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RELS 225 2009-01-07

RELS 225 2009-01-07. Attendance Announcements Review of last class What is a Cult? Syllabus. Announcements. Sign up on the sheet for a time to meet with the professor in the old MacNeil Engineering / Science building, room 12. Review of last class. Getting to know you Getting to know me.

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RELS 225 2009-01-07

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  1. RELS 225 2009-01-07 • Attendance • Announcements • Review of last class • What is a Cult? • Syllabus

  2. Announcements • Sign up on the sheet for a time to meet with the professor • in the old MacNeil Engineering / Science building, room 12.

  3. Review of last class • Getting to know you • Getting to know me

  4. Getting to know you • Name • Year • Major or academic interests • Why you chose this course • What you hope to learn

  5. Getting to know me • Name: Ken Penner • Year: First year at StFX • Major: Early Judaism; Minor: Early Christianity • Why chose this course: • Evokes powerful responses • Little-understood topic • Many “new religious movements” in first century Judea: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, Christians, Sicarii, Manicheans

  6. Textbooks • Required Textbook • Comprehending Cults, 2th edition by Lorne L. Dawson (Don Mills, ON: Oxford U. Press, 2006) ISBN: 9780195420098 • Required Reader • Cults & New Religious Movements: Reader , 2nd edition (Ed. Lorne L. Dawson; Blackwell, 2008). ISBN: 9781405101806

  7. Requirements • The requirements for each term of this course include: attendance, readings and online quizzes, a research essay, a midterm test, and a final exam.

  8. Readings and Online Quizzes • In addition to the readings from the textbook and anthology assigned in the Course Outline, selected readings will also be indicated during class. • For every assigned reading, there will be a corresponding quiz to ensure comprehension of the reading. These quizzes will be administered online, at the Xoodle website http://moodle.library.stfx.ca/course/view.php?id=16 • Log in with your webfx username and password. • Enter the ‘enrolment key’ from the professor. (Write it down now.) • Complete your user profile; a photo would be helpful.

  9. How this course will work: • One session per week on a topic. • E.g., What is a cult or NRM?; Who joins cults and why? Is brainwashing used? Cults and violence, etc. • One session per week on a specific NRM. • E.g., Unification church, Wicca, Shambala, ISKCON, Peoples Temple, Branch Davidians, etc.

  10. Some due dates • Paper proposal February 16, 2009 • Midterm: February 18, 2009 • Paper: March 9, 2009 • Exam: April 18, 2009 9:00 a.m.

  11. What would you call a “cult”? • What qualifies a group to be called a cult?

  12. Biased portrayals of cults • Media • Anti-Cult Movement

  13. The solution to the media / ACM problem • Academic research that: • Doesn’t lump all NRMs together • Recognizes NRMs are not something new • Does not let truth claims about beliefs interfere with research • Seeks to learn about ourselves from NRMs

  14. For Next Class (Monday) • If you haven’t already done so: • Read Comprehending Cults chapter 1 • Write online quiz on Chapter 1 at http://moodle.library.stfx.ca • If you want to read ahead, we’ll be dealing with Chapter 2 next week.

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