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2010/11 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

THEO2400 The Making of Modern Belief

20 creditsClass Size: 60

Module manager: Dr Rachel Muers
Email: r.e.muers@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2010/11

Pre-requisite qualifications

Usually THEO1000

This module is approved as an Elective

Module summary

Many contemporary debates about 'religion' - about its place in society, its relationship to science and academic life, how scriptures should be used and read, whether religion can make progress - started in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We will study key texts, thinkers and movements in Western Religious Thought (mainly focusing on Christianity) from between 1750 and 1918, and use them to shed light on where we are now.

Objectives

To explore selected major developments in, and challenges to, religious thought from 1750 to 1918, mainly focusing on Christianity in western Europe and North America. To examine texts and thinkers from this period in relation to their social and intellectual contexts, and to consider the significance of this period in shaping contemporary ideas and debates around theology and religion.

Learning outcomes
At the end of the module the student will be expected to be able to demonstrate detailed knowledge of major developments, debates and figures in Christian theology between 1750 and 1918, in relation to at least two specific thinkers or movements; assess the significance of a range of factors in the social, historical and intellectual context affecting theological change in this period; describe and assess how one or more texts, thinkers or intellectual movements from this period illuminate contemporary thought about religion.


Syllabus

1. Introduction; timeline; "What is Modernity? What is Enlightenment?"
2. Reason and passion: tensions of eighteenth century theology.
3. 'Dare to know!': Kant and religious freedom.
4. Theology among the romantics: Schleiermacher and the beginnings of liberal theology.
5. Making sense of Christianity?: Hegel...
6. ...and making Christianity absurd: Kierkegaard.
7. The 'Masters of Suspicion' and religion's guilty secrets.
8. New approaches to the Bible.
9. Faith, doubt and Darwinism: responding to scientific change.
10. Religion and social change: feminism and anti-slavery.
11. Into the crisis: theology before and after the 'Great War'.

Teaching methods

Delivery typeNumberLength hoursStudent hours
Lecture121.0012.00
Seminar101.0010.00
Tutorial11.001.00
Private study hours177.00
Total Contact hours23.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)200.00

Private study

Preparation for seminars (set reading), 50 hours; background reading and follow-up to lecture, 24 hours; preparation of essay, 53 hours; revision for exam, 50 hours.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Seminar groups (structured to require active participation from all students); submission of draft essay.

Methods of assessment


Coursework
Assessment typeNotes% of formal assessment
Essay2,500 words45.00
Written WorkTwo short pieces of writing prepared for seminars (selected by students from the nine prepared over the course of the module)10.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)55.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated


Exams
Exam typeExam duration% of formal assessment
Exam with advance information on questions2 hr 00 mins45.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)45.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 06/05/2011

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