Bible Belt Religion: Conservative Protestants in
Religious Studies 530
Professor John Schmalzbauer
Office: Strong Hall 263
Email: jas714f@smsu.edu
Phone: 836-5918
In
recent years, journalists and pundits have written about the divide between
“red states” and “blue states,” conservative evangelicals and liberal
secularists, bi-coastal elites and “
1)
Conservative Evangelical Protestantism; and 2) Southern Religion(s). Drawing on the fields of American religious
history and the sociology of religion it focuses on the evolution and
development of conservative Protestantism in the “Bible Belt.”
In this
course, you will:
1.
Learn about the
origins and development of the “Bible Belt” as a region and an idea
2.
Explore the
history and sociology of evangelicalism inside and outside of the South
3.
Understand the
relationship between religion and race in Southern culture
4.
Investigate the
role of conservative evangelical religion in the Ozarks
5.
Understand the
religious background to contemporary divisions in American politics
Required
1) Jon
Boles, The Great Revival: Beginnings of
the Bible Belt (University Press of Kentucky. 1996).
2)
Grant Wacker, Heaven Below: Early
Pentecostals and American Culture (
3) Paul
Harvey, Freedom’s Coming: Religious
Culture and the Shaping of the South From the Civil War Through the Civil
Rights Era (University of North Carolina Press, 2005).
4)
Charles Reagan Wilson, Judgment and Grace
in
5) D.G.
Hart, That Old-Time Religion in Modern
6)
James Ault, Spirit and Flesh: Life in a
7) Christian Smith, Christian America? What Evangelicals Really Want (
8)
William Lindsey and Mark Silk, Religion
and Public Life in the Southern Crossroads:
Web
Attendance Policy:
Attendance is required at all
class meetings. The only acceptable
excuses for absences are emergencies, official university activities (with a
written excuse) or illness (please contact the instructor in such cases). Please be punctual because our time is
limited.
Class Participation (50 points): Students will be evaluated on their participation in
class discussions. Students will be
assessed on their familiarity with the readings and the quality of their
comments.
Discussion Questions (50 points): Twice in the
semester, each student will be required to come up with four focusing questions for class discussion. Two of the questions must relate to specific
passages in the readings. Sign up for a
time slot during the first week of classes.
Paper #1: (100 Points) Analysis of Pentecostal
Periodical Article
Students
will write a 6-8 page paper analyzing an article from the online periodical
archives of the
Paper #2: (100 Points) Observations from
Students
will write a 6-8 page paper reporting on observations of a local fundamentalist
church service. The goal of the paper
will be to relate first-hand observations and impressions to the ethnographic
account of a fundamentalist Baptist church found in James Ault’s Spirit and Flesh.
Due Monday November 14 in class. See separate
handout.
Paper #3: (100 Points) Hometown Religious and
Political Data Analysis
Each
student will write a 6-8 page paper analyzing the religious demography and
political orientation of his/her own hometown.
This paper will be based on denominational data available on the
American Religion Data Archive webpage and county-level data on presidential
vote choice from 2000 and 2004. Due Monday December 12 at 5:00 p.m. via email or under Professor Schmalzbauer’s door.
Examinations (600 points total; 300 points each): There will be two examinations in this course. They will test students only on the units
leading up to the examination. The final
will not be cumulative. Examinations
will be a mixture of matching, multiple choice, short answer and essay
questions.
Total Number of Points: 1,000
The
following grading scale will be used:
A=90-100%
B=80-89%
C=70=79%
D=60-79%
F=Below
60%
If a
student is on the border of a grade, the instructor will take into consideration
the overall performance of the student, class participation, and amount of
improvement.
Academic Honesty Policy: SMSU is a community of scholars committed to
developing educated persons who accept the responsibility to practice personal
and academic integrity. You are
responsible for knowing and following SMSU’s student
honor code, Student Academic Integrity
Policies and Procedures, available at www.smsu.edu/acadaff/AcademicIntegrity.html
and also available at the Reserves Desk in Meyer Library. Any student
participating in any form of academic dishonesty will be subject to sanctions
as described in this policy.
Non-Discrimination Policy: SMSU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action
institution, and maintains a grievance procedure available to any person who
believes he or she has been discriminated against. At all times, it is your right to address
inquiries or concerns about possible discrimination to Jana Estergard,
Equal Opportunity Officer, Siceluff Hall 296,
(417)836-4252. Other types of concerns
(i.e., concerns of an academic nature) should be discussed directly with your
instructor and can also be brought to the attention of your instructor’s
Department Head.
Policy on Disability Accommodations: To request academic accommodations for a disability,
contact Katheryne Staeger-Wilson,
Director, Disability Services, Plaster Student Union,
Religion at a
Cell Phone Policy: Consistent with university policy, the use of cell phones in class is
prohibited. Cell phones must be turned to “silent” mode during class.
