Sacramento State site for COVID-19 Information & Resources
PHIL 131. Philosophy of Religion. Introduction to philosophical theology, the philosophical study of religious assertions, arguments, and beliefs: the existence and nature of God; the rationality of religious belief; the relation of faith to reason; the problem of evil; immortality and resurrection; the possibility of miracles; the meaning of religious language. Includes both traditional and contemporary approaches. 3 units.
This course satisfies GE Area C2, find details on how this is accomplished in each Learning Module at the end of this Syllabus. This course samples over two thousand years of human history, tradition, culture, and debate about the nature and scope of the religious worldview. We focus on typical faith-based and intellectual attitudes, values, and practices from major religious traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The primary goal is to appreciate, understand, and scrutinize the religious perspective.
This is a fully online course delivered via Canvas, the campus Learning Management System (LMS). Online activities include: Lectures in the form of narrated slideshows, videos, readings, discussions, and quizzes. You will need to use the Internet and a campus-supported Web browser e.g., Firefox, Safari, or Chrome. There are no Zoom meetings or activities, all lectures and discussions occur via Canvas.
Students in online courses should be independent, disciplined, self-motivated learners. Online courses are demanding. Notice that there are numerous required activities you must accomplish on your own by specific deadlines.In addition to processing all of the material presented online within the modules, it is important that you stay in touch with me, let me know how it is going via email. Contact me ASAP when any confusion or problem arises - include a screenshot whenever possible.
Tutorials for Canvas. Each short video introduces components of the course that we use.
1. Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology, 7th edition, by Louis Pojman and Michael Rea, eISBN-13: 9781305162938, rental cost from RedShelf appx. $40
2. Learning Modules, lecture/slideshows and other required material beyond the assigned text are all within Canvas or online. START HERE:
3. Visit the Blog page where I post weekly commentary on course material and assignments. Find a link to the Blog within each Learning Module in Canvas. It is required reading.
Modules contain and organize course material. Find additional course materials such as lectures, videos, and articles not from the text within each module. It should take you about two weeks to work through the list of things in each module. With the exception of those items marked optional, all items within a module are required, including the Blog page. Page numbers on the Schedule below correspond to readings in the Pojman and Rea text.
MODULE 1: Religion Defined, Its Origins and Philosophical Import - opens January 24, 2022
FIND assigned items and videos within the module in Canvas, there are NO required readings from the course text yet.
Discussion 1 opens January 24, closes February 7
QUIZ 1 opens January 31, closes February 14
Specific Learning Outcome (SLO) aims for this Modules: 1, 2, 3; General Education Outcome (GEO) aims: A, B - see details on outcome aims at the end of this Syllabus
MODULE 2: Religion and Experience - opens February 7
1. Part IV: A and A.1: Pojman and Rea: Intro and Selections of Mystical Experiences, pages 393-8
2. IV.A.2: William James: Mysticism, pages 399-415
3. IV.A.3: Grace Jantzen: Mysticism and Experience, pages 415-430FIND additional items and videos within the module in Canvas.
Discussion 2 opens February 7, closes February 21
QUIZ 2 opens February 14, closes February 28
SLO aims: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7; GEO aims: A, B
MODULE 3: Miracles - opens February 21
1. Part IV: B: Miracles and Testimony, pages 457-460
2. IV.B.1: Hume: Against Miracles, pages 460-469
3. IV.B.2: Mackie: Miracles and Testimony, pages 469-476FIND additional items and videos within the module in Canvas.
Discussion 3 opens February 21, closes March 7
QUIZ 3 opens February 28, closes March 14
SLO aims: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; GEO aims: A, B, C
