An Introduction to Religion in China (Syllabus)

Fall 2012 An Introduction to Religion in China (REL-B 202) Professor: Michael Ing Office: Sycamore Hall 203 Class location: CH 001 Email: [email protected] Office hours: T 4-5:30pm Class time: MW 4:40-5:30pm (and F section) Associate Instructor: Lei Wang Office: SY 007 Email: [email protected] Office hours: 11:15am – 12:45pm Description: This course will introduce students to religion in pre-modern and contemporary China. We will spend much of the semester engaging questions such as, what is religion and is it universal? How do debates between religious traditions in China challenge our conceptions of religion? How did adherents of Chinese religious traditions talk about their own tradition and the traditions of others? What issues did the authors of Chinese religious texts believe to be at stake in the texts they produced? After a brief overview of contemporary debates concerning the origin of the notion of “religion” and its usage in the study of China, we will explore a series of exchanges between adherents of various religious traditions. These include early debates between Confucians, Daoists, and Mohists, apologetic literature written by Chinese Buddhists, syncretic literature written by Confucian-Muslims, and more. This material will give us an opportunity to rethink the category of religion, and in particular the notion of religious identity. It will also allow us to examine what these debates tell us about the kinds of issues those in China found worthy of discussion. Objectives: Students who take this class will be able to: 1. Understand how the term “religion” came to be applied in the study of China 2. Identify and analyze the various religious traditions of China 3. Recognize the diversity of each tradition 4. Identify the strategies Chinese authors employ when confronting divergent religious claims 5. Read actively and write persuasively Requirements: 1. Attendance, participation, and general professionalism. You are expected to not only attend every class, but to actively participate in the class by demonstrating that you have done the reading and have thought about it. We will take attendance each day and will pay close attention to how you choose to participate. Failure to bring printed versions of the readings to class will result in a less than positive participation grade. Removing yourself from the class by surfing the internet or texting will also negatively impact your participation grade. (100 points possible; 10% of the total grade.) Attendance policy: In general, only excused, Indiana University 1 Fall 2012 documented absences are acceptable. If you have 6 or more unexcused absences, you cannot score higher than a C in this class; 8 or more, no higher than a D; 10 or more, no higher than an F. (We will excuse one day for illness based on your word; if you are sick enough to miss another day, or get sick repeatedly, you are sick enough to go to the doctor and get a note. If you have some sort of family emergency, please discuss it with us as promptly as you can.) 2. Fifteen short quizzes. You will take a short quiz based off of the readings for each week’s class. The quizzes are posted on Oncourse, and must be taken by 11pm each Thursday (e.g., the quiz on the readings assigned for Week 1 must be taken by 11pm on 8/23). You can take each quiz as many times as you like (as long as it’s before 11pm). We will take your highest grade. (20 points each for a total of 300 points; about 30% of the total grade.) 3. Two mid-term papers. These three to four page papers will be in response to one of three questions distributed several weeks before the papers are due. Their purpose is to provide you with the opportunity to integrate various things learned up to that point in the semester. These papers will be interpretive in nature, requiring that you compare a passage or concept in one or more texts. They must be submitted on Oncourse under the “Assignments 2” tab before 8am Monday 10/8 and Monday 12/3. (200 points each for a total of 400 points; about 40% of the total grade.) 