Syllabus for Section 2477; Fall 2017

Classroom: PC123

Class Runs: 9/6/2017 - 12/6/2017                   Final:  12/6/2017 11-1 pm

Office: Petaluma Adjunct Faculty Offices    Office Hours:  MW – 10-11 AM

INSTRUCTOR                          

Sarah Whylly                            

707.307.3034 (text please, I'm a Millennial and phone conversations terrify me)                         

swhylly@santarosa.edu

DESCRIPTION

This course traces the development of the character Satan or "The Devil" from its beginnings in Biblical literature and the concept of demonic characters from Indian and Japanese mythology. It will examine the evolution of that literature through analyses of traditional Indian and Japanese myths, Jewish, Christian and Islamic theological development, literary works of the Medieval and Renaissance periods, contemporary film, and comic strips. 

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of this course, the students will be able to:

1. Analyze literary, philosophical, and artistic portraits of demonic figures and the Satan character in relation to their historical, geographical, social, and cultural cont
2. Name the sources of the major evolutionary stages of Satan's development and list them in chronological orde
3. Critique and evaluate explanatory appeals to the existence and activity of demon myths and "The Devil."
4. Explain the place and relationship of demonic figures in mythology to various religious traditions

TEXTBOOK

Scribd.com Membership

https://www.scribd.com/collections/14200775/History-of-Satan

An online library with a collection for our course called History of Satan $8.99 per month; you will need it for 5 months. Here is a link to allow you to get your first 2 months free: https://www.scribd.com/g/5yuqn

**Other readings for the course will be posted online here in Canvas and will be available for you to download.**

COURSE COMPONENTS:

Let's Play a Game!

This course is going to be run as a multiplayer role-playing game. I will explain to all of you what this means on the first day of class but essentially we will be treating the work and activities of the class as a giant role-playing game. If you don’t know what this is, please don’t let that scare you, I am very patient and I guarantee we will have a lot of fun together. 

 

Course Site: This is a Canvas course. Make sure you understand how to access the site for this course. We will go over some of the details of Canvas in class. I will post any announcements for class on Canvas, and it should be checked at least twice a week.

Minecraft - We will be taking our quizzes in this environment together in guilds. You don't need this game to take the class or even really understand how it all works, all you need to be able to do is enjoy the setup and be able to answer questions.

Pathfinder - The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) that was first published in 2009 by Paizo Publishing. It extends and modifies the Revised 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) game rules published by Wizards of the Coast under the Open Game License. Pathfinder RPG is intended to be backward-compatible with D&D version 3.5.

--Wikipedia, 2017

XP – Experience points or, in other classes, points.

PvP – Player versus Player; Competing against your classmates.

PvE – Player versus environment; Competing against the limits of your own knowledge; Homework, quizzes, short writing assignments.

Guilds – Groups; you will come up with a name for your guild during the first week.

RPG – Role-playing game; you will get to create a character and become that character for the reenactment of certain myths for the class.

**Points for the course will be translated into XP or experience points.

 

GRADING

The student will, by doing the assigned work for the course, accumulate points which will determine the final grade.

As this is a 3 unit, UC transferrable course, the student is expected to do 6 hours of homework every week (2 hours outside class for every one hour inside class is the legal definition of a unit in a lecture class)

There will be 5 ways I assess learning in the course. They are as follows:

Class Activities for Attendance and Participation: You are expected to attend class regularly and attendance is monitored via login and activity on the Canvas site. Participation and presence for class discussion, lectures, and group work is a significant portion of your grade for this class. You are expected to participate in class. This includes being prepared to speak about the reading, asking me to clarify what you do not understand, playing games, interacting in groups, competing for points, and responding to comments made by other students in lectures and during discussion. You are also expected to treat all of your classmates with respect during class discussions.

SSRP/Blog Posts for Reading: Most of the comprehension of the learning you will do in this course will come from careful reading of assigned texts and class discussion. You will encounter a variety of writing styles in this class: philosophical essays, religious, and historical documents. You will also be analyzing works of literature and synthesizing materials written about culture with cultural products themselves. In the case of readings about mythology, you should learn to look for the author’s thesis, arguments, and key terms. If you encounter a term you do not recognize you should attempt to look it up and then ask about it in class. You should come to class with ideas about what point the author is trying to convey and how this point relates to other materials we have covered in the course.

***A reading schedule will be posted each week to the Canvas site and all students should come to class having read the material listed as due for that day of the class***

Research Project: 150 XP – This will be a graphic novel and we will discuss the details during class time.

Extra Credit Opportunities: These will be random and at my discretion. They will be announced in class and posted to our Canvas course site and will related to particular topics from the course material.

