Course Syllabus

Introduction to Religious Studies

RELS 1113 section 001 (CRN: 49209)
Fall 2025, University of Oklahoma, Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:00-1:15, in Cate Center One room 237

Instructor

David Vishanoff
vishanoff at ou dot edu
Robertson 119
vishanoff.com

Office hours: I am usually available immediately after class, at least for half an hour or so, and you are welcome to walk back to my office with me and chat. If we need more time, or if you aren't free after class, just ask, and we'll find a time that works.

Overview

The work of this class consists in figuring out and articulating the main goals, values, and assumptions that shape your education and your thinking about religions, and what approaches to understanding religions make the most sense for you in light of that intellectual and personal self-awareness. You could figure all that out on your own, perhaps, but you will do it better if you are in conversation with others—with your fellow students, with your professors, and with some really smart people who have studied various religions in different ways. So we are going to read four very different books about religion, each of them a classic that has deeply shaped public and scholarly understanding of religion. We will assess each author’s main goals, values, assumptions, and methods, and work on reassessing and developing your own approach to understanding religions in light of each book. Along the way, you will have the opportunity to learn many details about the textual, doctrinal, social, and ritual dimensions of several religions, but those details won't be our main focus, and you will not be tested on them. My biggest hope is that this class will help you to become more self-aware and articulate about who you are, intellectually and personally, so that you can approach all your studies more critically and with greater integrity.

This course counts toward General Education requirement IV-WC (Humanities, Western Culture). It has no prerequisites. It is a fully in-person class.

Textbooks

Please purchase hard copies (not ebooks, since our classroom will be device-free) and bring the assigned book to class each day. In theory, you may order all of these books through the official OU online bookstore, but in practice this doesn't always work well--they are often delayed, and sometimes they only offer electronic copies, whereas you absolutely must get physical copies of all the books--please don't even try to get by with just an ebook. There are lots of cheap used paperback copies available out there; just search for them by ISBN, and order them right away so you don't get stuck waiting for your book while the rest of the class is reading and discussing it. You will need the first book, by Huston Smith, for the second week of class, so please order it as soon as you see this--before classes even start, if possible.

  • Huston Smith, The World’s Religions. HarperOne, 2009, ISBN 978-0061660184
  • Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels. Vintage, 1989, ISBN 978-0679724537
  • Peter Berger, The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. Anchor Books, 1990, ISBN 9780385073059
  • David Haberman, Journey Through the Twelve Forests: An Encounter with Krishna. Oxford, 1994, ISBN 978-0195084795

Course Goals

  • Articulate the goals, values, and assumptions that you want to have shape your education.
  • Become skilled at reading textbooks critically, discerning unstated goals, values, and assumptions.
  • Identify what approaches to understanding religions make the most sense for you given your own goals, values, and assumptions about the world.
  • Develop increased intellectual humility, purposefulness, self-awareness, charity, and the ability to listen well.

Requirements

Preparation and contribution (40% of the course grade)

There are two ways to demonstrate your preparation and contribute to this class: speaking up in class, and writing your ideas on the 3x5 cards that I will hand out at key moments in class. Through some combination of these two methods, I need to be able to see clearly, at least once a week on average, that you are reading the books and thinking about them for yourself. Oral contributions in class are often the most helpful for the rest of us, but only if what you say is clear, concise, relevant to where we are or where we need to go in our conversation, and well grounded in the assigned readings. Don’t talk just to fill silence! If you tend to speak up often, make a special effort to defer to those who speak less often, and please help me to notice students who have their hands up if I don’t see them. I hope that all of you will speak up at least occasionally, because we will all benefit from hearing the intriguing mix of ideas and perspectives that will emerge, but you can also get an excellent grade just by articulating excellent ideas in writing on the 3x5 cards. If you are shy, or have trouble formulating ideas quickly enough to speak up, I suggest you start out relying mainly on the 3x5 cards; then, once you have found your voice in writing, start looking for opportunities to bring up your ideas in class.

How much should you contribute? You should aim to make a substantial contribution about once a week, whether orally in class discussion or in writing on 3x5 cards. Your grade for “preparation and contribution” will be based not only on whether you have contributed regularly but also on the depth, insightfulness, clarity, and conciseness of your contributions, and especially on how well they reflect careful reading of the assigned texts. Your grade will also be affected by little indications of preparation and engagement such as bringing the assigned book to class, and by how well you help us to maintain a focused intellectual atmosphere in the classroom by doing things like staying alert and engaged, respecting others, refraining from any use of electronic devices, and avoiding anything else that might disrupt, distract, or discourage others from staying focused.

