
P. J. Ivanhoe, "Zhuangzi on Skepticism,
Skill, and the Ineffable Dao," Journal of the AAR, LX:4
639-654.
10.
"The
Ten Oxherding Pictures," in How to
Practice Zazen, Institute for Zen
Studies, 26-45.
11.
Mark
Unno, "Key Terms: Pure Land Buddhism of Honen and Shinran"
12.
Mark
Unno, "The Borderline between Buddhism and Psychotherapy," in Buddhism
and
Psychotherapy Across Cultures, ed. Mark Unno (Boston: Wisdom
Publications, 2006), 139-158.
13.
Taitetsu Unno, trans., Tannisho-A
Shin
Buddhist Classic (Honolulu: Buddhist Study Center, 1996), 5-11,
16-17, 35.
15.
Audre Lorde,
"Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power," Sister Outsider
(Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1984) 53-59.
16.
Sandy
Gunther, "An Alternate View of Reality: Understanding Mystical
Experience in Jacob's Ladder," Unpublished
Paper 1-10.
17.
Albert
Camus, "The Myth of Sisyphus," in The Myth of Sisyphus (NY:
Random House, 1955), 88-91.
18.
Robert
Akeret, Tales from a Travelling Couch
(NY: Norton, 1996) 19-57.