Final Judgment --er, Assignment: 100 XP

 

Classwork and Homework Activities (This is how you earn XP):

Guild Work:

This is group work. You will meet with your guild at least once a week during class time for a guild activity. You are expected to attend class regularly and I will be taking attendance at the beginning of class. Participation and presence for class discussion, lectures, and group work is a significant portion of your grade for this class. You are expected to participate in class. This includes being prepared to speak about the reading, asking me to clarify what you do not understand, and responding to points raised by other students. You are also expected to treat all of your classmates with respect during class discussion.

Guild Dungeon Crawling: These take on the form of reading quizzes: Earn XP by defeating dungeons and other reading based activities throughout the semester. The total number of XP possible per crawl is 10 with possible extra credit awarded. Students will not be permitted the use of electronic devices or laptops during these exercises although notes on the reading will be allowed, so readings should be completed and notes taken before class begins! These assignments cannot be made up and require your physical presence in order for you to receive any credit.

Guild Gatherings: These will be group discussions held randomly during class throughout the semester. Each group discussion is worth 25-50 XP each. The topics of the group discussions will be given to you in class on the day of discussion. These assignments cannot be made up and require your physical presence in order for you to receive any credit.

Peer Review/Secret Ballot: This is an extra credit opportunity. Each guild will be given ballots that can be used to rate your fellow guild-mates. This activity can only help your grade, not hurt your grade. Each member of the guild will be given a secret ballot that they will use to rank the other members of the guild. Here are the rankings: Guild Leader – 35 XP, Raid Leader – 25 XP, Solid Guild Crafter -15 XP, Needs Rez. – 5 XP, and Waste of Rations – 0 XP

 

Solo Quests:

These are reading and writing activities done individually or with a partner. Most of the learning you will do in this course will come from careful reading of assigned texts and class discussion. You will encounter a variety of writing styles in this class: philosophical essays, religious, and historical documents. You will also be analyzing works of film, art, and literature and synthesizing materials written about culture with cultural products themselves. In the case of readings, you should learn to look for the author’s thesis, arguments, and key terms. If you encounter a term you do not recognize you should attempt to look it up and then ask about it in class. You should come to class with ideas about what point the author is trying to convey and how this point relates to other materials we have covered in the course. There will be periodic reading exercises to ensure that everyone is doing the reading.

Solo Quests - SSRP/Critical Response. Each week of the course I will ask you to submit a brief response to one of the readings for the week. In this 1 page paper, you should note a passage or sentence in that week’s reading, and say something about why you’d want to talk about in class. I may call upon you to read your response so please bring it to class with you. If you are called upon to read yours, you should do so as though it were written upon a scroll. Why do you think it is significant, or why do you find it puzzling, or why do you want to praise it or curse it? You will need to include the page number as a reference from the reading so we can refer to it. Think about these as super-short response papers (SSRPs), which I will use as a basis for calling on people to get discussion going. These should be 1 full page in length, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins and no header (you do not need to include your name, the class, the date, or any other identifying information on the page you submit). 

These will be graded on a 15-25 XP basis. One of these will be due per week and you may pick any one of the assigned readings to complete this on. You will need to complete 14 of these in total and these 14 will count toward your final score.

These should be typed in a word processing program such as Word or Google Docs. I cannot open .pages files so please do not submit these; they will not be graded. PDF files are also not accepted. 

Please ensure that all submitted SSRP files meeting the following parameters:

• 1 inch margins on all sides
• 12 point font; either Times New Roman or Cambria. If another font is chosen, it will need to use the same spacing of letters proportional to each other that is used in Times New Roman or Cambria. If I copy and paste your document into Word and find that the proportions or spacing differ significantly and if this causes the writing to be shorter than the required length, your score will be penalized.
• MLA citation at the top of the first page
• No use of a header; your submission will be tagged with your name, the date, and the course when it is submitted to Canvas, therefore it does not require a header.
• 1 full page; double-spaced, including between paragraphs. Do not use quadruple spacing between paragraphs.
• Quotes should be no longer than 2-3 lines of the submission. Please do not use multiple quotes. Use ellipses to indicated portions of the quote you wish to call attention to. (Please use the link if you aren't sure how to do this.)
• Please use spell/grammar check and ensure that you have spelled names, titles, etc. correctly and used proper capitalization and punctuation for proper names.

Solo Quests - Blogs: You will need to keep a blog for this class. This is a creative exercise. The posts for your blog can be about anything related to what we are learning in class. The post needs to be at least 2-3 full paragraphs and discuss something related to what we are learning/have learned and something that you found interesting, frustrating, unbelievable, etc. that relates to your own life and interests. Each blog post is worth 15-20 XP and these are due weekly. 10 blog posts will count toward your final score.

