Mark A. Noll (ed.), Religion and American Politics: From the Colonial Period to the 1980s. Paperback. Oxford University Press 019505881X

Jon Butler and Harry S. Stout (eds.) Religion in American History: A Reader. Paperback. Oxford University Press 0195097769

Albert J. Raboteau, Slave Religion: The Invisible Institution in the Antebellum South. Paperback. Oxford University Press 0195027051

Robert T. Handy, Christian America: Protestant Hopes and Historical Realities. Paperback. Oxford University Press 0195033876

Ernest Lee Tuveson, Redeemer Nation. Paperback. University of Chicago Press 0226819213

You will find these at http://www.neiu.edu/~ghsingle/435.htm

SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND ASSIGNED READINGS:

Philip Vandermeer and Robert Swierenga, Preface and "Introduction: Progress and Prospects in the 'New Religious History'"

Jon Butler and Harry Stout, "Introduction"

Mark Noll, "Introduction"

Robert Handy, Christian America

Ernest Tuveson, Redeemer Nation

Albert J. Raboteau, Slave Religion

R. Laurence Moor, "Insiders and Outsiders in American Historical Narrative and American History"

Mary Bednarowski, "Women in Occult America"

Raymond DeMallie, "The Lakota Ghost Dance: An Ethnohistorical Account"

Harry Stout and Catherine Brekus, "Declension, Gender, and the 'New Religious History'"

Gerald Moran, "'Sinners Are Turned into Saints in Numbers': Puritanism and Revivalism in Colonial Connecticut"

Perry Miller, "Errand Into the Wilderness"

Edmund S. Morgan, "William Penn and the English Origins of American Religious Pluralism"

John Murrin, "Religion and Politics in America from the first Settlements to the Civil War"

Marilyn Westerkamp, "Enthusiastic Piety--From Scots-Irish Revivals to the Great Awakening"

Harry Stout, "Communications and the Ideological Origins of the American Revolution"

Jon Butler, "Enthusiasm Described and Decried: The Great Awakening as Interpretative Fiction"

Ruth Bloch, "Religion and Ideological Change in the American Revolution"

Terry Bilhartz, "Sex and the Second Great Awakening: The Feminization of American Religion Reconsidered"

Margaret Thompson, "Women, Feminism, and the New Religious History: Catholic Sisters as a Case Study"

Barbara Welter, "The Feminization of American Religion: 1800-1860"

Robert Orsi, "'He Keeps Me Going': Women's Devotion to Saint Jude Thaddeus and the Dialectics of Gender in American Catholicism, 1929-1965"

Linda Pritchard, "The Spirit in the Flesh: Religion and Regional Economic Development"

Gordon Wood, "Evangelical America and Early Mormonism"

Harry Stout, "Rhetoric and Reality in the Early Republic: The Case of the Federalist Clergy"

John Wilson, "Religion, Government, and Power in the New American Nation"

Nathan Hatch, "The Democratization of Christianity and the Character of American Politics"

Daniel Howe, "Religion and Politics in the Antebellum North"

Bertram Wyatt-Brown, "Religion and the 'Civilizing Process' in the Early American South, 1600-1860"

Robert Swierenga, "Religion and Immigration Behavior: The Dutch Experience"

Jonathan Sarna, "Seating and the American Synagogue"

Jay Dolan, "The Immigrants and Their Gods: A New Perspective in American Religious History"

Leonard Dinnerstein, "Antisemitism in the Depression Era (1933-1939)"

Robert Swierenga, "Ethnoreligious Political Behavior in Mid-Nineteenth Century" Voting, Values, Cultures"

James Hennesey, "Roman Catholics and American Politics, 1900-1960: Altered Circumstances, Continuing Patterns"

Philip Vandermeer, "Religious Divisions and Political Roles: Midwestern Episcopalians, 1860-1920"

Robert Handy, "The American Religious Depression, 1925-1935"

Richard Carwardine, "Religion and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Britain: The Case Against American Exceptionalism"

George Rawlyk, "Politics, Religion, and the Canadian Experience: A Preliminary Probe"

Robert Handy, "Protestant Theological Tensions and Political Styles in the Progressive Period"

William Montgomery, "The Preachers"

Hortense Spillers, "Martin Luther King and the Style of the Black Sermon"

David Wills, "Beyond Commonality and Plurality: Persistent Racial Polarity in American Religion and Politics"

