Philosophy of Religion

Dr. Mélanie Walton, Ph.D.

Philosophy of Religion

PHI 2310

Belmont University

Fall 2012 & 2013

Please note that there is more information here than we will cover in the semester and more than that for which you will be held responsible. 

Current and Past Readings Studied:

Walter Kaufmann, Critique of Religion and Philosophy

William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience   -and his

The Will to Believe

Augustine, The Confessions

Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling

Farid Ud-Din Attar, The Conference of the Birds

Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy

Karl Marx, “Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right”  -and his “Social Principles of Christianity”

Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion

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Click here for our Syllabus

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Encyclopedias of Philosophy:

1. Stanford

2. IEP

Style Guide

Chicago Style Citations

E-Texts:

1. Ancient

2. Medieval

3. Other

Sacred Texts

links to original language and translations

Definitions

of Religion

Religions Overview

brief summaries

Comparing Religions

statistics compared

Religious Statistics

Miscellaneous Information on Parts and Forms of Texts

Extra Credit:

Please see syllabus for further instructions.

Readings:

Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love Bernard of Clairvaux’s On Loving God, Chs.I-IV Omar Khayyam’s The Rubaiyat, 1-50

Ibn Sina’s (Avicenna) Remarks and Admonitions, Part One: Logic, Any one of the ten “Methods”

Richard de Bury’s The Philobiblon, Prologue, Chs.1-2

Anonymous’ Cloud of Unknowing, Chs.1-6

The Trial of Joan of Arc, pp.27-47

The Buddhist Dhammapada, chs. 1, 2, 3, 12, 13, 14, 20

The Hindu Khândogya Upanishad, I, 1-13

The Islamic Koran, Sura 2, Al-Baqarah (The Cow)

 Jain Pravachansara, Bk.1

The Jewish Zohar, Introduction, 1-8

Jean-Paul Sartre’s Existentialism is a Humanism

Joseph Campbell’s The Masks of God, ch. 1, pt. 1, “The Dialogue in Myth of East and West”

Karl Marx’s A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Introduction

Sigmund Freud’s “Religion as Wish Fulfillment,” The Future of an Illusion (available by pdf on blackboard)

Films:

Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Andrei Rublev” (Russian, 1966).

Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” (American, 1988).

Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “The Decalogue,” any of the ten films (Polish, 1989).

Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “The Name of the Rose” (Italian, 1986).

Igmar Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal” (Swedish, 1957).

Bill Moyer’s documentary, “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth” (American, 1988).

Carl Theodor Dreyer’s “The Passion of Joan of Arc” (French, 1928).

Robert Bresson’s “Diary of a Country Priest” (French, 1951).

Conrad Rooks’ “Siddhartha” (American, 1972).

Akira Kurosawa’s “Ikiru” (Japanese, 1952).

Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors” (American, 1989).

Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Stalker” (Russian, 1979).

Roberto Rossellini’s “The Flowers of St. Francis” (Italian, 1950).

Bruno Dumont’s “Hadewijch” (French, 2009).

Margarethe von Trotta’s “Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen” (German, 2009).

Richard Attenborough’s “Gandhi” (British, 1982).

M. Night Shyamalan’s “Wide Awake” (American, 1998).

Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” (American, 1956).