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Extra
Credit Opportunities |
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Various groups on
campus will organize events during the quarter which are related to our course
or to the study of religion in our world. You are encouraged to attend, both as
a citizen of the University and as a student of religious studies this term.
You will receive extra credit if, in addition to attending the event, you
analyze and reflect on it in a 2-3 page paper. Introduce the speaker, date, and
title of the event in the first paragraph. In the body of your paper, explore
the speaker's career more fully (use links below) and summarize and analyze the
presentation. To do this successfully, break out paragraphs that address the following
questions:
- What has the speaker published,
and/or with what organizations is the the speaker affiliated?
- What were the
central points of the presentation?
- What insights did the speaker offer?
- In
what ways do the speaker's points relate to our course?
In the
final paragraph of your paper, evaluate the speaker's presentation. What did you
appreciate most? What did you learn? Was there anything that was problematic about
the presentation, or any points you would argue with? Why?
This paper
should follow the formatting directions for a short assignment available at Style
Sheet. The paper must be submitted within a week of the event. Each paper
earns at most 2 points, so students often attend two events and do two papers
in order to earn the full 3 points of extra credit available during the quarter.
These points are only applicable to the grade at the end of the quarter if all
required assignments have been submitted.
The following events are eligible
for extra credit in this class. The list will be updated weekly, so check back
in regularly. If you learn of any events that might be appropriate for extra credit,
propose them to the professor beforehand for approval.
| Date & Time |
Event |
October 3
Thursday
7:00-8:30 p.m. |
Panel on the Historical Jesus, Reza Aslan, Catherine Murphy and David Pinault
Mayer Theatre
Reza Aslan is a Santa Clara alumnus (Religious Studies '98) and New York Times bestselling author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, published this past summer, as well as No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam. Dr. Murphy is Associate Professor of New Testament and early Christianity here at SCU, and has published Wealth in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Qumran Community (2002), John the Baptist: Prophet of Purity for a New Age (2003), and The Historical Jesus for Dummies (2007). Dr. Pinault is Professor of Islam at SCU specializing in Shi'a Islam; he has written Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights (1992), The Shiites: Ritual and Popular Piety in a Muslim Community (1993), Horse of Karbala: Muslim Devotional Life in India (2001), and Notes from the Fortune-telling Parrot: Islam and the Struggle for Religious Pluralism in Pakistan (2008), as well as a recent novel, Museum of Seraphs in Torment. Sponsored by the Office of Marketing and Communications and the Silicon Valley Commonwealth Club. |
October 7
Monday
5:00-6:30 p.m. |
"Why Is God for Christians Good for Nothing?" Terry Eagleton
St. Clare Room, Library & Learning Commons
Atheists tend to claim that God is entirely pointless, and so does the doctrine of Creation. Here, at least, is some common ground between Richard Dawkins and Pope Francis. This talk will try among other things to spell out why God is pointless and why this is the whole point about God. It will also seek to remind us that when we claim that God is good, we have very little clue as to what we are talking about. Dr. Eagleton is currently Disinguished Visiting Professor in English at the Universities of Lancaster and Notre Dame, after holding a position as fellow at four Oxford and Cambridge colleges (the youngest Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge, since the 18th century), the University of Manchester, and the National University of Ireland, Galway. Author of over forty works of literary and cultural criticism, his most recent books include Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Refletions on the God Debate (2009), On Evil (2010), Why Marx Was Right (2011), and The Event of Literature (2012). Sponsored as part of the God and Culture Series in the Bannan Institute's yearlong What Good Is God series, out of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. |
October 17
Thursday
4:00-5:15 p.m. |
"My Bright Abyss," Christian Wiman
St. Clare Room, Library & Learning Commons
For years after college, Mr. Wiman traveled the world, devoting himself to the craft of poetry. He later became the Jones lecturer of poetry at Stanford University, a visiting lecturer at the Yale Divinity School, and also taught at Northwestern University and the Prague School of Economics. From 2003 to 2013, Mr. Wiman served as editor of Poetry Magazine, the oldest American magazine of verse. Under his leadership, Poetry was honored with two prestigious National Magazine Awards in 2011. Now a Senior Lecturer in Religion and Literature at Yale Divinity School and Yale Institute of Sacred Music, he is author of three well-received books of poetry, a book of essays, and most recently, My Bright Abyss: Meditations of a Modern Believer. Sponsored as part of the God and Culture Series in the Bannan Institute's yearlong What Good Is God series, out of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. |
