RELS 357 The End of the World
T, TH 2-3:15 in Butte 307
Instructor:
Sarah Pike
Trinity 231
x-6341
e-mail: spike@csuchico.edu
Office hours: W 2-4, T, Th 5-6 and by appointment
• Course Description •
As we approached the century's end and entered the twenty-first century, environmental disasters, plagues, apocalyptic scenarios, millennial groups like the Heaven's Gate community and advocates of a "New Age" seemed to be increasingly prevalent--or were they? Why do we need to imagine what the end of the world will be like? How have ideas about the Antichrist changed over time? What cultural agendas are served by warnings of apocalypse, floods and earthquakes, nuclear disasters and the second coming? We will examine the ways in which ideas and concerns about the end of the world are expressed in science fiction films, the news media, painting and other art forms, poetry, comic books, sermons and various other religious texts. Reading assignments will include historical, philosophical, theological, anthropological, literary, popular and occult discourses about the end of the world. Students will analyze visual and written texts from the ancient Near East through the present. These texts will be discussed in relation to theoretical perspectives placing them in broader socio-political contexts. This course meets the general education requirements of Theme U: "Catastrophe and Humanity."
• Course Texts •
John Hersey, Hiroshima
Paul Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More
Catherine Wessinger, How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven's Gate
All other readings are on electronic reserve, available through the portal.
• Course Requirements and Grading •
PARTICIPATION, ATTENDANCE (20%):
Your participation and attendance are essential to the success of this course. You should read assignments carefully and at the beginning of every class, you must turn in a 3x5 index card with questions and comments about the readings written on both sides (10% of grade). You should include the following: 1) what did you learn from the readings, such as the author's thesis, issues at stake, main points, and supporting evidence? 2) What was your reaction to the readings, what did you agree or disagree with? and 3) what questions and further issues did the readings raise for you. Please keep a copy in your notes for class discussion.
Absences will only be excused in the case of medical or other emergencies. If you leave class early without an excused absence, you will not receive credit for attendance that day. If you miss class because of an emergency or illness I will be happy to help you catch up.
In-class assignments like film questions or group worksheets will also count towards participation. Credit for participation during the first week requires that you post a photo of yourself on Vista by Tuesday, September 2.
QUIZZES (15%):
I will give four unannounced quizzes during the semester that will cover readings and films. I will drop your lowest quiz grade.
MIDTERM EXAM (20%):
The midterm will be a combination of multiple choice and essay and will cover films, readings, lectures and student presentations.
RESEARCH PROJECT/PRESENTATION (25%). See dates and topics after Course Calendar.
The project is an important part of your contribution to the course and you should begin planning for it as soon as possible. It consists of:
1) A two-page report including an outline, self-assessment, and annotated bibliography with at least three written sources, two websites and one audiovisual source, and
2) a class presentation on a topic you will choose from a list of course-related topics. Your grade will be determined as follows:
Proposal (5%):
Including one paragraph and at least three sources: due Sept. 18.
Annotated bibliography, presentation outline and assessment (10%):
Due within one week after your presentation with at least six entries of one short paragraph each (1/4-1/3 page). (See guidelines for annotations.)
Presentation (10%):
Presentations will be graded on organization, informative content and creativity. You must include a visual element, such as overheads, film clips or powerpoint. Each person’s presentation should be about 10 minutes long. Be creative in your use of PowerPoint to supplement your report. You will be graded on the quality, thoroughness, and clarity of your research and your clear & professional presentation of the material. If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism, ask me. Failure to present on assigned date will result in a failing grade (0) on the assignment.
FINAL PAPER (20%)
Your final paper should be a 4-5 page analytical review of one of the novels or films listed below. By “analytical review,” I mean that rather than simply summarizing the plot and giving your opinion of the book/movie, your review should place the book/movie in the context of the apocalyptic traditions we have discussed this semester. Since the paper takes the place of a final exam, it is your job to show me what you have learned from the class in the process of reviewing the novel/film. (See details at end of syllabus.)