In order for us to be fully present, listen well, and engage well with each other in class, I would like us to forgo all use of electronic devices during class. Please remember to take off your headphones or take out your earbuds when you get to class. I will enforce this no-devices policy silently: unless it seems necessary, I will not call you out in class if I see you using a device, but will just make a note of it afterwards and reduce your "preparation & contribution" grade accordingly. I may not always notice if you use a device, but when I do I will keep track of it and reduce your grade. I will not tell you when I am doing so; you should just assume that I am noticing and reducing your grade every time. Of course, if you are expecting an important call, just let me know and I will understand.

Four response papers (10% each)

At the end of our study of each book, you will have at least half an hour of class time to write (by hand, in pen, from memory, without using any notes, outlines, readings, devices, or other aids) a short essay (about two handwritten pages) in which you do three things:

  1. Identify two or more Goals, Values, Assumptions, and/or Methods that guide the author's writing about religions.
  2. Compare those with two or more of your own personal and intellectual Goals for understanding religions, your own core Values, your own Assumptions about people or religions, and/or the kinds of Methods or approaches to studying religions that you think would make the most sense for you.
  3. Draw two or more conclusions about what you can and cannot gain from the author for your own study and understanding of religions.

Final exam (20%)

For our final exam you will write, by hand (in pen, without the use of any notes, books, devices, or other aids) an essay of three or more handwritten pages in which you do two things:

  • Articulate in as much systematic detail as possible the Goals, Values, Assumptions, and Methodological principles or approaches that you want to have guide your own education and your learning about religions.
  • Discuss what aspects of each of our four books you want to embrace, reject, or learn from, and explain why based on your stated Goals, Values, Assumptions, and Methodological principles or approaches.

Attendance (crucial)

The work of this course consists in thinking and reaching conclusions together in class, not learning information on your own. This is only possible with your consistent preparation, attendance, and participation. There is therefore a severe grade penalty for excessive absences. If you are not sure you will be able to attend regularly, then you should drop the course right away.

Once the deadline for adding classes passes at the end of the first week, you will be allowed to miss only up to four classes without penalty. Every absence beyond your first four will result in a reduction of your final course grade by one half of a letter grade. For example, if your course grade would have been a B, but you missed six classes (two more than allowed), you would be down to a C. Please note that there is no limit to this penalty, so if you miss enough classes you will quickly drop down to an F in the course, regardless of your grades on assignments.

I fully expect that you will occasionally (i.e., up to four times) be unable to attend class for one reason or another, so it is not necessary to apologize or provide any excuse for your absences. On the other hand, if it begins to look like a serious ongoing personal or health situation may result in more than four absences during the term, please talk to me about it as soon as possible, and I will be as supportive as I can. Absences that result from religious observances will be not be counted, and exams or work falling on religious holidays may be rescheduled without penalty; please let me know in advance, as soon as you are able to determine that a holiday may conflict with class.

I will record attendance silently just before the start of class, so if you arrive after class has begun you will be irrevocably recorded as absent unless you check in with me after class, in which case I will record you as merely late. Please don’t be embarrassed about doing this: I will not be offended if you arrive late; on the contrary, I will be glad to see you! Nevertheless, since arriving late can undermine your learning and can be distracting to other students, I may decide to count each lateness as a fraction of an absence if lateness becomes a recurring problem.

Academic honesty (all or nothing)

In my estimation, any form of deceit, however “mild,” warrants a final course grade of F. Individual instances of suspected academic dishonesty will be referred to the appropriate University authorities, who will investigate and determine appropriate penalties (which may include grade penalties, extra classes, suspension, expulsion, and/or other penalties). In my estimation, academic dishonesty includes (but is not limited to):

