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Course Syllabus

RE348OC Psychology and Religion

Department of Religion and Culture

Course Overview and Approach/Framework

A survey of various criteria used by different schools of psychoanalysis to assess the possible health or pathology of religion. Psychoanalytic theories will also be used to offer an understanding of the ability of religion to lead to profound growth and transformation on one hand and to terror and destruction on the other.

COURSE GOALS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course students should have a basic understanding of the major schools of psychoanalysis, and the ability to apply ideas presented to assess when religion might be regarded as mature and wholesome and when it might be understood as pathological and immature. Students will be encouraged to view these theories as interpretive tools that can afford no more than a provisional understanding of the subject matter.

Course Tools and Learning Materials

Text:

· Jones, James. Terror and Transformation: The Ambiguity of Religion in Psychoanalytic Perspective. New York: Taylor and Francis, 2002.

Reading Package

· Freud, Sigmund. Chapters V and VI from The Future of an Illusion. Freud Pelican Library, Vol. 12. New York: Penguin Books [1917].

· Fauteuz, Kevin. "Self-Reparation in Religious Experience and Creativity" in Soul on the Couch: Spirituality, Religion, and Morality in Contemporary Psychoanalysis. Edited by Charles Spezzano and Gerald J. Garuilo. Hillsdale N.J.: The Analytic Press, 1997.

· Winnicott, D.W. Excerpt from "Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena" in Freud and Freudians on Religion: A Reader. Edited by Donald Dapps, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.

· Epstein, Mark. "Surrender." Chap. 2 in Going to Pieces without Falling Apart. New York: Broadway Books, 1998.

· Ghent, Emmanuel. "Masochism, Submission and Surrender." In Relational Psychoanalysis: The Emergence of a Tradition. Edited by Stephen A. Mitchell and Lewis Aron. Hillsdale, N.J.: The Analytic Press, 1999.

· Stevens, Anthony. "Metapsychology: Jung's Model of the Psyche." Chap. 3 in On Jung, London: Routledge, 1990.

· Jung, C.G. "Confrontation with the Unconscious" Chap. 6 in Memories, Dreams, Reflections. New York: Vintage Books, 1965.

· Goldenberg, Naomi. "A Critical View of Archetypal Thinking" in Resurrecting the Body: Feminism, Religion, and Psychoanalysis. New York: Crossroad, 1993.

· Goldenberg, Naomi. "Body and Psyche in the Work of James Hillman" in Resurrecting the Body: Feminism, Religion, and Psychoanalysis. New York: Crossroad, 1993.

Internet Articles

· Shaw, Daniel. "Traumatic Abuse in Cults: A Psychoanalytic Perspective"

· Young, Robert M. "Fundamentalism and Terrorism"

· Forster, Sophia E. and Donald L. Carveth "Christianity: A Kleinian Perspective"

· The Dark Side of Enlightenment:Sadomasochistic Aspects of the Quest for Perfection

· "Instructions for the Last Night"

· Lionel Corbet: "The Dark Side of the Self: September 11, and a Depth Psychology of Terrorism"

· Lukoff, David. "Case Example"

Films:

· Jesus Camp, Produced and Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJo5w275O34&t=2951s

· Matter of Heart: The Extraordinary Journey of C.G. Jung in to the Soul of Man, Directed by Mark Whitney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed3vPb9bmcw

Student Evaluation

· Quizzes: 45% (3 quizzes worth 15% each)

· Essay: 45%

· Participation: 10%

Assignments (Due dates are posted on the course calendar on MyLearningSpace)

1. Three On-Line Quizzes (45% total – 15% each)

Quizzes will test your knowledge of lesson material and will be based lessons from the four weeks prior to the quiz. A study guide will be posted one week prior to the quiz.

· Quiz 1 covers Lessons 1 - 4

· Quiz 2 covers Lessons 5 – 8

· Quiz 3 covers Lessons 9 – 12

You are given 35 minutes to answer 30 multiple-choice questions selected randomly from a pool of questions for each student.

2. Participation (10%)

· The class will be divided into groups of about 10.

· There will be 12 discussion topics that correspond to the weekly lessons, beginning in week 1.

