a seminar on religion, law, & politics around the globe
syllabus • readings • assignments • links
Professor Thomas Hilbink • 110 Gordon Hall • 413-545-2003 • hilbink@legal.umass.edu
office hours: Wednesdays, 11 to 1 (or by appointment)
Course readings:
As this is a senior seminar, I presume that you have mastered the skill of reading
non-fiction in large amounts. The readings are demanding and your completion
of readings – along with the ability to discuss and debate such readings
with your seminar-mates – will constitute a major part of your class grade.
If you don’t like reading, don’t take this course. Skimming the
readings the morning of class will not get you by.
You will also have to show some initiative in obtaining the readings, as they
will be found in a variety of forms and locales. See the syllabus in regards
to where these readings are to be found. Claiming you couldn’t find the
reading won't get you anywhere.
Books:
Food for Thought: Many of the books will be sold at Food for Thought Books,
106 N. Pleasant Street in downtown Amherst. You may also wish to search for
used (and cheaper) copies on the web. I tend to use abebooks.com or alibris.com.
The books at Food for Thought are:
• Shawn Francis Peters, Judging Jehovah’s Witnesses. Lawrence: University
Press of Kansas, 2002.
• David L. Chappell, A Stone of Hope. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2003.
• Edward J. Larson, Summer for the Gods. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.
• Robin Wright, The Last Great Revolution. New York: Vintage, 2001.
Course Reader:
A course reader is for sale at Collective
Copies, 71 S.
Pleasant Street downtown. Call first to see if they have copies ready to pickup:
413-256-6425.
Website:
Some readings will only be available on this website (see links below). You may wish to download and print them well before you need to read them, so as to assure that you can get them in time. The articles on jstor.org may only be accessed from a UMass server-based computer. If you need me to email you a copy of the .pdf files, please contact me by Monday before class.
Reserve:
All the books, as well as copies of the reader, are on
reserve at the DuBois Library.
Class distribution:
Where indicated in the schedule, I will distribute some readings to you in class the week (or more) before they are to be discussed. Extra copies, should you miss class, will be in the course “basket” in the Legal Studies office.
Links to Course Materials:
2. Nina Totenberg, “Justice Scalia,” Morning Edition, National Public Radio, June 24, 2002