4. A final exam. This will be a written sit-down test held during the final exam period. It will probably be comprised of identification, short essay, and long essay sections. It is currently scheduled for Friday, 12/14 from 7:15pm to 9:15pm. (200 points; about 20% of the total grade.) Grading Scale: 97-100% 93-96 90-92 87-89 83-86 80-82 77-79 A+ A AB+ B BC+ 73-76 70-72 67-69 63-66 60-62 59 and below C CD+ D DF Writing Tutorial Services (WTS) provides free help at any phase of the writing process—from brainstorming to polishing the final draft. Call (812)855-6738 to schedule an appointment. When you visit WTS, you’ll find a tutor who is a sympathetic and helpful reader of your prose. To be assured of an appointment with the tutor who will know most about your class, please call in advance. WTS, on the first floor of the Information Commons in Wells Library, is open MondayThursday 10am to 8pm and Friday 10am to 5pm. WTS tutors are also available in the Academic Support Centers in Briscoe, Forest, and Teter residence halls, open SundyThursday 7pm to 11pm. Indiana University 2 Fall 2012 Students that submit papers with major and consistent grammatical errors may be required to schedule an appointment with a writing tutor. Plagiarism is a type of theft and an evasion of responsible learning, and as such will be dealt with severely. You are responsible for understanding and avoiding plagiarism in your written work. For further discussion of what constitutes plagiarism, consult the following short, helpful summary, or ask us: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml Books to Purchase: Adler, Joseph A. Chinese Religious Traditions. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002. de Bary, William Theodore. Sources of Chinese Tradition: Volume One—From Earliest Times to 1600. Second edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. Additional required readings will be accessible via Oncourse (under “Resources”). You must print these out, take notes on the reading, and bring the readings and your notes to class. Note: Acquiring these books is your responsibility. If the bookstores will not have them in time, you should order them online and expedite the shipping. We have also put the books on reserve in the library. Tentative Schedule: Week 1: Disputing the Dao and the Paradigm of “World Religion” Monday 8/20—No reading assigned Wednesday 8/22 • Timothy Brook, “Rethinking Syncretism: The Unity of the Three Teachings and their Joint Worship in Late-Imperial China,” Journal of Chinese Religions 21 (Fall 1993): 13-44. [Oncourse] Friday 8/24 • Anna Xiao Dong Sun, “Confusions Over Confucianism: Controversies Over the Religious Nature of Confucianism, 1870-2007.” PhD Dissertation, Princeton University, 2008, pages 1-23. [Oncourse] Week 2: The History of China and Early Chinese Religion Monday 8/27 • Adler, Chinese Religious Traditions, 11-19. Wednesday 8/29 • Adler, Chinese Religious Traditions, 20-29. • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “The Oralce-Bone Inscriptions” (5-6), “Shang Conceptions of Time” (6-7), The High God and Other Powers” (10-13), and “The Origins of Historical Rectitude” (17-19). Friday 8/31 Indiana University 3 Fall 2012 • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, 24-29, and 32-40 (staring with “The Metal-bound Coffer”). Week 3: Confucius Monday 9/3—Labor Day NO CLASS Wednesday 9/5 • Adler, Chinese Religious Traditions, 30-57. • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “Selections from the Analects” (starting on page 44)—following de Bary’s number of the passages, read 1.1, 1.11, 2.7, 2.11, 2.21, 4.14, 5.11, 6.2, 6.5, 6.9, 7.20, 9.1, 9.5, 11.8, 11.11, 12.2, 12.19, 13.18, 14.37, 15.38, and 17.25. Friday 9/7 • Reread Analects passages Week 4: Early Confucianism and Daoism Monday 9/10 • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “Selections from the Mencius” (starting on page 116)—following de Bary’s number of the passages, read 1A:7, 2A:2, 2A:6, 3A:4, 3B:9, 4B:12, 4B:14, 4B:19, 6A:1-11, 7A:1, 7A:2, and 7A:4. • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “Chapter 17: A Discussion of Heaven” (170-174), “Chapter 19: A Discussion of the Rites” (174-177), and “Chapter 23: Human Nature is Evil” (179-183). Wednesday 9/12 • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “From the Daodejing” (79-94). Friday 9/14 • Review passages read for Monday and Wednesday Week 5: Daoism, Mohism, and Legalism Monday 9/17 • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “Transformation and Transcendence in the Zhuangzi” (95-111). Wednesday 9/19 • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, 64-66 (the introduction to Mozi), “Section 9: Honoring the Worthy” (66-67), “Section 16: Universal Love” (69-72), and “Section 39: Against Confucians” (75-76). • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “The Han Feizi” (199-206). Friday 9/21 • Review passages read for Monday and Wednesday Week 6: Buddhism Comes to China Monday 9/24 • Adler, Chinese Religious Traditions, 58-89. Wednesday 9/26 • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “Mouzi: Disposing of