· The discussions are an opportunity to “talk” in writing about the lesson material with members in your group. The discussion topics will be similar to the essay topics, so these discussions will be a way for you to practice putting your thoughts into written words the same way you will be asked to do so for the essay.

· You can do all 12 discussions, but you get credit for up to 10 posts.

· You only get credit for one post per discussion topic.

· Each post will be worth 1% for a total of 10% you can earn.

· No late discussion posts will be accepted.

· A post can either be a direct response to the discussion topic, or a response to a post from someone in your group.

You will get credit for your post if it is:

· coherent and it addresses either the discussion topic or the post from a classmate

· no more than 250 words (be considerate to your group mates and keep your thoughts concise). If you have more than 250 words to say, break them up into several posts. But again, you can only get credit for one post per topic.

3. Essay (45%) 1000 – 1500 words

· Essay topics will be posted on the Course Content page several weeks prior to when the essay is due.

· You will be asked to choose one of a selection of essay topics based specifically on the course material.

· Send your essay to the course “Dropbox.” You'll find this link on the top of the course website page. Follow the instructions to attach and submit your essay.

· I will be looking for evidence that you are engaged in the course and thinking about the material and/or the essay question.

· These assignments are not research papers and do not require any outside sources. There will however be an option to write a research paper in place of the essay, but you can only do this with the instructor’s approval.

· The assignment topics are designed to get you to think and I will be looking for your thoughtful responses to them. Try to find your own voice. Think about these questions for a while. Develop your own thoughts. Put them into your own words, your own way of saying things.

· Unless arrangements for an update are made with the instructor before the due date, a late essay will receive a penalty of 1% of the total mark for the essay per day. You have several weeks to write your essay so extensions will not be granted due to workload issues. Essays that come in late without an approved extension will be marked without comments.

Guidelines for writing your essay:

1. Avoid overly generalized opening sentences that really say nothing and cannot be substantiated. Go directly to your response to the essay topic.

2. Be sure to read the essay topic very carefully. You may have written a fine essay, but if you haven't actually addressed the essay topic, your mark will suffer.

3. Put clear limits on what you will discuss. Resist saying everything! These are short assignments in which you demonstrate your ability to understand and to think; they are not your life work.

4. Provide transitions between topics; your thoughts should have continuity; they should “hang together.”

5. Support or illustrate your assertions. If, for instance, you agree with an author's point, do not simply announce your agreement, but make sure you go on to say why you agree or disagree.

6. Likewise, do not simply record your reactions (e.g., “I found this subject interesting”) without saying more about your reactions (e.g., say why you found it interesting).

7. No bibliographic reference is needed for common knowledge (e.g., Canada is in North America) or for course material, but if you use course material, provide identifying information (e.g., a page number, a weblink, the minute number of a video, etc.) in the text of your essay so I can follow up your reference if I need to.

8. If however you do use outside sources, provide full references for quoted material including page numbers. Choose a reference form (i.e., footnotes, endnotes, text notes) and use it consistently throughout. I don't care which style you follow, just be consistent.

9. If the topic asks for your views, use the first person (e.g., “I agree with so and so...”).

10. Avoid trying to get too many thoughts into one sentence. If your sentences are getting too long, see if you can divide them into two or three smaller ones.

11. Avoid using words like `he', `him', 'man', 'mankind', etc., to speak for all human experience.

12. Feel free to support your ideas with examples from your own experience, but use these examples only to illustrate, support or challenge some point. In other words, do not simply recount some experience of yours for its own sake. I have no way of marking your experience.

13. Avoid arguments based on any religious or anti-religious assumptions and commitments you might have. It's not that these commitments are unimportant; it's just that this course is about an academic approach to psychology and religion. I have no way of marking your religious views. As with any personal experiences, feel free to talk about your personal religious views, but only for the purpose of making some larger point. In other words, do not preach or moralize from within any religious perspective.

14. Do not simply reiterate course material.

15. Proofread your work! If you do well in the above skills, but don't have the writing skills to support your good thoughts, your mark will suffer.

What Grades Mean

· A range (80-100): Outstanding performance. Strong evidence of original and/or critical thinking, strong communication skills, superior grasp of the material.