MODULE 4: The Problem of Evil - opens March 7
1. Part III: The Problem of Evil, pages 228-231
2. III.A: Historical and Literary Perspectives, page 231
3. III.A.1: Hume: The Argument from Evil, pages 232-237
4. III.A.2: Leibniz: Theodicy: A Defense of Theism, pages 237-243
5. III.A.3: Dostoevsky: Rebellion, pages 243-250
6. III.B.2: Rowe: The Inductive Argument from Evil against the Existence of God, pages 264-271
7. III.C: Responses, pages 298-300
8. III.C.2: Hick: Evil and Soul-Making, pages 319-323FIND additional items and videos within the module in Canvas.
Discussion 4 opens March 7, closes March 21
QUIZ 4 opens March 14, closes April 4
SLO aims: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; GEO aims: A, B, C
MODULE 5: Arguments for the existence of God - opens March 21
1. Part II: Traditional Arguments for the Existence of God, page 153
2. II.A: The Ontological Argument for the Existence of God, pages 153-154
3. II.A.1: Anselm and Gaunilo: The Ontological Argument, pages 154-158
4. II.A.2: Kant: A Critique of the Ontological Argument, pages 158-1615. II.B: The Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God, pages 162-164
6. II.B.1: Aquinas: The Five Ways, pages 164-166
7. II.B.2: Clarke: The Argument from Contingency, pages 166-167
8. II.B.3: Rowe: An Examination of the Cosmological Argument, pages 167-1769. II.C: The Teleological Argument for the Existence of God, pages 195-197
10. II.C.1: Paley: The Watch and the Watchmaker, pages 198-200
11. II.C.2: Hume: A Critique of the Design Argument, pages 201-207FIND additional items and videos within the module in Canvas.
Discussion 5 opens March 28, closes April 11
QUIZ 5 opens April 18, closes May 2
SLO aims: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; GEO aims: C, D
MODULE 6: Faith and Reason - opens April 18
1. Part V and V.A: Faith and Reason, pages 508-510
2. V.A.2: Lara Buchak: Can It Be Rational To Have Faith, pages 524-541
3. V.B: Pragmatic Justification of Religious Belief, pages 569-572
4. V.B.1: Pascal: The Wager, pages 572-573
5. V.B.2: Clifford: The Ethics of Belief, pages 574-578
6. V.B.3: James: The Will to Believe, pages 578-587
7. Part IV.C: Science, Religion, and Evolution, pages 487-489
8. IV.C.1: Dawkins: Is Science A Religion, pages 490-494
9. IV.C.2: Gould: Non-overlapping Magisteria, pages 568-576FIND additional items and videos within the module in Canvas.
Discussion 6 opens April 18, closes May 2
Discussion 7 opens May 2, closes May 16
QUIZ 6 opens May 16, closes May 20 - this is the Final Quiz
SLO aims: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; GEO aims: D
THIRTEEN graded assignments occur within the Learning Modules presented in Canvas, look for links to them in there. Grades for each submitted effort will appear under Grades as soon as I process them. All graded work occurs according to the schedule on this page. Once an assignment closes, it closes forever. Students cannot re-take or make-up any quiz or discussion, absolutely, no exceptions. There isn't time for this and there are plenty of points available so that one can miss an assignment or two and still do well in the course.
Quiz questions require that you understand concepts, passages, and arguments presented by authors and speakers, from the readings and videos in the Learning Modules. I model questions after the Reading Comprehension questions on the GRE and LSAT exams, so do not expect to find anwers to questions verbatim from the assigned material. All quizzes includes material from previous modules, the final quiz is the most comprehensive. You may use your notes on a quiz, texts, videos, etc. but you must complete and submit them yourself without the help of anyone else - no collusion. Follow the schedule for exact quiz availability, these dates are firm commitments.
Important Note 1: Questions posed in these discussions test your familiarity with assigned material. You want to show me in your writing that you understand complex ideas and arguments presented in the course. Inaccurate, imprecise, evasive, or off-topic answers are unsatisfactory and receive no credit.
Important Note 2: There is no partial credit for an incomplete response. You receive 5 points ONLY IF you (a) compose a satisfactory answer to all questions AND (b) respond thoughtfully to at least one post from a fellow student. When you do not complete both tasks then you receive zero credit. You need to check to see that BOTH of your posts appear within the discussion. Do not wait until the last minutes before the deadline to submit and check for your answers. Number your responses to each so that I can see your answers clearly. Please be concise, use no more than 400 words in total.