Error” (421426). Indiana University 4 Fall 2012 • “Huahujing” in Wikipedia, and passages 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 16, 28, 30, 35, 37, 45, and 46 found here: www.cheraglibrary.org/taoist/hua-huching.htm Friday 9/28 • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “Huiyuan: A Monk does not Bow Down Before a King” (426-429) and “Buddhism’s Assimilation to Tang Political Culture” (476-480). Week 7: Varieties of Buddhism and Neo-Confucian Responses Monday 10/1 • Adler, Chinese Religious Traditions, 90-109. • “Chinese Buddhism,” “Tiantai,” “Pure Land Buddhism,” “Zen,” and “Huayan School” in Wikipedia. • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “Buddhist Rituals and Devotional Practices” (529-531) and “Miracles of Guanyin” (531-536). Wednesday 10/3 • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “Han Yu and the Confucian Way” (568-573), “Memorial on the Bone of the Buddha” (583-585), and “Emperor Wuzong’s Edict on the Suppression of Buddhism” (585-586). • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “The ‘Western Inscription’” (683684), and “The Cheng Brothers” (689-697). • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, “Questions on the Great Learning” (844-847). Friday 10/5 • “Religious Studies Guide to Writing.” [Oncourse] MID TERM PAPER 1 DUE BY 8am on 10/8 Week 8: Popular Religion Monday 10/8 • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 2, 73-104. [Oncourse] • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 2, “Tracts” (138-141). [Oncourse] Wednesday 10/10—Mid-semester review, no reading. Friday 10/12—Fall Break NO CLASS Week 9: Christians in China Monday 10/15 • “Christianity,” “Nestorianism,” and “Christianity in China” in Wikipedia. • Inscription on the Nestorian Monument: http://www.sacredtexts.com/journals/oc/inm.htm Wednesday 10/17 • Jacques Gernet, China and the Christian Impact: A Conflict of Cultures (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 64-82 and 214-221. [Oncourse] Friday 10/19 Indiana University 5 Fall 2012 • Review the readings for Monday and Wednesday Week 10: Chinese Christians Monday 10/22 • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 2, 142-154. [Oncourse] • Erik Zürcher, translator, Kuoduo Richao: Li Jiubiao’s Diary of Oral Admonitions: A Late Ming Christian Journal, Monumenta Serica Monograph Series, vol. 56: 1–2 (Sankt Augustin: Institut Monumenta Serica, 2007), “Brief Introduction,” and passages V.1-6, 11, 14, 20, 28, and 31. [Oncourse] Wednesday 10/24 • The Word Appears in the Flesh, “A Word from the Translators,” “God’s Appearing has Brought the New Age,” “Seeing God’s Appearing in God’s Judgment and Chastisement,” and “The ‘Savior’ Has Already Returned on the ‘White Cloud’.” [Oncourse] Friday 10/26 • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 2, 527-544. [Oncourse] Week 11: China Encounters Islam Monday 10/29 • “Islam” and “History of Islam in China” in Wikipedia. Wednesday 10/31 • Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, The Dao of Mumhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005), 163-213. [Oncourse] Friday 11/2 • “Adam and Eve” in Sachiko Murata, Chinese Gleams of Sufi Light (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000), 60-64. [Oncourse] Week 12: Chinese Jews Monday 11/5 • “Judaism,” “History of the Jews in China,” and “Kaifeng Jews” in Wikipedia. • William Charles White, Chinese Jews (New York: Paragon), Part I, 9-28. [Oncourse] Wednesday 11/7 • William Charles White, Chinese Jews (New York: Paragon), Part II, 7-40. [Oncourse] Friday 11/9 • William Charles White, Chinese Jews (New York: Paragon), Part II, 5785. [Oncourse] Week 13: Contemporary Confucianism Monday 11/12 • Adler, Chinese Religious Traditions, 110-125. Indiana University 6 Fall 2012 Wednesday 11/14 • Sebastien Billioud, “Carrying the Confucian Torch to the Masses,” Oriens Extremus 49 (2010): 201-224. [Oncourse] Friday 11/16 • de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 2, “Manifesto” (550-558). [Oncourse] Week 14: Thanksgiving Break Week 15: Falun Gong Monday 11/26 • “Falun Gong” in Wikipedia. Wednesday 11/28 • “On Buddha Law” (the preface) and “The First Talk” (1-23) in Zhuan Falun. [Oncourse] Friday 11/30 • “The Seventh Talk” (133-150) in Zhuan Falun. [Oncourse] MID TERM PAPER 2 DUE BY 8am on Monday 12/3 Week 16: Chinese Religion in America and Concluding Reflections Monday 12/3 • Spend 30minutes reading and watching videos on www.drsha.com Wednesday 12/5—No reading assigned Friday 12/7 • Review past readings and notes FINAL EXAM SCHEDULED FOR Friday, 12/14 from 7:15pm to 9:15pm Indiana University 7