October 30
Wednesday
4:00-5:15 p.m. |
"Keeping the Faith: Catholic Writers on Heroes of Conscience," Catherine Wolff, facilitator
St. Clare Room, Learning Commons and Library
The Roman Catholic philosopher, Charles Taylor, writes that the church must recognize the right of every Christian to exercise his or her judgment in applying the gospel message to moral or political circumstances, and to be included in the great conversation from which the authoritative sense of the faithful emerges. This event will explore the challenges of maintaining a faithful conscience in the face of opposition from prevailing civil or religious authorities. Four contributing authors from Not Less Than Everything: Catholic Writers on Heroes of Conscience from Joan of Arc to Oscar Romero (2013), edited by panel facilitator Catherine Wolff, will reflect on the impact of a significant hero of conscience within their lives, the world, and the church. Sponsored as part of the God and Culture Series in the Bannan Institute's yearlong What Good Is God series, out of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. |
November 5
Tuesday
7:30-9:00 p.m. |
"God and Sexuality," Panel (Laura Brekke, Paul Crowley, S.J., Sally Vance-Trembath and Abby McHugh)
Kennedy Commons
Brekke is the Director of Religious Diversity and the Protestant Campus Minister at SCU, Crowley and Vance-Trembath are professors in the Religious Studies Department, and McHugh is the Community Development Coordinator for College and Young Adults at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. Some of the questions that will be posed to the panel include: what does God have to do with sex? Did Jesus have a sexual nature, and what does that mean? What does the Bible and/or the church say about sex, and is that even relevant to 21st century college students? Is sex spiritual and sacred as well as physical and emotional? This ecumenical panel is sponsored by Core Fellowship. |
November 6
Wednesday
4:00-5:15 p.m. |
"Well, I'll be Damned! Considering Atheism in the United States Today," Jerome Baggett
St. Clare Room, Library & Learning Commons
In recent years a cultural space for public expressions of atheism and other forms of irreligion has opened up within American society. Both advocates of the so-called "new atheism" and its detractors have been enormously vocal, but we still know very little about everyday atheists beyond the popular – and very misleading – stereotypes about them. This presentation aims to get beyond those by taking a more considered, sociological look at American atheism, its connection to other nascent modes religious identification (the "nones," the "spiritual but not religious," agnostics, etc.), and its prospects for helping to engender a more thoughtful public conversation about the sacred and secular within contemporary society. Dr. Baggett is Professor of Religion and Society at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University, and visiting professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley. He is the author of Sense of the Faithful: How American Catholics Live Their Faith (2009); and Habitat for Humanity: Building Private Homes, Building Public Religion (2001). He is currently conducting research on atheist and freethinker groups in the United States and recently published an essay entitled "Protagoras's Assertion Revisited: American Atheism and Its Accompanying Obscurities" (Implicit Religion, Fall 2011). Sponsored as part of the God and Culture Series in the Bannan Institute's yearlong What Good Is God series, out of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. |
November 7
Thursday
5:00-6:15 p.m. |
"Is Biological Evolution Compatible with a Moral Conscience," Francisco Ayala
St. Clare Room, Library & Learning Commons
Francisco Ayala, professor of biological sciences, ecology, and evolutionary biology at UC Irvine and the author of our final book this quarter, will be addressing several questions today: Can we still retain a notion of moral conscience in the face of the findings and claims of evolutionary biology? What does "conscience" mean in light of a number of crucial theoretical and practical challenges of the present day, particularly as they intersect with Catholic thought? Ayala is a former Dominican priest who did his undergraduate work at the University of Salamanca in Spain and his doctorate in evolutionary biology at Columbia University. His research on population and evolutionary genetics has led to new approaches to the prevention and treatment of diseases that affect hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide. He has received the National Medal of Science (2001), a bicentennial medal from Mount Saint Mary's University (2007), the Gold Honorary Gregor Mendel Medal of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Gold Medal of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the Gold Medal of the Stazione Zoologica in Naples, the President's Award of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award and 150th Anniversary Leadership Medal of the AAAS, the Medal of the College of France, the UCI Medal of the University of California, the 1998 Distinguished Scientist Award from the SACNAS, and Sigma Xi's William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement (2000), and the Templeton Prize (2010). This special event has been made possible by the Project on Conscience in Roman Catholic Thought, funded by Phyllis and Mike Shea. It is co-sponsored by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and The Commonwealth Club of California, Silicon Valley Chapter. Attendance is expected to be heavy, so please rsvp at www.scu.edu/ayala. |
November 7
Thursday
6:00-7:00 p.m. |
Interfaith Dinner Discussion with Br. Michael Minton
Campus Ministry Conference Room, Benson
Brother Minton is a Franciscan friar active in Muslim-Christian dialogue. He will be sharing his experiences regarding dialogue over a delicious falafel dinner. Sponsored by Campus Ministry. |
November 8
Friday
5:00-8:00 p.m. |
Eastern Orthodox Christianity: Presentation and Q&A, Jacob Saylor
Campus Ministry Conference Room, Benson
Saylor received his undergrad degree from the University of South Carolina where he double-majored in philosophy and religion. After that, he went to Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in the Boston area to get a Masters of Divinity degree, specializing in systematic theology and liturgics. He'll talk about the beliefs of Orthodoxy and of Christianity in general. They'll be serving pizza and refreshments! Sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Fellowship on campus, and hosted by Campus Ministry. |
November 12
Tuesday
4:00-5:15 p.m. |
"Violent Religion or the Sacred State? Violence, Idolatry, and Religion in Civil Society," William Cavanaugh
St. Clare Room, Library & Learning Commons
A common notion in Western countries is that religion is prone to violence, so we must privatize religion and give our loyalty to the neutral and secular nation-state. What happens when loyalty to the nation becomes a kind of religion? In this lecture, Professor Cavanaugh will sort through these different claims and argue that there is no essential difference between "secular" violence and "religious" violence. Dr. Kavanaugh is Senior Research Professor and Director of the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University, and author of The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict (2009) and Migrations of the Holy: God, State, and the Political Meaning of the Church (2011). Sponsored as part of the God and Culture Series in the Bannan Institute's yearlong What Good Is God series, out of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. |
Any day
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"For the Bible Tells Me So," A film by Daniel Karslake
Library copy lost; available on Netflix and iTunes
Theologians, historians, Chicana feminist intellectuals, and artists have played active roles in (re)defining Our Lady of Guadalupe, but who is Guadalupe for working-class Latinas? Based on empirical data, this presentation explores how ordinary Catholic Latinas develop a consciousness and transcend limiting notions of what Our Lady of Guadalupe represents and what it means to be Catholic and female at the intersection of race, class, and gender. Dr. Castañda-Liles is an SCU alumna (BS Sociology, double minor in WGST and Ethnic Studies). Her research, writing, and teaching interests include Sociology of religion, lived religion, critical ethnography, community studies, Chicana/o and Latina/o studies, immigrant experience, qualitative methods, and the interlocking of race, class, gender, religion and sexuality. This Ana María Pineda Junior Scholar Research Lecture is sponsored as part of the God and Culture Series in the Bannan Institute's yearlong What Good Is God series, out of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. |
| Any day |
"The Gay Debate: The Bible and Homosexuality," Matthew Vines
Your computer
Vines, a gay 22-year old Harvard undergraduate raised in a conservative evangelical church in Kansas, presents a one-hour lecture on YouTube in which he offers the result of his research on the Bible and homosexuality, and Christianity's current debates on this topic. Delivered at College Hill United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas on March 8, 2012. Watch the lecture and write an extra credit paper in which you introduce the speaker, summarize his remarks, tie them to our class, and evaluate the presentation. If it is helpful, here is an op-ed piece by Leonard Pitts, Jr. about the video that was posted in the Silicon Valley Mercury News.com on 3 May 2012. |
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