Important Note 3: Do not send your responses to my email, they must occur within the Discussion board so that others may comment and I can grade them. No after-deadline responses can be accepted. Never post any attachments, I cannot open these. It is best to draft your answers to questions in a text document, proofread it and save it, then copy and paste it into the Discussion reply box. Each Discussion Board is open until its posted deadline, after a deadline passes, it is no longer available and all student posts are graded. Please be patient, there are 200+ enrolled students.
If you miss a deadline, then you have missed the opportunity to earn whatever points were available for that assignment. Look at the Schedule, notice that you will have had plenty of time to complete each assignment by its deadline. You will not be able to post anything after a deadline. I cannot grade assignments until after deadlines pass. After the deadline I release or discuss answers. There are many assignments, missing one or two should not harm your overall performance that much. Missing multiple tests or discussion posts will have a larger effect, arrange your life so as to meet your obligations. No assignments can be re-opened, extended or made-up, it is unfair to people who submit work by deadline and we must treat people equitably. Multiple versions of assignments and sliding deadlines in such a course as this are not feasible. Course requirements and grading standards must remain the same for everyone. There will be no extra-credit assignments, there are too many students and too little time for extra work. My advice if you miss a deadline: Life happens, let it go. Focus on what assignments remain and continue to do your best.
Attendance is entirely online. There are no Zoom meetings or activities, all lectures and discussions occur via Canvas. Online participation is satisfied by online assignments. If you fail to complete an assignment online by its deadline, then you have missed the chance for whatever points that assignment offers. For instance, say you do not post an answer to a Discussion Board question-prompt for a Learning Module, then you do not earn the possible points available to those who do. There are no penalties here, only missed opportunities. There are no class meetings on campus.
Non-participating students will be dropped from the course within the first three weeks. This course has strict participation and activity requirements, including engagement with the course material on a weekly basis. Students MUST:
1. Login to the course at least once each week during the first three weeks of the semester, AND
2. Submit answers and respond to other students in the first Discussion Board topic by the end of the first two weeks of the semester.
If you do not satisfy BOTH of these requirements, then you will be considered to have abandoned the course and may be administratively dropped by the instructor.
Grades are NOT based on percentages, instead grades are based on total points accumulated. I add the scores you earn on all graded work, then assign the final letter-grade based on my grading scale (below). For instance, if you earn a total of 94 points, then you receive a C for the course. Since my overall grading scale is generous and rounding introduces error, I will not round scores up or down. Please keep track of your own Grades in Canvas.
GRADING POLICY in the time of COVID-19. In general, students cannot re-take or make up any assignment after deadlines pass, absolutely, no exceptions, since I release and discuss answers. However, in documented cases of serious injury or illness (e.g. confirmed coronavirus infection), grades will be adjusted to accommodate hardship. Each case is different, we can work it out but you must contact me ASAP. There is no extra credit, extra credit is extra work, we don't have time or resources for more work. Everyone must be treated equitably: I will not do for one person what I cannot do for everyone. Also, there are plenty of points available so that you can miss a quiz and still do well in the course, but you can't miss a quiz and still earn an A.
Grade thresholds are as follows: The number on the left is the total number of points at the end of the course which corresponds to to the letter-grade on the right.
Total points = Course Grade
120+ = A
115-119 = A -
110-114 = B +
105-109 = B
100-104 = B -
95-99 = C +
90-94 = C
85-89 = C -
80-84 = D +
75-79 = D
70-74 = D -
less than 70 = F
Services for Students with Disability (SSWD) Sacramento State is committed to ensuring an accessible learning environment where course or instructional content are usable by all students and faculty. If you believe that you require disability-related academic adjustments for this class, please immediately contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSWD) to discuss eligibility. A current accommodation letter from SSWD is required before any modifications, above and beyond what is otherwise available for all other students in this class will be provided.
Student Health and Counseling Services Your physical and mental health are important to your success as a college student. Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) in The WELL offers medical, counseling, and wellness services to help you get and stay healthy during your time at Sac State. SHCS offers: Primary Care medical services, including sexual and reproductive healthcare, transgender care, and immunizations; urgent care for acute illness, injuries, and urgent counseling needs; pharmacy for prescriptions and over-the-counter products; mental health counseling, including individual sessions, group counseling, support groups, mindfulness training, and peer counseling; athletic training for sports injury rehabilitation; wellness services, including nutrition counseling, peerled health education and wellness workshops, and free safer sex supplies; violence and sexual assault support services. Most services are covered by the Health Services fee and available at no additional cost.
