| Date |
Topic |
Literature |
Assignment |
| 1. Monday 27 August 2018 (MH) |
Introduction to the course
The secularization thesis
Case: The Passion |
|
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| 2. Monday 3 September (JJdR) |
Secularization and Islam |
Boender, W. & Ruiter, J.J. de (2018). ‘The imam as an organic public intellectual. The case of Yassin Elforkani in the Netherlands’, in: M. Hashas, J.J. de Ruiter & N. Valdemar Vinding (eds.). Imams in Western Europe. Developments, Transformations, and Institutional Challenges. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 163-182.
Mandatory reading:
SCP, De religieuze beleving van moslims in Nederland (juni 2018). |
|
| 3. Monday 10 September (JJdR) |
Religion, violence and blasphemy: introduction and theory |
‘The Anatomy of the Myth’, chapter in: W.T. Cavanaugh (2009), The Myth of Religious Violence. Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict. Oxford University Press, 15-56. |
|
| 4. Monday 17 September (JJdR) |
Religion, violence and blasphemy: Islam |
V. Avanesi & J.J. de Ruiter (n.y.). Is Islamic State Islamic? |
|
| 5. Monday 24 September (MH) |
Religion, violence and blasphemy: Christianity
Blasphemy case: Madonna and/or Lady Gaga |
Articles in the Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence (online available):
L. Steffen, Religion and violence in Christian traditions.
R. Hassner, Conflicts of sacred ground. |
|
| 6. Monday 1 October (MH) |
The separation of church and state: Europe |
F. de Beaufort e.a. (eds.), Separation of Church and State in Europe. Brussels 2008, 1-28.
A. Amin, Multi-ethnicity and the idea of Europe. Theory, Culture & Society 21 (2) (2004), 1-24.
S.V. Monsma & J.C. Soper, The Challenge of Pluralism. Church and State in Five Democracies. New York 2009. Chapter 1: Introduction (pp 1-14) and chapter 3: The Netherlands (pp. 51-92). |
Assignment 1: explore the legal and the actual structures regarding the separation of church and state in your home country. Answer the following two questions:
- Is there a separation of church and state in your home country? If yes, how is it regulated?
- How do you evaluate the situation in your home country regarding this issue?
|
| 7. Monday 8 October (JJdR) |
The separation of church and state: Islam |
Mohammed Hashas, Jan Jaap de Ruiter, Niels Valdemar Vinding, & Khalid Hajji (2018). ‘Imams in Western Europe: Developments, transformation, and institutional challenges, Introduction’, in: M. Hashas, J.J. de Ruiter & N. Valdemar Vinding (eds.). Imams in Western Europe. Developments, Transformations, and Institutional Challenges.. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 17-36. |
|
| 8. Monday 22 October (MH & JJdR) |
Presentations |
|
Assignment 2: the students present a religious issue from their own everyday environment. |
| 9. Monday 29 October (JJdR) |
Religion and ethics: Islam |
J. Auda (2018). ‘Rethinking Islamic law for Europe. The concept of the Land of Islam’, in: M. Hashas, J.J. de Ruiter & N. Valdemar Vinding (eds.). Imams in Western Europe. Developments, Transformations, and Institutional Challenges.. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 55-72. |
|
| 10. Monday 5 November (MH) |
Religion and ethics: euthanasia and ‘completed life’ |
TBA |
|
| 11. Monday 12 November (MH) |
Civil religion |
R. Bellah, Civil religion.
C. Bell (1997), Ritual. Perspectives and dimensions. New York / Oxford: Oxford University Press, 128-135 (political rituals).
P. Lüchau, Toward a contextualized concept of civil religion, in Social compass 56/3 (2009) 371-386. |
Assignment 3: Write a short paper (500-800 words) answering the question: Does a civil religion exist in your home country? If not, why not? If it does, how does it look like?
|
| 12. Monday 19 November (JJdR) |
Civil religion: Islam |
Literature same as lecture 11. |
|
| 13. Monday 26 November |
How to write an academic paper?
A topic presented in session 8 |
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|
| 14. Monday 3 December |
The topics for the final paper.
A topic presented in session 8 |
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The students present the topics for the final paper and give each other peer feedback. |