| Themes for discussion: What is blasphemy? The Catholic Church's Index of Forbidden
Books. Fundamentalist Christian and Moslem views of culture. Can you be religious
and live in the late twentieth century? The debate over school prayer. Case studies: the controversies surrounding "The Last Temptation of Christ" and The Satanic Verses. Film: "Hail Mary" (France, 1985) |
Tuesday, December 2--
Read: Blasphemy packet (xerox)
Investigate WWW: Study the definition of blasphemy- and examine all the Scriptural
links at
http://forums.nj.com/forums/get/faith3/91/1.html
Take a look at the page “You’ll Burn in Hell for Reading this Page” at
http://192.216.191.59/SunsetStrip/Alley/1409/gotohell.htm
What do you make of this sophomoric display?
In class: Poetic declamations of Sharon Olds, "The Pope's Penis"
and James Kirkup, "The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name"!
Thursday, December 4
Read: Bolton, Culture Wars (27-37, 47-51, 185-187, 201-205, 227-230, 309)(reserve)
Monday, December 8
Film: “Hail Mary” 4 PM and 8 PM (KJ Aud)
*Tuesday, December 9
Read: Salman Rushdie, excerpts from Satanic Verses (xerox)
*Write: React to the film “Hail Mary” and the excerpt from Satanic Verses.
Can you appreciate why some people would be offended?
Thursday, December 11--Conclusion
Final expanded version of research paper will be due December 17, 12 noon.