York University

HUMA 4178 6.0 The Death of God:

Atheism and Modernity in the West Professor Mark Cauchi

mcauchi@yorku.ca

Fall/Winter 2016/17 Thursdays 11:30-2:30 in Bethune College 225

Nietzsche’s famous, prophetic claim that “God is dead” is often taken as describing the declining significance of God within modernity. Adopting neither a pro nor anti theistic stance, this course critically examines the relationship between atheism and modernity in Western thought and culture by drawing upon

religious, philosophical, scientific, literary, historical, sociological, artistic, and cinematic sources.

The course will take both a historical and a theoretical approach in its investigation. We will aim to understand when, how and why atheism emerges and develops in the way that it does, and the influence it has across culture, while also undertaking to grasp theoretically what it is, as well as the presuppositions and

implications of its position. To achieve these aims, we will investigate the ideas of God and faith in Judaism, Christianity, Greek and Roman philosophy, and in modernity; the relationship of science and religion in the

West; the meanings of secularism, secularization, and secularity; philosophical and theological arguments for and against faith in God; the relationships between theism, atheism, nihilism, meaning, value, and ethics;

representations of faith and its loss in literature, art, and film; and the possibilities of thought and practice offered by so-called “post-religious,” “post-secular,” and “post-atheistic” orientations.

EVALUATION: Participation 10% Presentation 10%

Diagnostic Essay 10% Thematic Essay 20%

Research Essay 25% Final Take-Home Exam 15% Reading Reviews 10%

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Participation. Your participation grade will be based on your presence in class, your having brought the correct course materials with you, your contributions to discussion, and generally any evidence of effort

on your part.

Presentations. Presentations will be 15 mins long. They will be based on a course reading other than one of the Reading Review texts. They will do three things: (1) provide a summary of the reading; (2)

explain what you consider to be the main problem and question the piece is trying to grapple with; (3) explain how the reading relates to the course and how it helps us think about atheism in Western culture. Your presentation must make use of PowerPoint and you must provide students with a handout. A

presentation that simply reads the handout will receive a failing grade.

Essay Assignments. Instructions and guidelines for the essay assignments and exams will be handed out closer to their due dates.

Reading Reviews. Students will submit to turnitin.com on the course Moodle site a a 1-2 page report for every reading marked by an asterisk (there are 10 of them) on the day the reading is due. These will

be worth 1% each, for a total of 10%. These will not be graded for content, but simply to ensure you have actually done the reading. Instructions are included at the end of the syllabus.

COURSE MATERIALS:

Online. Some materials will come from the internet. The url’s are included with the titles of the works in

the schedule below. All links were working at the time this syllabus was made. If they are dead when you try to use it, try to find another legal source of the same reading online. You can also find them in the York library.

Course Kit. A course kit is a bound bundle of legal photocopies of selected texts, usually pieces too

short to merit buying the book, difficult to find online, or too long to print off or read from a website.

Films. All films will be shown in class, followed by discussion. There is no need to purchase them, although you may need to watch them again for assignments. All of the films are available in the York library.

COURSE POLICIES: LATE ASSIGNMENTS. All late assignments will be subject to a 2% deduction per day, unless otherwise negotiated with your

TA. All assignments must be submitted in hardcopy to your TA on or before due date, unless otherwise negotiated with your

TA. Hardcopy assignments that are not handed in directly to your TA should be submitted in the “Essay Drop Box” of the Department of Humanities on the second floor of Vanier College (near the faculty mailboxes). If you cannot find the drop

box, nicely ask one of the receptionists at the Department of Humanities counter (262 Vanier). Note that access to the Department of Humanities offices is closed at 7pm.

RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE. York has a policy on Religious Observance

(https://w2prod.sis.yorku.ca/Apps/WebObjects/cdm.woa/wa/regobs). Note that if, for religious reasons, you cannot attend an exam on the scheduled date, it is the student’s responsibility to inform the course director three weeks in advance of the

exam period. If you cannot hand in an assignment on the scheduled date, then it is the student’s responsibility to inform the TA two weeks in advance of the due date.

