Cup of Nirvana Philosophical and Contemplative Explorations

Philosophy of Religion Spring 2015

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 Syllabus

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

Course Syllabus

Katha Upanishad (PDF) 

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

Study Questions Buddhism

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

Handout: Religious Diversity

 

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