Course Calendar
Topics, Readings and Films
September 2-4, Religion and apocalypticism
Readings: Meredith McGuire, “The Provision of Meaning and Belonging”
Homework due 9/2: Photo on Vista profile
September 9-11, Apocalypticism in the western tradition
Readings: Boyer, Chapter 1, excerpts from Book of Revelation, Book of Daniel
September 16-18, Apocalypticism in American Religious History
Readings: Boyer, Chapters 2-3
September 23-25, Indigenous visions
Readings: Micheline Pesantubbee, “From Vision to Violence,” Black Elk’s first person account of Wounded Knee, Joel Martin, “New Religions in the West”
Part III: The Impact of the Atom Bomb on the Apocalyptic Imagination
Readings: Boyer, Chapter 4
October 7-9, World War 2 and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Readings: John Hersey, Hiroshima
FILM: "Barefoot Gen"
Readings: Boyer, Chapter 5
October 16: Take-home Midterm due Tuesday October 21
Readings: Boyer, Chapter 6 (due Thursday)
Part IV: Apocalypticism in New Religious Movements
October 28-30, Millennial new religions or so-called "cults:" defining deviance
Readings: Wessinger, Introduction-p. 119
FILM: “Waco”
November 4-6, UFO religions
Readings: Wessinger, TBA
Part V: Secular Apocalypses
November 11 is a holiday: Veterans Day
November 13 Apocalyptic themes in the late twentieth century
Readings: Boyer, Chapters 9-10
November 18-20, Music, art and pop culture
Readings: Daniel Wojcik, “Secular Apocalyptic Themes”
Thanksgiving Break
December 2-4, Environmental apocalypse
Readings: Excerpts from Martha Lee, Environmental Apocalypse: The Millennial Ideology of Earth First! and Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
FILM: “Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind”
December 9-11, Conclusions and student presentations
No readings due
FINAL EXAM WEEK: Final paper due by Friday, December 19
···· Dates that are available for projects/presentations and possible topics····
(Each general topic will be divided into sub-topics, some of which are listed here.)
September 25: Native American millennialism (Ghost Dance Religion, Hopi apocalypticism, Mayan or Aztec apocalypticism)
October 14: Cold War religion and culture (A-bomb/Hiroshima art and memorials, 1950s monster movies, “duck and cover,” fallout shelters, Beat poets and jazz musicians on the bomb)
October 21: Protestant or Catholic responses to WWII, Significance of the state of Israel, Jewish responses to the Holocaust and WWII, 20th century Jewish or Christian apocalypticism
November 4: New religious movements and apocalypticism (People’s Temple, Branch Davidians, Aum Shinrikyo, Montana Freeman, Christian Identity Movement, Heaven’s Gate, Rastafarianism, The Nation of Islam, etc.)
November 13: other comparative apocalypticism (e.g. Buddhist or Hindu); secular apocalyptic (e.g. Y2k; responses to September 11)
November 18: The apocalypse in contemporary music, art, pop culture (comics, video games, hardcore rock, punk, or metal, animé, etc.)
December 9: Environmental catastrophe (global warming, population growth, famine), and environmental apocalyptic movements [e.g. Earth First!]
• Annotated bibliography guidelines•
At least six entries of one short paragraph each (1/4-1/3 page).
For example, an annotated bibliography entry for The Lorax might look like this:
Theodore Seuss Geisel, The Lorax (New York: Random House, 1971).
The Lorax is an environmental parable in which the story of the “Onceler” is told. The Onceler is a sort of proto-capitalist who comes to exploit the paradisical land of the Lorax. Before the coming of the Onceler, Truffula trees bloom, Brown Barbaloots play, and all is happy and joyous. The Onceler sets about making products from Truffula trees, and as a result destroys the animals’ habitats and pollutes the air and water. The Onceler becomes rich, but undercuts his own profit-making abilities by destroying all of the Truffula trees. The film is an indictment of capitalism, industry and unbridled expansion, calling on the viewers to treat nature with care. In this project, I am using the Lorax as an example of secular apocalypticism. The narrative structure of the Lorax closely follows the Christian master narrative (paradise, a fall, a savior figure, collapse, final judgment, hope for the future).
• Final paper guidelines•
Your paper should:
· have a thesis
· demonstrate that you’ve mastered the most significant concepts from the course
· contain no more than 1 page of plot summary, though it should spend more time analyzing the plot
· include at least 3 specific connections to course concepts, readings and films.
· be 4-5 pages long
Some examples of ways you might approach this assignment (sample thesis statements):
· “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” plays with the conventions of apocalyptic literature: not only does it suggest that apocalypse is a repeated (rather than one-time) threat, but it suggests that Buffy, not Jesus, is the real savior figure.
· Frank Peretti’s Piercing the Darkness is closer to biblical apocalypticism than contemporary evangelical apocalypticism because instead of focusing on themes such as the rapture or the end times, it focuses on a literal struggle between the forces of light and darkness, represented by angels and demons.