ACADEMIC HONESTY & PLAGIARISM. Academic dishonesty is a punishable offence at York University. To learn about

York’s policy on academic dishonesty, see York’s Policies, Procedures, and Regulations on academic dishonesty (http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/policies/document.php?document=69). The library offers many services to help you learn

about Academic Integrity: http://www.library.yorku.ca/web/research-learn/academic-integrity/.

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HELP WITH WRITING. One of the learning objectives of all Humanities courses is that students learn to “read” cultural artefacts (texts, general debates, artworks, practices, values, etc.), to think about them critically, and to communicate the ir

ideas about them with others clearly and effectively. One of the primary and most effective ways we human beings undertake these three actions is linguistically (through language), and so this course naturally involves the writing of essays. If

you feel that you need extra help with your writing, it is advised that early in the course you seek help from your TA and that you contact the Writing Department (S 329 Ross, 416-736-5134, http://www.yorku.ca/laps/writ/), which provides various

free writing help services, and see the SPARK page on the library website ( http://www.library.yorku.ca/spark/) and their academic writing guide (http://researchguides.library.yorku.ca/awg).

LIBRARY. If you need help learning to use the library and/or to learn about all of the different resources and services

offered by it, see the various guides provided on the library website ( http://www.library.yorku.ca/web/research-learn/) and the SPARK page on the library website: http://www.library.yorku.ca/spark/.

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SCHEDULE:

FALL

DATE TOPIC & READING

Unit I. Introduction: The Contemporary Situation

Sept 8 Introduction to Course

15 The Contemporary Situation 1: “Fundamentalism” & The “Nones”

A Christian “fundamentalist” blog: (browse) http://www.blessedquietness.com

* Malise Ruthven, Fundamentalism: Ch 1

(York library ebook) https://www.library.yorku.ca/find/Record/2292761

Phil Zuckerman, Faith No More: chs. 2, 6, 10

(ebook in York library) https://www.library.yorku.ca/find/Record/3067959

Optional: Chris Brown, “Keeping Faith: The Changing Face of Religion in Canada”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/keeping-faith-the-changing-face-of-religion-in-canada-1.3071353

22 The Contemporary Situation 2: “New Atheism”

Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great: Chs 1 and 2

http://web.stanford.edu/~tplarson/christopher_hitchens_-_god_is_not_great.pdf

Richard Dawkins, “Why there Almost Certainly is no God”

https://www.edge.org/conversation/why-there-almost-certainly-is-no-god

Sept 29 The Contemporary Situation 3: Clarifying Secularism and Atheism

Charles Taylor, A Secular Age: Introduction

http://charlestaylor-asecularage.blogspot.ca/2009/06/introduction.html

*Stephen Bullivant, “Defining Atheism”

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/02/11/defining-atheism-an-excerpt-from-the-oxford-book-of-atheism/

Unit II. Pre-Modern Foundations

Oct 6 DIAGNOSTIC ESSAY DUE (10%)

Epicurean Thought

Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe, Book I

http://classics.mit.edu/Carus/nature_things.html

Recommended: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on “Lucretius”

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http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lucretius/

13 Hebrew Bible

“How to read the Bible” handout (on Moodle)

Genesis Chs 1 – 25; Leviticus 19, 26; Psalms 10, 14, 53; Isaiah 40-46

https://www.biblegateway.com (multiple translations available – I recommend the

Revised Standard Version, King James Version, New International Version, but if you

have a different one that’s ok too)

20 Christian Bible

Gospel of Matthew, Romans, Philippians, *1 John (letter, not Gospel)

https://www.biblegateway.com (same translations as above)

27 NO CLASS – FALL READING DAYS

Nov 3 Hebrew and Christian Bibles continued 10 Jewish Midrash and Mysticism

Sifre Deuteronomy (Piske 346)

http://jewishstudies.washington.edu/book/sifre-devarim/chapter/pisqa-346/

Gershom Scholem, “Isaac Luria: A Central Figure in Jewish Mysticism”

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3823938?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents (click on link

while at York)

* Jacques Berlinerblau, “Jewish Atheism” (CK)

17 Christian Mysticism

Meister Eckhart, Sermon 52 (CK)

