I. Course Title: Cults and Unconventional Religions (GE)
II. Course Number: RELN 214
III. Credit Hours: 3 credits
IV. Prerequisites: None
V. Course Description:
Investigates unconventional religious groups, from colonial Quakers and Puritans to contemporary movements like the Church of Scientology, the Church of Satan, Aum Shinrikyo and the Order of the Solar Temple (among others). Lectures will survey mainline religious and cultural trends salient to the appearance of sects and cults. Students will evaluate social/scientific theories on topics such as brainwashing theory, cult-related violence, conversion and defection, and law enforcement approaches to unconventional religions.
Note(s): General Education and Humanistic or Artistic Expression designated course.
VI. Detailed Description of Content of the Course:
This course examines unconventional religious groups. Emphasis falls upon organizations founded in recent decades, the so-called "New Religions" (Scientology, ISKCON, the People's Temple, the Family); however, older sects and cults (e.g., Quakers, Shakers, Spiritualists) will be surveyed in lectures and researched in student projects. Social-scientific theories on the formation and survival of religious groups, charismatic leadership, conversion, religious disengagement, religion and mental health, religion and social protest, religion and violence, and secularization will be invoked to illuminate historical and contemporary data.
The course engages students in several specialized problems in religious studies. The first is a theoretical controversy in the study of unconventional religions: Are the social and psychic dynamics that generate and sustain unconventional religions essentially different from those underlying conventional or mainline religion? Are sects and cults aberrant by-products of social crises and/or mental pathology, or of processes that generally produce religion, or both?
Outline of topics:
VII. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course:
Among the learning activities students can expect, but are not limited to, the following:
VIII. Goals and Objectives of the Course:
IX. Assessment Measures:
A variety of assessment tools will be used. These may include quizzes/exams, writing assignments, presentations, and research papers, among others.
Review and Approval
DATE ACTION REVIEWED BY
February 15, 1996 New Course Approved by VPAA
January 27, 1997 Number Change Approved by VPAA
April 17, 1998 Reviewed Kim Kipling
September 25, 2001 Reviewed Kim Kipling
August 2020
March 01, 2021