Crisis Assistance & Resource Education Support (CARES) If you are experiencing challenges with food, housing, financial or other unique circumstances that are impacting your education, help is just a phone call or email away. The CARES office provides case management support for any enrolled student.
Review all academic responsibilities, definitions, sanctions and rights described here. Student sharing or copying answers on tests is cheating, which is dishonest and violates campus codes of conduct. See especially the definitions of Cheating and Plagiarism in section IV.
Plagiarism is a serious academic offence and will not be tolerated in this class. Always use quotation marks and a footnote citation to indicate sentences or passages you borrow from another author. Assignments in which cheating or plagiarism is found will be assigned a failing grade. ALL incidents of either will be reported both to the Department Chair and to the Judicial Officer in the Office of Student Affairs for possible further administrative sanction.
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
GE learning objectives associated with C2 focus on the human condition. Here I provide examples of how GE content and writing requirements are met. As can be seen by reviewing the Schedule on the Syllabus, seven biweekly discussions based on instructor prompts about specific issues, and seven biweekly, comprehensive online tests, are designed to both promote and assess student learning outcomes. By the end of the course, students completing C2 requirements in this should be able to:
A. Demonstrate knowledge of the conventions and methods of the study of the humanities
At the outset of the course, students survey and examine several major religious traditions and varieties of religious experience. They learn to compare and contrast religion and ideology from the perspective of religious studies scholars and philosophers of religion. For example, students develop a conceptual understanding of the origins and nature of religion and religious experience in Learning Modules 1 and 2 by watching videos, perusing course texts, and watching online lectures. In the first online discussion assignment (via Canvas) students present and defend their own reasoned opinion about whether it really matters to society or culture whether any religious claims are true. In the second discussion students distinguish religious feelings from mystical experiences and present an argument either for or against the notion that such experiences are good evidence of actual contact with the divine. Students answer these questions in light of assigned readings and online lectures.
B. Investigate, describe, and analyze the roles and effects of human culture and understanding in the development of human societies
In weeks 3 through 8 course material and the instructor present historical, theological, and philosophical answers to these questions: What is religion, why are people religious, and what good is it? In the third online discussion assignment students present and defend their own answers to the question, What do miracles, if real, prove, in your reasoned opinion? That is, what implications, if real, do they have for human existence?
C. Compare and analyze various conceptions of humankind
In each Learning Module of the course, we examine critically specific religious assertions and arguments about nature and our place in it. Human interests, human beliefs and cultural practices, are the primary focus of much religious fervor and behavior. People are the alleged paragons of divine creation, the subjects of miraculous events, but also the bearers of much pain and suffering, or evil. In weeks 5 through 8, we discuss how traditional and modern views about miracles and evil influence greatly our judgments about the nature of the cosmos and our place in it. In weeks 9 through 11 Students examine the major historical proofs for the existence of God and important conceptual criticisms. In the fourth and fifth discussion board assignments, students answer and criticize each others views on (a) whether it is practical or rational to attempt to prove God's existence, and (b) whether pain and suffering might conceivably disprove God's existence.
D. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the historical development of cultures and civilizations, including their animating ideas and values
In the history of humankind, religious values express and inform moral values, and religious conviction motivates behavior, for better or worse. Lectures, videos, and readings throughout the course probe the relation between faith and reason, religion and science. The implications of each for the other are the subjects of weeks 12 through 15. In the last two Learning Modules we discuss how and to what extent faith is (or is not) rational, and how people can be righteous or compassionate without religious education. In the last two discussion board posts, in Learning Modules 6 and 7, students examine critically whether (a) one can be a good person or do good deeds without being religious, and (b) whether religion alone justifies moral behavior.
Important: This syllabus, along with course policies, assignments and due dates, is subject to change. Don't print it, instead use this online version as a reference. Any changes will be announced in Canvas or by email.