· Despite the fact that “The Rapture” does not represent any actual Christian group, its sensibility reflects several prominent themes in Pentecostal apocalypticism such as the urgency of the end times, the totality of God’s call, the need for repentence, and the coming rapture.
Some suggestions for your review [This list is NOT exhaustive]
Apocalyptic stories/novels
Margaret Atwood, A Handmaid’s Tale [post-biological/ Christian fascist state]
Ray Bradbury, There Will Come Soft Rains [post-nuclear]
Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles [post-settlement]
David Brin, The Postman [post nuclear, biological, chemical]
Brian Caldwell, We All Fall Down [Christian end-times; personal story]
Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game [genocidal]
Michael Crichton, The Andromeda Strain [biological]
Phillip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (post-apocalyptic)
Diane Duane, Deep Wizardry [good v. evil]
Pat Frank, Alas Babylon [post-nuclear, cold war]
Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, Left Behind series [Christian apocalyptic]
C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle [Christian apocalyptic allegory]
Larry Niven, Lucifer’s Hammer [post-catastrophe, comet/Ice Age]
Stephen King, The Stand [post biological weapons]
Stephen King, Dreamcatcher [post alien invasion]
Bud McFarlane, Pierced by a Sword [Catholic apocalyptic]
Frank Peretti, This Present Darkness or Piercing the Darkness [Christian apocalyptic]
Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time [feminist postmillennial]
Isaac B. Singer, Satan in Goray [Sabatianism]
Elizabeth Scarborough, Nothing Sacred [Buddhist apocalypse]
Starhawk, The Fifth Sacred Things [really utopian/dystopian]
Sherri Tepper, Gibbon’s Decline and Fall or Shadow’s end [overpopulation/environmental]
Connie Willis, Doomsday Book [post-plague, 21st c. and medieval]
John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids [post meteor/mutant plants]
Apocalyptic movies/ TV
Planet of the Apes [post-animal uprising]
Invasion of the Body Snatchers [alien invasion]
Mad Max movies [post apocalyptic]
Signs [alien invasion]
Twelve Monkeys [biological]
Matrix [post computer-takeover]
Omen [antiChrist]
Independence Day [aliens invasion]
War of the Worlds [alien invasion]
Soylent Green [enviro apocalypse]
The Day After [nuclear]
The Seventh Sign [Christian apocalypse]
The Seventh Seal [pseudo-Christian apocalypse]
Stigmata [pseudo-Catholic apocalypse]
X-files [alien invasion]
Buffy the Vampire Slayer [ non-Christian demonic apocalypse]
Star Trek 9 [environmental catastrophe]
The Postman [post-apocalyptic]
The Mothman Prophecy
An Inconvenient Truth [environmental]
General Guidelines for writing assignments
· Students are required to keep a copy of all written assignments submitted to me, and to resubmit written work if required. All assignments may be submitted by either e-mail or hard copy.
· All written assignments should be typed, double-spaced in 10-12 point font with page numbers. All assignments should include your name, class and section number, and the day the assignment is due. Do not submit a title page.
· All assignments should be accompanied by a bibliography or works cited page, in addition to citations you use in the text.
·Please note that material from the Internet is still someone else’s work, and must be cited appropriately! If you are unsure of how to do this properly, consult the following website:
http://www.csuchico.edu/engl/Links/style_guide.html
• Other Information•
--Plagiarism and cheating are grave violations of the academic integrity policy of the California State University, Chico. This policy (EM 04-36) is posted at http://www.csuchico.edu/prs/EMs/EM04/em04_36.htm. We view plagiarism and cheating as serious offenses. The policy of the Department of Religious Studies is that anyone found to have blatantly cheated or plagiarized on an assignment will automatically fail the course and be referred to student judicial affairs for further disciplinary action.
--If you have a documented disability that may require reasonable accommodations, please contact Disability Support Services (DSS) for coordination of your academic accommodations. DSS is located in the new Student Services building. The DSS phone number is 898-5959 V/TTY or FAX 898-4411. Visit the DSS website at http://www.csuchico.edu/dss/.
--Lateness: In fairness to all, I will penalize late papers 1/3 letter grade per business day.
--Students are required to make and keep a copy of all assignments and papers submitted to the instructor, especially anything submitted over e-mail.
--Students are expected to turn off all pagers, cell phones and other electronic devices during class time.
--Students are expected to pay attention and participate in class meetings.
--Students may not read other materials (newspapers, magazines) or work on assignments from other classes during this class.
--If you are planning to use a laptop to take notes, please discuss this with me.
This syllabus is subject to revision.