Solo Quests – PvP Battles or PvE Interactions: Player vs. Player interactions. This means a one-on-one competition with someone else in the class competing for points. There are various ways we will accomplish this which we will explore throughout the semester, usually involving a game or writing assignment based on the course material and/or films and media we will be covering in the course. I will also award points to people for those who answer questions for me in class. Each one of these will have a total of 20 XP for students to earn max per class period. These assignments cannot be made up and require your physical presence in order for you to receive any credit.

Solo Quests – Satanic Expositions: This is a partner activity.  You will choose a day to present on a topic of my choosing with your partner.  Every other week I will take sign-ups for the next two week’s reading and you and your partner will be responsible for outlining the reading for your classmates, discussing what you found most interesting, and noting any connections from the reading to what we have discussed in class or to the topic of the class overall. You will need to email this to me the day before you present so I can distribute the outline and discussion to your classmates. You will need to do at least one during the semester. These are worth 50 XP each. This assignment cannot be made up and require your physical presence in order for you to receive any credit.

Raid Mode:

Boss Battle - Research Project: You will design a graphic novel informed by socio-historical source material of your choosing that shares characteristics/history with Satan. This graphic novel will involve explaining the mythology, its historical influences, and some of the artistic influences on the story you choose to tell. This will count for 130 XP in total with the annotated bibliography worth 20 XP for a total of 150 XP for the project.

Final Judgment: This will be an in-class activity of my choosing done upon the day of the final exam. It often involves food. Details forthcoming. This assignment cannot be made up and require your physical presence in order for you to receive any credit. It is worth 100 XP.

Total XP Needed Out of XP Ranking

Points Needed	Letter Grade	Rank
700 - ? points	A	Master Dragon Slayer
600 - 699 points	B	Knight to Dragon Slayer
500 - 599 points	C	Apprentice to Dragon Slayer
400 - 499 points	D	Dragon Stable Cleaner
0 - 399 points	F	Squirrel tamer

ACADEMIC FREEDOM & INTEGRITY

Teaching religion is a very tricky business. I, or a student, may call something a “myth” that someone in the class believes is factually true. Some people’s religious beliefs may be offended or even directly refuted during this class. Below are some principles that are intended to govern the discussion. These are important given we are in a diverse, pluralistic and secular institution (and society, according to the Constitution) and given that probably more people have been tortured and killed over religious beliefs than any other reason in the history of the world.

1. Academic Freedom. No opinion is taboo. No one in my class will ever be silenced on the basis of the content of an opinion they express. Grades will never be based on the content of one's opin Academic freedom is a core value; education (as opposed to indoctrination) cannot really happen without it. This applies equally to instructor and student.

2. Respect for Diversity. While one may express any opinion in terms of its content; that freedom does not absolutely apply to the WAY something is said. I will not protect anyone from an offensive opini Indeed, one cannot simultaneously protect freedom of speech and freedom from offence. However, I will insist that opinions are expressed with respect for persons. You may argue against someone’s religious beliefs in class, but you may not ridicule them or put them down as a person or judge them based on their membership in a particular group or classification, real or imagined.

3. Academic rigor. The basis of the class is that we engage in critical analysis of the religious ideas we s It is not an “appreciation” class or a devotional study or spiritual exercise. Because of the analytical nature of the class, cherished beliefs might feel threatened regardless of the respectful intentions of the speaker. While no one will be silenced, or graded down because they express a particular opinion, everyone will be held accountable to give real evidence and valid arguments for their opinions. By argument I mean a series of reasons given to support a particular conclusion (belief). An argument is invalid if the reasons don’t actually support the conclusion. I’ll say more about this in class. By critical I mean the position that a claim, a belief, to be worthy of being accepted, must be made of good reasons and is subject to be judged as true/false, better/worse on the basis of the quality of the reasons given.

4. Academic Integrity for Instructors. It is my responsibility to distinguish personal conviction from professionally accepted views in the discipline and present data and information fairly and objectivel  The student is urged to keep in mind from the get-go that “Professionally accepted views in the discipline” are not the same as “what I learned in Sunday school.” In fact, those two things are usually very different.

5. Academic Integrity for Students. It is your responsibility to do your own, honest, research, study and writing, to back up what you claim with evidence and always cite--AND VERIFY when possible-- your source Cheating of any kind will not be tolerated. Copying another student’s work or committing plagiarism will result in automatic zero for the assignment (first offense). Repeat offenders are subject to automatic F for the course or even expulsion.

 

WARNING! BIOHAZARD!

Actual Students, Potential Students, and Everybody Else:

Please consider the following carefully. As a college instructor in the field of Religion Studies (and Mythology, contrary to some popular notions, is Religious Studies, at least it is for this class and instructor),

I get bombarded by faith-based questions, struggles, and objections all the time. So it is very important that the student understands some things about this enterprise from the outset.