· B range (70-79): Good performance. Good evidence of the capacity to think about and grasp the subject matter. Good communication skills.

· C range (60-69): Adequate performance. Some evidence of the capacity to develop one's thoughts and grasp the subject matter. Adequate ability to communicate.

· D range (50-59): Minimally acceptable performance.

· F range (0-49): Inadequate performance

Note that a mark for instance in the B range, or in some cases, even the C range, does not necessarily indicate that there is anything wrong with the paper. Marks in the A range are reserved for work that is exceptional in some way.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Week	Topic	Readings and Videos
1	Freud and Religion	· Freud: from Future of Illusion ·
2	Religion and Idealization	· Jones: Introduction · Jones: ch. 1: "Religion and Idealization" · Jones: ch. 2: "Clinical Illustration" · Film: “Jesus Camp”
3	Splitting the Sacred and Profane: Fairbairn	· Jones: ch. 3: "A Psychology of the Sacred" · Shaw: "Traumatic Abuse in Cults: A Psychoanalytic Perspective
4	Splitting the Sacred and Profane: Klein	· Young: "Fundamentalism and Terrorism" · Forster and Carveth: "Christianity: A Kleinian Perspective"
5	Religion, Idealization, and Fanaticism	· Jones: ch. 4: "Idealization and Religious Fanaticism" · Shaw: "The Dark Side of Enlightenment: Sadomasochistic Aspects of the Quest for Perfection" · "Instructions for the Last Night"
6	Religion and Regression: Pathological or Adaptive?	· Fauteux: "Self-Reparation in Religious Experience and Creativity"
7	Idealization, Surrender, and Transformation: Winnicott	· Jones: ch. 5: "Idealization and Transformation" · Winnicott: "Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena" · Epstein: "Surrender"
8	Surrender and De-Idealization	· Jones: ch. 6: "Religion without Idealization" · Jones: "Epilogue" · Ghent: "Masochism, Submission and Surrender"
9	Jung and Religion	· Stevens: "Metapsychology: Jung's Model of the Psyche" · Jung: "Confrontation with the Unconcious" · Film: "Matter of Heart"
10	Projection or Integration of the Shadow?	· Corbett: "The Dark Side of the Self" · Goldenberg: "A Critical View of Archetypal Thinking"
11	Archetypal Psychology and Religion	· Goldenberg: "Body and Psyche in the Work of James Hillman"
12	Transpersonal Psychology of Religion: Religious Experience or Psychiatric Illness ?	· Lukoff: "Case Example"

University and Course Policies

1. Academic Integrity/Misconduct (cheating): Laurier is committed to a culture of integrity within and beyond the classroom. This culture values trustworthiness (i.e., honesty, integrity, reliability), fairness, caring, respect, responsibility and citizenship. Together, we have a shared responsibility to uphold this culture in our academic and nonacademic behaviour. The University has a defined policy with respect to academic misconduct. You are responsible for familiarizing yourself with this policy and the penalty guidelines, and are cautioned that in addition to failure in a course, a student may be suspended or expelled from the University for academic misconduct and the offence may appear on their transcript. The relevant policy can be found at Laurier's academic integrity website along with resources to educate and support you in upholding a culture of integrity. Ignorance of Laurier’s academic misconduct policy is not a defense. <see: www.wlu.ca/academicintegrity >

2. Accessibility: Contact Accessible Learning Centre if you require academic accommodations because of a disability. Review the Registration page for information about intake and documentation requirements. Deadlines: Students are responsible for meeting posted deadlines for registering with Accessible Learning and booking accommodated exams.  Accessible Learning cannot guarantee accommodations for requests received after posted deadlines.

3. Plagiarism: Wilfrid Laurier University uses software that can check for plagiarism. If requested to do so by the instructor, students may are required to submit their written work in electronic form and have it checked for plagiarism. (Approved by Senate May 14, 2002)

4. Communication with the Instructor: All correspondence is to be done through the course website only either through the main discussion board (if it pertains to the whole class) or through email on the course website (if it’s an individual concern).

5. Foot Patrol, Counselling Services, and the Student Food Bank (Approved by Senate November 28, 2011 – see below)

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