Welcome Philosophy of Religion Students!
This page will be one of your important online resources for Philosophy of Religion (Philosophy 500) at San Francisco State University, Spring 2015. On this page you will find course handouts, study questions, reading and paper assignments, online course readings, and videos. All resources are presented in course calendar format. The page will be updated weekly. Make sure you check in each week for new postings. All correspondence should be directed to me at msudduthsfsu@gmail.com, which is the email I use for students. Please go to iLearn if you wish to check your grade in the class, as all assignment grades are posted on iLearn. Online paper submissions also go through iLearn, not the course page at michaelsudduth.com.
Course Calendar and Resources
Below is the course calendar featuring the schedule of readings, course handouts, power points, study questions, videos for viewing, and class announcements and assignments. Reading assignments for the week are given first, followed by course resources for the week. Any additional assignments are inserted on the days they are due. Resources for each week such as handouts and study questions are provided under weekly Resources at the end of each week. “TBA” means “to be announced” and indicates forthcoming details on an assignment or reading. “TBP” means “to be posted” and indicates that a link to content is forthcoming. Links are highlighted in BLUE, and exam and paper assignment due dates are highlighted in RED. Check this calendar weekly for updates, especially since resources will be added continuously throughout the semester. (Note: downloadable documents have DOC, PDF, and PPT (power point) file extensions).
Week 1: Orientation
January 26 (M): Orientation I
January 28 (W): Orientation II
January 30 (F): Katha Upanishad [on-line reading]
Week 1 Resources
Handout: Outline of the Upanishads 1 – Katha and Brihadaranyaka
Video: Robert Spira – the SELF beyond the Self
Video: Robert Spira – The Fear of Death
Week 2: The Vedic-Upanishadic Concept of Brahman
February 2 (M): Class cancelled
February 4 (W): Sushanta, “The Vedic-Upanishadic Concept of Brahman” (43–46)
February 6 (F): Sushanta, “The Vedic-Upanishadic Concept of Brahman” (46–51)
Week 2 Resources
Handout: Eastern Concepts of God
Study Questions: The Vedic-Upanishadic Concept of God
Power Point: Six Concepts of the Upanishads
Week 3: The Experiential Basis for Knowledge of Atman-Brahman
February 9 (M): Sushanta Sen article continued
February 11 (W): Sushanta Sen article concluded
February 13 (F): Puligandla, “The Message of the Mandukya Upanishad” (121–125)
Week 3 Resources
Video 1: Thich Nhat Hanh – Buddhism
Video 2: Adyashanti – The Experience of No Self
Video 3: Jeff Foster – Seeking, Enlightenment, and No Self
Week 4: Buddhism: Self, No Self, and Nirvana
February 16 (M): Buddhism: Three Marks of Existence + Nagarjuna, “An Analysis of Nirvana” (76–77)
February 18 (W): Ives, “Emptiness in Mahayana Buddhism” (52–54)
February 20 (F): Ives, “Emptiness in Mahayana Buddhism” (52–54) continued
Additional assignment note: Please view videos 1, 2, and 3 under Week 3 Resources.
Week 4 Resources
Power Point: Eightfold Path and Meditation (Recommended)
Power Point: Anicca and Anatta
Handout: Nagarjuna and Buddhist Emptiness Teaching
Handout: Buddhism, No Self and Nirvana
Video: Jeff Foster – The Emptiness of Self
Week 5: Buddhism Continued
February 23 (M): Ives, “Emptiness in Mahayana Buddhism” (54–56)
Additional assignment note: Please view all videos under week 4 resources
February 25 (W): Ives, “Emptiness in Mahayana Buddhism” (56–58)
February 27 (F): EXAM #1
Week 5 Resources
Response Essay #1 (due March 10)
Week 6: Eastern Religious Philosophy and the Problem of Evil
March 2 (M): Kaufman, “Karma, Rebirth, and the Problem of Evil” (279–284)
March 4 (W): Kaufman, “Karma, Rebirth, and the Problem of Evil” (284–290)
March 6 (F): Kaufman, “Karma, Rebirth, and the Problem of Evil” completed
Week 6 Resources
Study Questions: the Problem of Evil in Eastern Religious Philosophy
Week 7: Classical Western Concept of God
March 9 (M): Continuation of Kaufman article.