George Marsden, "Fundamentalism as an American Phenomenon, A Comparison with English Evangelicanism"

Joel Carpenter, "Fundamentalist Institutions and the Rise of Evangelical Protestantism, 1925-1942"

Bryan Wilson. "Secularization: The Inherited Model"

Leigh Schmidt, "The Easter Parade: Piety, Fashion, Display"

Martin Marty, "The Twentieth Century: Protestants and Others"

Robert Wuthnow, "Quid Obscurum: The Changing Terrain of Church-State Relations"

Lyman Kellstedt and Mark Noll, "Religion, Voting for President, and Party Identification, 1948-1984"

George Marsden, "Afterword: Religion, Politics, and the Search for an American Consensus"

The web site for this course is:

http://www.neiu.edu/~ghsingle/435.htm

Either write this URL down, or add it as a bookmark (for Netscape) or favorite (for Internet Explorer). You will find a copy of this syllabus on this web site (which is where you go for a new copy). You will also find new material posted by Thursday of each week. The constant parts of the material will be bibliographies relevant to the topic for the upcoming week and a set of questions to assist you in thinking through the assigned reading for the next class session. In addition I will post news items, notices of conferences and lectures, and other material relevant to the course.

I have also established an e-mail discussion list for this course. I will subscribe each of you after the first meeting of class. If you already have an e-mail address, please give me that information on the course form that you will return at the end of the class session. If you do not have an e-mail address, we will take care of that on the first night of class (the university provides this service free of charge).

The university has numerous stations for internet access in the Library (4^th floor), the Science Building (2^nd floor), and the Classroom Building (Lower Level and 2^nd floor).

For the mid-term examination, write an essay on the following topic:

Enter into an historiographical discussion of the assigned reading material up to February 20 (inclusive), keeping in mind dates of publication, subject matter, articulated and unarticulated (i.e., inferred) assumptions in the writings, and methods of analysis.

This assignment is due at the start of class on February 27. You are encouraged to read ahead, write the essay early, and receive a critical evaluation well before the due date.

The course paper should reflect your most rigorous and sophisticated thinking about the course materials and the themes of the course. It should not be an encyclopedic recitation of information, but it should demonstrate a broad mastery of the mate rials. I will be reading the paper for evidence of your ability to integrate complex material, sustain an analysis, and yield an interpretation of a theme derived from the analysis of the material.

Your work on this paper should begin as soon as you leave the first class session. As you read, attend class, and think about the issues raised, what theme or cluster of themes emerges? Once you identify your organizing theme(s), begin to work on nuanc e and subtlety.

You should feel free to consult with me in all stages of the development of this paper.

THE ABOVE DUE DATES ARE FIRM AND FINAL. I will grant deadline extensions only in cases of extreme emergency (determined at the discretion of the professor), and only if you have contacted me before the deadline.

Every student will receive a letter grade at the end of the course (except for extreme emergencies which clearly call for a grade of Incomplete: note, identity crises, failing the course, not being able to get one's whatever together are not extreme emergencies). If one encounters extreme emergencies in time to drop the course, that is the action that should be taken. If the emergency arises after the final drop date, we can probably negotiate an incomplete. I NEVER, EVER USE THE GRADE OF IN COMPLETE AS AN ESCAPE-HATCH FOR A STUDENT WHO IS EARNING A LOW GRADE. STUDENTS MAY BE TOLD BY FUNCTIONARIES IN THE RECORDS OFFICE TO SEEK THIS RELIEF, BUT THESE FUNCTIONARIES HAVE NEITHER THE COMPETENCE NOR THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE SUCH A SUGGESTION.

The grade assigned for the course will be determined by the formula:

(midterm grade x .333) + (course paper grade x .667)

I reserve the right to assign a higher grade than the calculation indicates in cases of marked improvement, but in no case will a student receive a lower grade, with the exception of a lower grade assigned for poor attendance (see below, p. 10). There will be no "extra credit" possibilities (a dubious practice, at best, and a stupid practice, most likely).

The following are the criteria for grades on the two assignments:

A = You have written an essay in which you clearly state your thesis in the first paragraph, demonstrate a clear understanding of the material throughout, subject the material to a logical analysis in conformity with the thesis, and render an in terpretation of the material which flows logically from the analysis.

