Students

POL 305 – Religion and Politics

2018 – S1 External

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Convenor
Ian Tregenza
Contact via ian.tregenza@mq.edu.au
Steve Chavura
Credit points Credit points
3
Prerequisites Prerequisites
39cp at 100 level or above or (6cp in HIST or MHIS or POL units at 200 level including 3cp in POL)
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
Since the eighteenth century Enlightenment philosophers have predicted that religion would vanish as capitalism, science and state separation from religion progressed. To some extent this has happened in some European countries, but, on the whole, the 'secularisation thesis' has not come true. Not only is religion still with us, but in many regions of the world it has grown and its impact has become more intense. This unit examines the nature of the relationship between religion and politics by analysing the history of political thought, as well as recent developments in global and national politics.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • The ability to analyse and express your judgement about the relationship between religion and politics in oral and written form.
  • Critically interpret some classic and contemporary texts on the relation between religion and politics.
  • Think more critically and systematically about politics and religion, and related ideas such as secularism and secularisation.
  • Appreciate the historical and philosophical subtleties of ideas such as secularism, the secular state, and religious pluralism.
  • Place contemporary debates and controversies within broader philosophical and historical contexts.

General Assessment Information

Late Submission Penalty

“Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – two (2) marks out of 100 will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments – e.g. quizzes, online tests.”

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Article Review 20% No Friday 23 March
Essay 40% No Friday 4 May
Quizzes (internal students) 10% No Random
Participation 10% No ongoing
Class Test 20% No Tuesday 5 June

Article Review

Due: Friday 23 March
Weighting: 20%

Choose one of the following required readings from week 2 and write a 1200-1400 word review: William Cavanaugh, The Myth of Religious Violence, Ch.2; William Arnal and Russell McCutcheon, The Sacred is the Profane: On the Political Nature of 'Religion’ (Oxford: Oxford University, 2013) Press ch.7

In your review you should aim to answer the following questions: what are the key arguments or ideas that the author/s is/are developing? What ideas is/are the author/s rejecting or challenging? What are the political implications of the arguments?

Apart from including page numbers in the text no further referencing is required.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • The ability to analyse and express your judgement about the relationship between religion and politics in oral and written form.
  • Critically interpret some classic and contemporary texts on the relation between religion and politics.
  • Think more critically and systematically about politics and religion, and related ideas such as secularism and secularisation.
  • Appreciate the historical and philosophical subtleties of ideas such as secularism, the secular state, and religious pluralism.

Essay

Due: Friday 4 May
Weighting: 40%

Write a 2500 word essay. Questions to be distributed in week 5.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • The ability to analyse and express your judgement about the relationship between religion and politics in oral and written form.
  • Critically interpret some classic and contemporary texts on the relation between religion and politics.
  • Think more critically and systematically about politics and religion, and related ideas such as secularism and secularisation.
  • Appreciate the historical and philosophical subtleties of ideas such as secularism, the secular state, and religious pluralism.
  • Place contemporary debates and controversies within broader philosophical and historical contexts.

Quizzes (internal students)

Due: Random
Weighting: 10%

Five multiple choice quizzes (2% each) during the lecture time. The tests will be based on the lectures and readings for the week prior to the test date.

In place of this task external students are to write a review of Michael Walzer's article 'Drawing the Line: Religion and Politics' Instructions are as per the first review but the word length is between 800 and 1000 (due date Friday 19 May).


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Appreciate the historical and philosophical subtleties of ideas such as secularism, the secular state, and religious pluralism.

Participation

Due: ongoing
Weighting: 10%

Internal students will be assessed on their contributions to class discussion and externals will be assessed on their contribution to the online forum.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • The ability to analyse and express your judgement about the relationship between religion and politics in oral and written form.
  • Appreciate the historical and philosophical subtleties of ideas such as secularism, the secular state, and religious pluralism.

Class Test

Due: Tuesday 5 June
Weighting: 20%

A final class test to be held in the last lecture of the semester. Instructions to follow.

External students are required to complete a take-home exam. Released Tuesday 5 June, due Wednesday 6 June.


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • The ability to analyse and express your judgement about the relationship between religion and politics in oral and written form.
  • Critically interpret some classic and contemporary texts on the relation between religion and politics.
  • Think more critically and systematically about politics and religion, and related ideas such as secularism and secularisation.
  • Appreciate the historical and philosophical subtleties of ideas such as secularism, the secular state, and religious pluralism.
  • Place contemporary debates and controversies within broader philosophical and historical contexts.

Delivery and Resources

Delivery:

Day, External

This unit will use:

iLearn, iLecture

Times and Locations for Lectures and Tutorials

Lectures: Tuesday 10am - 12pm, 12 second Way, 229 Tutorial Room

For timetable information consult the MQ timetables website:

https://timetables.mq.edu.au/2018/

Resources:

Most of the readings for this unit will be available on e-reserve. Some material will be available in the 7 day loan section of the library.

Unit Schedule

Weekly Topics:

A Secular Age?

Inventing ‘Religion’ and the ‘Secular’

The Two Cities: From Augustine to Luther and Beyond

Hobbes and the Mortal God.

The Rise of Toleration

Religion and the Enlightenment

Religion and the Public Sphere 1: Defending Separatism

Religion and the Public Sphere 2: Questioning Separatism

Fundamentalism and Modernity 1: Christian Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism and Modernity 2: Islamic Fundamentalism

Can Religion and Politics be Separated?

 

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Undergraduate students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct​

Results

Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

Creative and Innovative

Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • Place contemporary debates and controversies within broader philosophical and historical contexts.

Assessment task

  • Essay

Capable of Professional and Personal Judgement and Initiative

We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Assessment task

  • Participation

Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills

Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Critically interpret some classic and contemporary texts on the relation between religion and politics.
  • Think more critically and systematically about politics and religion, and related ideas such as secularism and secularisation.
  • Appreciate the historical and philosophical subtleties of ideas such as secularism, the secular state, and religious pluralism.
  • Place contemporary debates and controversies within broader philosophical and historical contexts.

Assessment tasks

  • Article Review
  • Essay
  • Quizzes (internal students)
  • Participation
  • Class Test

Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • The ability to analyse and express your judgement about the relationship between religion and politics in oral and written form.
  • Critically interpret some classic and contemporary texts on the relation between religion and politics.
  • Think more critically and systematically about politics and religion, and related ideas such as secularism and secularisation.
  • Place contemporary debates and controversies within broader philosophical and historical contexts.

Assessment tasks

  • Article Review
  • Essay
  • Class Test

Problem Solving and Research Capability

Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • The ability to analyse and express your judgement about the relationship between religion and politics in oral and written form.
  • Critically interpret some classic and contemporary texts on the relation between religion and politics.
  • Think more critically and systematically about politics and religion, and related ideas such as secularism and secularisation.
  • Place contemporary debates and controversies within broader philosophical and historical contexts.

Assessment task

  • Essay

Effective Communication

We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • The ability to analyse and express your judgement about the relationship between religion and politics in oral and written form.
  • Critically interpret some classic and contemporary texts on the relation between religion and politics.
  • Place contemporary debates and controversies within broader philosophical and historical contexts.

Assessment tasks

  • Article Review
  • Essay
  • Quizzes (internal students)
  • Participation
  • Class Test

Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens

As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • Place contemporary debates and controversies within broader philosophical and historical contexts.

Assessment task

  • Essay