  • helping other students to avoid doing their own reading or thinking or writing
  • selling a paper or exam essay or sharing it with someone who might use it instead of doing his or her own work
  • using unauthorized materials, sources, or devices for tests
  • sharing tests with others in or outside the class
  • false excuses for absences or late or missed assignments
  • turning in writing not created solely by yourself solely for this class on the basis of your own understanding of the subject (assistance from the OU Writing Center is allowed, but not from Artificial Intelligence [AI] or other writing aids)
  • using Artificial Intelligence tools in any way (some classes make good use of AI, but this one is about actually reading books, thinking your own thoughts and expressing them in your own way, and interacting face to face with others who are doing the same--an old-fashioned and still irreplaceable experience)
  • plagiarism (reproducing or paraphrasing someone else’s words or ideas without citing them)
  • failing to document sources used in an assignment
  • using or submitting text (even in modified form) that was generated or refined, in whole or in part, by AI-driven text generators such as ChatGPT
    • Here is the relevant policy from OU's Office of Academic Integrity Programs and Integrity Council: "No resource should ever be used to replace original thought or effort. Therefore, all academic work submitted by a student should be the product of the student's own understanding and effort. Unless specifically permitted by the professor, and clearly indicated by the student through proper attribution, it is cheating to submit any academic work that originates from another source."
    • In this class, to ensure that everyone does their own thinking and writing independently, without the use of AI tools, the instructor reserves the right to request an in-person meeting with any student to ask for an explanation of any aspect(s) of any of their written work, and then assign a grade based on the total evidence of the written paper and the student's explanations. If the student's explanations cast doubt on whether the student actually wrote the paper themselves from scratch, the case will be referred to the Integrity Council. Even if the Integrity Council is not able to establish that academic misconduct has occurred, the instructor may assign a low or failing grade on the assignment if the student is unable to explain to the instructor's satisfaction how the paper resulted from their own thinking.

See ou.edu/integrity for information on student rights and responsibilities with regard to academic misconduct. If you have questions or feel uncertain whether something is permissible, please ask me, and if you feel tempted to take a dishonest shortcut because you have your back against the wall and you don't know what to do, please just tell me. I am on your side, not against you, and I will be understanding and flexible as long as you are honest and transparent. And if you do cheat, just tell me that you did! If, however, I discover on my own that you have been lied or cheated, I will feel unsure how to help you or even how to have a conversation with you.

General course policies

  • Assignments may or may not be accepted late, at the instructor’s discretion. Unless arranged in advance, any such lateness will be penalized one letter grade for each interval between class periods (or any fraction thereof) that elapses after the scheduled date.
  • On all writing assignments the instructor reserves the right, before assigning a grade, to request an individual meeting with any student to ask for explanation of any aspect(s) of their writing, and then assign a grade based on the total evidence of the written paper and the student's explanations. This could improve the grade somewhat if the instructor feels the student had excellent ideas that were not fully communicated in writing despite a good effort, or it could dramatically reduce the grade if the student's explanations cast doubt on whether the student actually wrote the paper themselves from scratch. This policy is needed in order to safeguard against students using recent advances in artificial intelligence to obtain essays that they did not write themselves but whose actual provenance might be difficult to prove. If academic dishonesty is suspected, the case will be referred to the Integrity Council (see Academic Honesty above), but even if the Council is not able to establish that academic misconduct has occurred this policy will enable the instructor to assign a low or failing grade on the assignment if the student is unable to explain to the instructor's satisfaction how the paper resulted from their own thinking. In other words, being ready and able to explain your writing orally if asked is part of what is expected in all writing assignments in this class. If you cannot explain how each aspect of your writing resulted from your own thinking, you have missed the point of the assignment, and if the instructor discovers this you will be graded accordingly.
  • No extra-credit work will be assigned or accepted; please do not ask. To benefit from this class, you need to do the work as it is assigned, not do other work later.
  • Because recordings or transcripts of class sessions could undermine the limited communal nature of our discussions, and could be used to facilitate academic dishonesty, making or using such recordings or transcripts is not permitted and may constitute academic misconduct.