Office Hours: Monday
3-5 p.m.; Tuesday 2-4 p.m.; Thursday 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Expectations for
Introduction: Setting the Stage
Wednesday August 24: Defining the Bible Belt, Defining
Conservative Protestantism
Reading:
John Shelton Reed, “The South: Where is It?
What is It?”
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/REED/tears.html
Friday August 26: The “Celtic Thesis”—Plausible Theory
or Racist Myth?
Available
at Academic Search Premier at http://library.smsu.edu/indexes/fulltext.php
on campus
http://history.smsu.edu/FTMiller/LocalHistory/Essays/S-IinSpfd.htm
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=509
Unit I: Bible Belt Beginnings
Monday August 29: Setting the Stage
Reading:
John Boles, The Great Revival: Beginnings
of the Bible Belt, ix-50.
Wednesday August 31: Revivalism in
Friday September 2: The Legacy of the “Great Revival”
Wednesday September 7: Revivalism and the Ozarks
http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/periodicals/ozarkswatch/ow50347.htm
http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/periodicals/ozarkswatch/ow802e.htm
Friday September 9: Exploring the History of
Pentecostalism
Required
Field Trip to
Monday September 12: Pragmatism and Primitivism
Wednesday September 14: Tongues and Testimony
Friday September 16: Worship and Worldview
Monday September 19: Contemporary Pentecostalism
Reading:
Margaret Poloma, “Charisma and Structure in the Assemblies of God: Revisiting
O’Dea’s Five Dilemmas.” http://www3.uakron.edu/sociology/AoGPastors02.pdf
Required
Evening Lecture: Margaret Poloma, 7:30
p.m. Strong Hall Room 1.
Wednesday September 21: Early Pentecostalism and
American Society
Friday September 23: Exploring Online Sources in
Pentecostalism
Bring
the article from the online periodical collection of the Flower Pentecostal
Archives to class today. Be prepared to
discuss how you analyze it in your paper.
**Paper
#1 on Pentecostal Periodical Article Due Today**
Unit II: Religion, Race, and Southern Culture
Monday September 26: Religion and Race in the
Post-Bellum South
Wednesday September 28: Movements for Change
Friday September 30 Racial Interchange and Religion
Monday October 3: Religion and the Civil Rights
Struggle
Wednesday October 5: Religion, Race, and Political
Conservatism
Friday October 7: Southern Civil Religion
Discussion: Analyze Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have A Dream Speech” in light of
Monday October 10: Religion and Southern Visual
Culture
Wednesday October 12: Religion and the Southern Cult
of Beauty
Friday October 14:
Examination #1
Unit III: Conservative Protestants Outside of the
Bible Belt
Monday October 17: Overview of Evangelicalism
Wednesday October 19: The Evangelical Subculture
Emerges
Monday October 24: Evangelical Intellectual Life
Wednesday October 26: The “Southernization
of American Religion”
http://www.worcestermag.com/archives/2005/03-10-05/current/cover.shtml
Friday October 28: A Fundamentalist Baptist
Congregation in
Reading:
James Ault, Spirit and Flesh: Life in a
Fundamentalist Baptist Church, ix-76.
Monday October 31: Gender and Fundamentalism
Wednesday November 2: Getting to Know the Church
Community
Friday November 4: Filming Fundamentalists
Film:
“Born Again” (James Ault)
Monday November 7: Bible Study and Prayer
Wednesday November 9: Morality and Tradition
Friday November 11: The Standpoint of the Ethnographer
Monday November 14: Debriefing from Visits to
Fundamentalist Congregations
Come to
class ready to talk about your visit to a fundamentalist congregation in
**Paper
#2 on
Unit IV: Conservative Protestants and American
Politics:
Wednesday November 16:
http://pages.towson.edu/sovadia/SOCI243%5COne%20Nation,%20Slightly%20Divisible.htm
http://www.wesjones.com/frank1.htm
Friday November 18: Do Evangelicals Want a “Christian
America”?
Monday November 21: Pluralism and Politics
Monday November 28: Evangelicals and Gender
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SOR/is_3_65/ai_n8693738/print
Wednesday November 30: Religion in the Southern
Crossroads Region
Friday December 2: Religious Makeup of the Southern
Crossroads States
Monday December 5: Culture Wars in the Southern
Crossroads States
Wednesday December 7: Red or Blue? Analyzing Hometown Religious and Political
Data
Bring
religious and political data on your hometown/home county to class today. See handout for Paper #3.
**Paper
#3 on Hometown Religious and Political Data Due Monday December 12 at 5 p.m.**