Essay #1 Due, March 10, before 11:50pm
March 11 (W): Peterson, Hasker, et. al, “What is God like?” (21–25)
March 13 (F): Peterson, Hasker, et. al, “What is God like?” (25–27)
Week 7 Resources
Study Questions: Traditional Western Theism
Handout: Outline of Western Concepts of God
Week 8: Non-Classical Western Theism
March 16 (M): Peterson, Hasker, et. al, “What is God like?” (27–30)
March 18 (W):, Cobb and Griffin, “God as Creative-Response Love” (36–39)
March 20 (F):
Week 8 Resources
Study Questions #2: Non-Traditional Western Theisms
Handout: Cobb and Griffin – God as Creative-Responsive Love
Handout: Rosemary Radford Ruether on “Female Nature of God”
Week 9: Spring Break
March 23 (M): NO CLASS
March 25 (W): NO CLASS
March 27 (F): NO CLASS
Week 10: Non-Classical Forms of Western Theism
March 30 (M): Nature of God concluded (Peterson et al, article)
April 1 (W): Cobb and Griffin, “God as Creative-Response Love” (36–42)
April 3 (F): Cobb and Griffin concluded, and Ruether, “The Female Nature of God” (31–35)
Week 10 Resources
Study Questions: the Argument from Design
Power Point: The Classical Design Argument
Handout: Paley, Hume, and the Argument from Design
Video: The Design Argument
Week 11: The Design Argument for God’s Existence
April 6 (M): Paley, “Evidence of Design” (144–145)
April 8 (W): Hume, “On the Argument from Design” (146–150)
April 10 (F): Paley and Hume concluded
Week 11 Resources
Power Point: Swinburne and the Fine-Tuning Argument
Handout: A Terminological Guide to Contemporary Cosmology
Handout: The Recipe for Making Our Universe – Just Six Numbers
Handout: Swinburne and the Argument from Order
Handout: Swinburne and the Simplicity of Theism
Handout: Observations on Hume and the Fine-Tuning Argument
Video: Richard Swinburne on Argument from Order
Video: The Fine-Tuning Argument
Video: Stanford Physicist Leonard Susskind on Fine-Tuning
Week 12: The Fine-Tuning Argument for God’s Existence
April 13 (M): Paley and Hume concluded
April 15 (W): Swinburne, “How the Existence of God Explains the World and Its Order” (107–110)
April 17 (F): Swinburne, “How the Existence of God Explains the World and Its Order” (110–112)
Note: You should have read the whole Swinburne article by April 17. Also, over the weekend view the videos under Week 11 Resources.
Week 12 Resources
Paper Assignment #2 DUE APRIL 24
Elliott Sober’s Critique of Intelligent Design Arguments (Sudduth)
Video: Knowing God through Experience
Week 13: Western Theism and Religious Experience
April 20 (M): Fine-Tuning continued
April 22 (W): EXAM #2
April 24 (F): Alston, “Religious Experience Justifies Religious Belief” (181–186)
Paper #2 Due (via Turnitin on iLearn) before 11:50pm, Friday, April 24. (DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MONDAY, APRIL 27!!!)
Week 13 Resources
Handout: The Argument from Religious Experience
Study Questions: William Alston on Religious Experience
Handout: Outline of Alston Article on Religious Experience
Study Questions: Fales’s Critique of Alston on Religious Experience
Week 14: Western Theism and Religious Experience
April 27 (M): Fine-tuning argument concluded
Paper #2 Due (Revised deadline, before 11:50pm)
April 29 (W): Alston, “Religious Experience Justifies Religious Belief” (186–190)
May 1 (F): Alston continued. . . .
Week 14 Resources
Week 15: Western Theism and the Problem of Evil
May 4 (M): Fales, “Do Mystics See God?” (191–195)
May 6 (W): Fales, “Do Mystics See God?” (195–199)
May 8 (F): Eshleman, “Introduction to Section V” (227–231), Rowe, “The Evidential Problem of Evil” (256–258)
Week 15 Resources
Study Questions: the Problem of Evil
Study Questions: Religious Diversity – Hick Article
Week 16: Religious Diversity
May 11 (M): Rowe, “The Evidential Problem of Evil” (258–263)
May 13 (W): Rowe, “The Evidential Problem of Evil” (263–264)
May 15 (F): Religious Diversity lecture
Week 16 Resources
Week 17: Finals Week
Final Exam Schedule for Philosophy of Religion (Philosophy 500): Friday May 22 @8:00-10:30am
| 10:10 MWF / MW | Friday May 22 | 8:00-10:30 |
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