There are, of course, different views of religion and myth, and different methods and assumptions behind the process of interpreting sacred texts and religious ideas. The one I take here is one I share with many other experts in this field. In other words, my approach is not idiosyncratic, but one I share with an intellectual community of scholars. But--it should go without saying--my approach is not shared by all college teachers who handle myth and religion. There are many methods, many theories, many assumptions that individuals hold about what myth and religion are and how to teach them. I study and engage in dialogue pretty much all different approaches, and will share ideas in class often that are different from my own opinions on the matter. That is as it should be. But I also have my own convictions about the matter-- developed over decades of full-time study and reflection--and that is also as it should be. I regard the principles I briefly outline here as the most appropriate for a public, diverse, secular institution which this is. Another approach might be appropriate in a different kind of institutional context, for example, a Rabbinical school or Christian seminary, but not here. So, for the purposes of what I do, and what my students will be measured by in assessing their work, these are the premises of this and all my classes.

 The Objective or Outsider's Perspective

Every time I use the much maligned word "objective" someone objects that there is no such object. I am very aware of the postmodern critiques of "objectivity" and the problems in epistemology (the theory of knowledge) hotly debated by

philosophers. I mean something fairly simple here and I will stick by it, epistemological debates notwithstanding. Scholars of religion frequently use "Outsider's View" instead of "objective", but I use them here as mutually explanatory synonyms: by "Objective" I MEAN "Outsider's Perspective." The very nature of religious beliefs and sacred texts makes this vitally important and necessary. Because of the diversity and contradictions among religious creeds and stories about the same topics and texts, to take a point of view that is partisan, that is loyal to, that advocates one particular religious persuasion in this business would be the defining characteristic of bias (bias, as I use the word, is the opposite of objective or outside-perspective). It is possible to take a view that is not biased IN THIS SENSE. Yes, yes I know the common adage that we're all biased. I hear it all the time. While that may very well be true, we are not all biased to the same degree, in the same way, about the same things. It is quite possible to step up to a debated issue, and address it not have any investment--membership, ownership, debt to--any of the parties involved. That is the ideal position, I argue, for a scholar of religion. And that is, in my usage, what the word "secular" means.

The Method to my Madness

The approach I take has been developing for a least a couple hundred years now, and is sometimes called "historical-critical" Historical critical method is the cornerstone of this class and of Religious Studies as I practice it. The historical part is very important. It means that I interpret every text, every story, whether it is from the Illiad, the Popol Vuh, the Mahabharata, the Qur'an, or the Bible, primarily by trying to understand its context in real time, real space, among real people. Everything in the Bible (and all other ancient literature) was written by people who lived in places on earth, in social, economic, cultural locations with their attendant beliefs, values, assumptions, relationships and limitations. They spoke and wrote in ordinary human languages and they pulled their tunics on one sleeve at a time, just like us. Well, okay, maybe you don't wear a tunic, but I . . . nevermind. What they wrote was in and for a context. We do not know everything about that context (since it is often rather far removed from our own), but the student may be surprised at how much we do and can know. And that knowledge increases all the time. It is aconstantly growing, changing, unfolding process. It is a process of humans understanding humans, better and better.  The "critical" part is also critical. To criticize (not as in "to put down or complain about" but rather as in the phrase "critical thinking") is to analyze, test, question, set aside assumptions and pre-conceived ideas, to take as little as possible for granted. The ways of thinking we humans regularly practice which are NOT critical thinking include the following: believing things on authority alone, accepting what is handed to us by tradition without doubt or reflection, choosing to believe what feels good to ME without respect to evidence or communicability. Having our beliefs made of faith in tradition, authority, or subjectivity is easy. It gives no discomfort to our natural laziness. Forming our beliefs by careful reflection, diligent research and study, spending time and effort in verifying claims rather than taking them on trust (a synonym of faith) is harder. College education is all about the harder road. Good. No pain no gain. Personally I think its very worth the effort, time, and money. As I have heard a number of Pentecostal preachers say, "I've come to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable," a turn of phrase that is both cute (I think) and apt for higher education.

 So, did you hear me say it is hard? I hope it is very much fun as well. It certainly is for me. It is rewarding, satisfying, and world-shatteringly ecstatic to learn about this stuff. But to get the goods, it takes effort and discipline. Thus endeth my sermon.

 Still have questions? Consult with your instructor!

 Students with Disabilities:

Students with disabilities needing academic accommodations should register with and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resources Department (SDRD). Please bring verification to class from the SDRD indicating your need and approval for academic accommodations. This should be done within the first week of class.

Please speak with me if you have any questions.

You can visit the JC's Student Disabilities Resources Department website for more information.