St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul: Prologue, Book II (Chs. V, VI, VII, VIII, IX)

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/john_cross/dark_night.toc.html

24 Reason, Faith, and Doubt in Christianity

St. Anselm, Proslogion, http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/anselm-proslogium.asp

Dec 1 THEMATIC ESSAY DUE (20%)

St. Anselm, Proslogion continued

Gaunilo, On Behalf of the Fool

* St. Anselm, Reply to Gaunilo

http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/anselm-gaunilo.asp

WINTER

DATE TOPIC & READING

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Unit III. Modernity and the Dying of God

Jan 5 The Enlightenment and the Critique of Religion

* Thomas Paine, Of the Religion of Deism Compared to Christianity

http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/Mod/paine-deism.asp

Baron D’Holbach, Christianity Unveiled: Chs I, IV, XI, XVI

http://www.ftarchives.net/holbach/unveiled/cucontents.htm

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Women’s Bible: Introduction

http://www.sacred-texts.com/wmn/wb/

12 Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason: “Preface” and “Preface to Second Edition”

(ebook in York library)

19 Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason: “The Ideal of Pure Reason”

26 Christ is Dead 1

G. W. F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion (selections) (ck)

Johann Rist, “O Darkest Woe” from The Lutheran Hymnal,

http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com/lyrics/tlh167.htm

Feb 2 Christ is Dead 2

Hans Holbein the Younger, The Body of Dead Christ in Tomb (painting)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Body_of_the_Dead_Christ_in_the_Tomb

* Julia Kristeva, Black Sun, “Holbein’s Dead Christ” (CK)

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Journals, The Idiot selections (Moodle)

9 Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov:

Part II, Book V, Chs 4-5 (“Rebellion” and “Grand Inquisitor”)

Part II Book VI, Chs 2-3 (“Duel” and “Conversations of Father Zosima”)

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28054/28054-h/28054-h.html

16 God is Dead 1

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science: sections 78, 108, 122, 124, * 125, 129, 132,

292, 338, 341, 343, 345, 357, 374, 3

https://www.library.yorku.ca/find/Record/3053313

Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach” (poem) https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/43588#poem

23 NO CLASS – WINTER READING WEEK

Mar 2 God is Dead 2

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals: Introduction and Third Essay

https://www.library.yorku.ca/find/Record/2072443

UNIT IV. Life After Death (of God)

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Mar 9 * Max Weber, “Science as Vocation”

http://anthropos-lab.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Weber-Science-as-a-Vocation.pdf

16 Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (play)

Act 1: http://samuel-beckett.net/Waiting_for_Godot_Part1.html

Act 2: http://samuel-beckett.net/Waiting_for_Godot_Part2.html

Paul Celan, “Psalm” (short poem)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/57173

23 Contemporary Issues & Reflections

* Jean-Luc Nancy, “God,” (CK)

Jean-Luc Nancy, “God, Charlie, No One”

http://thephilosophicalsalon.com/god-charlie-no-one/

Charles Taylor, A Secular Age, Ch. 15 “The Immanent Frame” (CK)

30 In class film: Lars von Trier, Melancholia (2011)

Take-Home Exam Assigned

Apr 6 NO CLASS – WINTER STUDY DAY

READING REVIEWS

INSTRUCTIONS:

You must complete a Reading Review for every reading in the syllabus that has an asterisk (*) beside it.

There are 10 of them for the year, each worth 1%, for a total of 10% of your final grade.

The Reviews should be approximately 1-2 pages double-spaced; thus over the year this assignment will

produce 10-20 double-spaced pages.

These will not be graded for the quality of the content, but simply to make sure you did them. This is an

incentive to read and to practice regular writing.

They will be submitted to the course Moodle page on the turnitin link; they must be handed in before the

class that the reading is assigned for. For example, if Sept 22 has an asterisk beside chapter 1 of

Lucretius’ On the Nature of the Universe, then you shall submit the Reading Review before class on Sept 22.

For each Reading Review, you shall answer in separated sections the following three questions:

o What is the main point and arguments/features of the reading?

o What do you find most interesting about the reading?

o What is the major question/s that you have after reading it?