University policies

  • In order to help alleviate the stress of "dead week" or "pre-finals week," I have designed the schedule so that all our papers and almost all our reading are completed before the last week of classes. We will use the last week to reflect back on the thinking we did during the term, tying together our thoughts, and preparing outlines for the final exam essay. (For specific provisions of OU's official pre-finals week policy see https://apps.hr.ou.edu/FacultyHandbook#4.10.)
  • Exams or work falling on religious holidays may be rescheduled without penalty; please let me know in advance, as soon as you are able to determine that a holiday may conflict with class or an assignment.
  • Any student who has a disability that may prevent him or her from fully demonstrating his or her abilities should contact me personally as soon as possible; I will be very glad to make accommodations to help you participate and learn more effectively. If you are unsure whether you should request some kind of accommodation, or what kind of accommodation might be most helpful for you, consult the staff at the Accessibility and Disability Resource Center (https://www.ou.edu/adrc, 730 College Avenue, 325-3852, TDD 325-4173, adrc@ou.edu) who will be able to help figure out what is best and whether you should formally register with the Center. The ADRC is committed to supporting students with disabilities to ensure that they are able to enjoy equal access to all components of their education. This includes your academics, housing, and community events. If you are experiencing a disability, a mental/medical health condition that has a significant impact on one or more life functions, you can receive accommodations to provide equal access. Possible disabilities include, but are not limited to, learning disabilities, AD(H)D, mental health, and chronic health. Additionally, the ADRC supports students with temporary medical conditions (broken wrist, shoulder surgery, etc.) and pregnancy.
  • Title IX Resources and Reporting Requirement: Anyone who has been impacted by gender-based violence, including dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, harassment, and sexual assault, deserves access to resources so that they are supported personally and academically. The University of Oklahoma is committed to offering resources to those impacted, including: speaking with someone confidentially about your options, medical attention, counseling, reporting, academic support, and safety plans. If you would like to speak with someone confidentially, please contact OU Advocates (https://www.ou.edu/gec/gender-based-violence/advocates, available 24/7 at 405-615-0013). You may also choose to report gender-based violence and discrimination through other means, including by contacting the Institutional Equity Office (https://www.ou.edu/eoo, ieo@ou.edu, 405-325-3546) or police (911). Because the University of Oklahoma is committed to your safety and that of other students, all faculty are mandatory reporters. This means that I am obligated to report gender-based violence that has been disclosed to me to the Institutional Equity Office. This includes disclosures that occur in: class discussion, writing assignments, discussion boards, emails and during Student/Office Hours. For more information, please visit the Institutional Equity Office (https://www.ou.edu/eoo).
  • Adjustments for Pregnancy/Childbirth Related Issues: Should you need modifications or adjustments to your course requirements because of documented pregnancy-related or childbirth-related issues, please contact me or the Accessibility and Disability Resource Center at 405/325-3852 as soon as possible. Also, see https://www.ou.edu/content/dam/eoo/documents/faqs/faqs-pregnant-and-parenting-students.pdf for answers to commonly asked questions.
  • If you are experiencing any mental health issues that are impacting your academic performance, counseling is available at the University Counseling Center (UCC). The Center is located on the second floor of the Goddard Health Center, at 620 Elm Rm. 201, Norman, OK 73019. To schedule an appointment call (405) 325-2911. For more information please visit http://www.ou.edu/ucc.
  • Emergency Protocol: During an emergency, there are official university procedures that will maximize your safety.
    • Severe Weather: If you receive an OU Alert to seek refuge or hear a tornado siren that signals severe weather.
      1. Look for severe weather refuge location maps located inside most OU buildings near the entrances
      2. Seek refuge inside a building. Do not leave one building to seek shelter in another building that you deem safer. If outside, get into the nearest building.
      3. Go to the building’s severe weather refuge location. If you do not know where that is, go to the lowest level possible and seek refuge in an innermost room. Avoid outside doors and windows.
      4. Get in, Get Down, Cover Up
      5. Wait for official notice to resume normal activities.
    • Additional Weather Safety Information is available through the Department of Campus Safety.
    • Armed Subject/Campus Intruder: If you receive an OU Alert to shelter-in-place due to an active shooter or armed intruder situation or you hear what you perceive to be gunshots: 1. Avoid: If you believe you can get out of the area WITHOUT encountering the armed individual, move quickly towards the nearest building exit, move away from the building, and call 911. 2. Deny: If you cannot flee, move to an area that can be locked or barricaded, turn off lights, silence devices, spread out, and formulate a plan of attack if the shooter enters the room. 3. Defend: As a last resort fight to defend yourself.
    • Fire Alarm/General Emergency: If you receive an OU Alert that there is danger inside or near the building, or the fire alarm inside the building activates: 1. LEAVE the building. Do not use the elevators. 2. KNOW at least two building exits 3. ASSIST those that may need help 4. PROCEED to the emergency assembly area 5. Once safely outside, NOTIFY first responders of anyone that may still be inside building due to mobility issues. 6. WAIT for official notice before attempting to re-enter the building. OU Fire Safety on Campus (https://vimeo.com/125093634).