This course interrogates the relations among globalization, religion, and ethics in two steps, analytic and constructive. The sessions will be devoted to analysis. Our purposes during these sessions include the attempt to understand whether “globalization” is something “new under the sun,” perhaps a late-, hyper-, or post-modern phenomenon. Understanding this will require that some attention be given to the question of how “globalization” and modernity interrelate. So also it will be important to consider the constitutive economic or material and cultural dynamics of “globalization,” some of its ecological impacts, and the ways in which it generates different forms of social life and modes of thinking.
I. Overview
The underlying analytic question through this part of the course will be that of how the concepts and forms of “religion” and “globalization” implicate and/or (re-)constitute one another. These analytic questions, among others, are critical to engage if we hope to understand the contemporary world. But they are not sufficient to the constructive cultural, moral, and religious work to which many of us are called. For example, one of the reasons we need to pursue the question of how “religion” and “globalization” may implicate one another is because the answer to this question is likely to reconfigure the shape and the tasks of “religious ethics” (and all forms of applied religious work) in a global time. In other words, examination of the interlinked meanings and phenomena of “globalization” and “religion” is a concrete-practical task nearly as much as a theoretic one. Our analytic work is designed to prepare the way for constructive work with religious thinkers and practitioners who are creatively engaged with religion and morals in the midst of global dynamics.
Thus, after the analytic sessions, we will turn toward study of the insights of a Muslim anthropologist, and the constructive insights of a North American Protestant ecofeminist theologian, a Thai Engaged Buddhist monk, and a British Orthodox Jewish Rabbi. Each of these figures simultaneously draws from and to some extent revises their home religious traditions as they attempt to understand what globalization means and requires of contemporary religious and moral life. We will look to these religious thinkers in order to learn from as well as to challenge the theoretic, practical, and applied questions they take up. Among our other critical tasks during these weeks will be that of isolating the common methodological strategies deployed by these creative religious workers. In other words, though these thinkers are diversely situated and affiliated, are there some methodological “family resemblances” between and among them?
II. Course Objectives
Students participating in this course will:
- Achieve greater understanding of how “globalization” and “religion” mutually inform one another in the contemporary world;
- Expand knowledge of the cultural, economic, political, and social complexity of global dynamics;
- Appreciate the ways in which global complexity interactively shapes contemporary religious reflection and practice;
- Become familiar with the works of exemplary religious ethicists and select practices and forms of “religious ethics”;
- Advance in their ability to think and to speak theologically; and
- Understand more about “what’s going on” in the world.
III. Bibliography
(NOTE: if you have already read one of the required texts below, then you may substitute one of the suggested texts…but make sure your substitutions fit into the pattern of the course…in other words, do not substitute an analytic text with a constructive one, or vice versa).
A. Required Texts (in chronological reading order)
- Manfred Steger, Globalization: A Very Short Introduction (READ entire prior to first session; at Seminary Coop or available online)
- Jan Nederveen Pieterse, “Globalization: Consensus and Controversies,” “Globalization and Human Integration: We are All Migrants,” and “Globalization and Culture: Three Paradigms” from Globalization and Culture (on Moodle).
- Roland Robertson, “Globalization, Modernization, and Postmodernization: The Ambiguous Position of Religion,” from Religion and Global Order
- Dwight Hopkins, “The Religion of Globalization,” in Religions/Globalizations (on Moodle)
- Edwardo Mendieta, “Society’s Religion: The Rise of Social Theory, Globalization, and the Invention of Religion,” in Religions/Globalizations (on Moodle)
- Sally McFague, Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril
- Jonathan Sacks, The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations
- Sulak Sivaraksa, Culture, Conflict, Change
- Akbar S. Ahmed, Islam under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World
B. Further Readings (not required, but suggested for consideration…in no particular order)
- Dwight Hopkins, ed., Religions/Globalizations
- Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Globalization and Culture
- Akbar S. Ahmed, Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization
- Akbar S. Ahmed and Brian Frost, After Terror: Promoting Dialogue among Civilizations
- Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World
- Jaqdish Bhaqwati, In Defense of Globalization
- Rebecca Todd Peters, In Search of the Good Life: The Ethics of Globalization
IV. Schedule
A. Session I: What is Globalization? Manfred Steger, Globalization: A Very Short Introduction (READ ENTIRE BEFORE MEETING)
B. Session II: Globalization and Culture: Jan Nederveen Pieterse, “Globalization: Consensus and Controversies,” “Globalization and Human Integration: We are All Migrants,” and “Globalization and Culture: Three Paradigms” from Globalization and Culture (Chs. 1-3; approx. 50pp).
C. Session III: Globalization and Religion
a. Roland Robertson, “Globalization, Modernization, and Postmodernization: The Ambiguous Position of Religion”
b. John L. Esposito, et al, “Introduction,” from Religion and Globalization
c. Dwight Hopkins, “The Religion of Globalization,” in Religions/Globalizations;
d. Edwardo Mendieta, “Society’s Religion: The Rise of Social Theory, Globalization, and the Invention of Religion,” in Religions/Globalizations
D. Session IV: Working Session: Synthesizing / Challenging / Illustrating: In light of the previous three sessions, present a commentary or a position on one of the issues or themes discussed…relate this to your sense of the contemporary tasks of liberal religious ministry and liberal theology. **OR: UC Divinity School, Border Crossings Conference: Religion, Mission and Globalization (10am-4pm)
E. Session V: A North American Protestant Perspective: Sally McFague, Life Abundant, (NOTE: You should be reading this book through the week, in order to be prepared for this session!!)
F. Session VI: A British Orthodox Jewish Perspective: Jonathan Sacks, (The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations (NOTE: Read over the weekend!!)
G. Session VII: Working Session: Synthesizing / Challenging / Illustrating: Share some kind of cultural document (a news clipping, a music video, an image, a song, a poem) that illustrates one of the constructive theological or moral or political themes from the previous two readings..
H. Session VIII: A Thai Engaged Buddhist Perspective: Sulak Sivaraksa, Culture, Conflict, Change
I. Session IX: A Muslim Perspective: Akbar S. Ahmed, Islam under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World
J. Session X: Closing Integration/Application: Please bring to this closing session your plan for moving forward from this course: what are your next steps (be explicit), how will you work to integrate learnings from this course into your other work (be concrete), what new lines of inquiry has this course opened for you and how will you pursue these (be realistic), and how will you hold yourself accountable to these tasks (be honest and bold).