B = You have written an essay in which you clearly state your thesis in the first paragraph, demonstrate a clear understanding of the material throughout, and subject the material to a logical analysis in conformity with the thesis.

C = You have written an essay in which you clearly state your thesis in the first paragraph, and demonstrate a clear understanding of the material throughout.

D = You have demonstrated familiarity with the material.

F = You have demonstrated minimal familiarity with the material.

An essay is a specific form of writing. It is not a description, nor is it a report. It is the formal presentation of analysis and interpretation. Analysis is the systematic and logical thought process in which the essayist arranges the information in a w ay that demonstrates an understanding of the phenomenon under investigation beyond mere description. Interpretation is the logical, systematic, and creative thought process in which the essayist discusses the significance of the information s/he has analy zed.

Every essay should have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. The introduction should contain an introduction of the issue(s) to be discussed and a thesis statement that prepares the reader for the analysis and interpretation which follow (which is w hy the introduction is best written after you have written a draft of the body and conclusion). The body contains the analysis and the conclusion contains the interpretation. The conclusion, therefore, should never be a brief paragraph that simply present s a summary. It should be a well-developed section (which most likely will take several paragraphs) which presents a logical and creative perspective on the issue(s) resulting from your original thought.

For some suggestions on writing essays, you can consult my web page at http://www.neiu.edu/~ghsingle/ and follow the For Students link.

The most frequently asked question about essays (alas) is "How long should it be?" Writing styles vary. Some topics and issues can be dealt with more concisely than others. A MUCH BETTER INDEX THAN LENGTH IS TO DETERMINE IF YOU HAVE REALLY

DEMONSTRATED THE POINT YOU ARE TRYING TO MAKE, AND IF THE POINT IS ONE WORTH MAKING.

Attendance is required, and absences beyond three class hours will result in incrementally lower grades. (Please note: three class hours equals one class session in a course that meets once a week.) In addition, you are responsible for all material covered in class whether you are there or not.

I do not distinguish between an excused and an unexcused absence. There may be necessary reasons for missing a class session, but the session is still missed. When we award 3 credit units we are not simply stipulating that you have done a specified num ber of written assignments or examinations. We are also certifying that you have been exposed to a sustained series of class sessions designed and delivered by a scholar who knows the field well and has done sufficient secondary reading and primary resear ch to present a cogent set of analyses of important issues in the subject matter of the course. Thus, if you are not there for a significant portion of the course, it reduces the value of that certification.

The current University Catalog (p. 29) specifies that if a student is absent more than three hours the instructor may lower the student grades. In my classes the may should be read "will." No one should expect to earn a grade of higher than: B w ith 4 to 5 hours of absence; C with 6 to 7 hours of absence; D with 8 to 9 hours of absence; F with 10 or more hours of absence. No, that does not mean that if you attend all but 4 or 5 hours of class you are guaranteed a B.

I am often asked if students can make up missed class sessions with additional reading. The answer is yes, BUT. . .In every class session I present a synthesis of anywhere between 20 and

50 scholarly articles, 15 and 30 scholarly books, several dozen primary documents, and over thirty years of study and reflection. If you wish, you may do the same for each class period missed, but attending class is by far the easier route to go.

CELL PHONES AND BEEPERS: Turn them off during class. Repeated infractions will be reported to the Dean of Students as disruptive behavior.

RECORDING DEVICES: Students may record class sessions.

DISCUSSION: I encourage discussion in class, BOUNDED ONLY BY RELEVANCE TO THE ASSIGNED TOPIC, KNOWLEDGE OF THE ASSIGNED MATERIAL, ADHERENCE TO LOGICAL DISCOURSE, AND RESPECT FOR OTHER CLASS MEMBERS.

GUESTS: The category "Guests" includes anyone who is not registered for the course, or has not been approved as an auditor. If you wish to invite a guest to class, you must receive permission from the professor at least twenty-four hours in advance. Permi ssion will not be granted merely for the sake of convenience.

All examinations must be submitted on 8.5"x 11" white paper typed or printed off a computer using black ink.

All examinations must use 12 or 10 cpi fonts and standard margins.

All examinations must be paginated.

All examinations must be submitted without folder or covers and must be stapled (paper-clips will not suffice).

All examinations must be submitted with the author's name, social security number, and telephone number on the cover page or the header of the first page of text.

Students are responsible for keeping copies (hard copy, disk copy, or both) of all work submitted.