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Miss 5103/Soc 5103

Howard Culbertson: Office R207 - Phone, 491-6693, Home 721-1915

Course description

This is a study of the basic features of the religious systems and institutions of traditional and tribal societies. Special emphasis will be placed on the special roles these various components play in people's worldview, behavior and openness to the gospel.

Textbooks

• William Howells. The Heathens: Primitive Man and His Religions.
• Gailyn Van Rheenen, Communicating Christ in Animistic Contexts
• Three "Lausanne Occasional Papers"
• #16: Christian Witness to Traditional Religionists--Asia and Oceania.
• #17: Christian Witness to Traditional Religionists--Latin America and Caribbean.
• #18: Christian Witness to People of African Traditional Religions.

All three booklets are published by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization.

This course should produce in students the following outcomes:

• CP 1 Ability to communicate publicly through oral and written mediums with clarity and creativity for the sake of fostering meaning.
• CP 2 Ability to write clearly and in a grammatically correct manner
• CP 10 Ability to synthesize, analyze, reason logically for discernment, assessment and problem solving and live with ambiguity
• CP 19 Ability to think globally and engage cross-culturally
• CX 1 Ability to discover sociological dynamics and trends
• CX 4 Ability to explain the operational culture
• CX 5 Ability to describe and interpret the relationship between culture and individual behavior
• CX 6 Ability to sensitively explain the nature of culture

Class Calendar and Course Outline

Requirements

1. Regular attendance. An important component of this course is what goes on in the classroom: lectures, presentations, interaction and discussions. Therefore, unexcused absences will reduce the final course grade.
2. All of the textbooks will have to be read in their entirety. At exam times you will be asked if you have completed the readings assigned in preparation for that particular exam.
3. Three written papers on assigned topics related to the course content. These should be typed, double-spaced with a bibliography of sources consulted. Quotes and other material needing documentation do not require full foot- or endnotes. Rather, this can be done in the style of sociological and anthropological theses, e.g.: (Kiev: 134). In this case Kiev is the name of the author being cited and 134 is the page on which the citation is found.
   • A really impressive paper would be one based on an interview with someone involved in a tribal or traditional religion. Such a paper, while primarily field research, should also have a minimum foundation of some library research.
   • A suggested bibliography of sources available in the university library is included. You need not, however, confine yourself to these sources.
4. Written video reflections. Whenever videos are shown in class, you must write a minimum one-page analysis/reflection paper on it to be turned in by the next class period.
5. Read Paul Hiebert's article, "The Flaw of the Excluded Middle." It can be found in the 1982 bound copy of Missiology or in the third edition of Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. Turn in a one-page reaction/summary.

Grading

The letter grade for the course will generally be assigned according to the standard breakdown (A=90% or above, B=80% of above, etc.). The following percentages will be used to compute the course grade:

• 4 exams @100 points 400 CP10, CP19, CX1, CX4, CX5, CX6
• 3 Papers @100 points 300 CP1, CP2, CP10, CX4, CX5, CX6
• Review of Hiebert's article 10 CP19, CX5, CX6
• Video Reviews (each) 10 CP19, CX4, CX5, CX6
• Attendance 100 CP10, CP10, CX1, CX4, CX5, CX6

Assignments which come in late will be subject to a reduction in grade.

Bibliography

This bibliography is by no means exhaustive. It is simply a sampling of what is available in the library.

Periodicals

Adeney, Miriam. "What is 'Natural' About Witchcraft and Sorcery?" Missiology. l974: 377-95.
Atkinson, Jane Monnig. "The Effectiveness of Shamans in an Indonesian Ritual," American Anthropologist. June, l987, p. 342.
Booth, William. "Voodoo Science," Science. April 15, l988. p. 274.
Brown, Kenneth I. "Worshiping with the Church of the Lord (Aladura)," Practical Anthropology.l966: 59-84.
_______. "Forms of Baptism in the African Independent Churches of Tropical Africa," Practical Anthropology. l972: l69-l92.
Carpenter, Mark. "The Bible vs 'Brazilian Reality'," Christianity Today. December 13, l985, p. 50.
Devillers, Carole. "Haiti's Voodoo Pilgrimages of Spirits and Saints," National Geographic. March,l985, p. 395.
Gilliland, Dean. "Phenomenology as Mission Method," Missiology. l979, 4:451-459.
Hiebert, Paul G. "The Flaw of the Excluded Middle," Missiology. l982, l:35.
Holmes, Lowell D. "Cults, Cargo and Christianity: Samoan Responses to Western Religion,"Missiology. l980, 4:471-487.
Kapenzi, G.Z. "Shona and Navaho: A Comparative Study of Beliefs and Practices," Missiology.l974, 4:489-95.
Katz, Susan. "A Pantheon of Spirits: Haiti's Voodoo Mixes Faith and Magic," Newsweek. February24, l986, p. 64.
Levine, Art. "Mystics on Main Street: While Skeptics Cast Doubts, Psychics Count Dollars," U.S.News and World Report. February 9, l987, p. 67.
Loewen, Jacob A. "Mythology and Missions," Practical Anthropology. l969: l47-l92.
McGregor, Donald E. "New Guinea Myths and Scriptural Similarities," Missiology. l974, l:35.
O'Brien, Patricia. "Prehistoric Evidence for Pawnee Cosmology," American Anthropologist. Vol.88o, 939-946.
Osborne, Kenneth B. "A Christian Graveyard Cult in the New Guinea Highlands," Practical Anthropology. l970: l0-15.
Partain, Jack. "Christians and Their Ancestors: A Dilemma of African Theology," Christian Century.November 26, l986, p. l066.
Roberts, John M., Saburo Morita and L. Keith Brown. "Personal Categories for Japanese Sacred Places and Gods," American Anthropologist. Vol. 88. Dec., l986, pages 807-824.
Saliba, John A. "Myth and Religious Man in Contemporary Anthropology." Missiology. l973, 3:281.
Sass, Louis. "Voodoo Therapy: Do you believe in magic?" Vogue. Sept., l986, p. 296.
Shaw, Daniel. "Every Person a Shaman," Missiology. l98l, 3:359-366.
Singleton, Michael. "Signs and Spiritual Direction: the Pastoral Counseling of the Possessed,"Missiology. l977, 2:l85-l94.
Taber, Floyd W. "How Real are Dreams," Practical Anthropology. l972: l08-l09.
Thornton, John K. "On the trail of voodoo: African Christianity in Africa and the Americas," The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Inter-American Cultural History, v. 44, Jan., l988, p. 261.
Tippett, Alan R. "The Evangelization of Animists," in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement,ed. by Ralph Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne. pages 629-640.
Toliver, Ralph. "Syncretism: A Specter Among Philippine Protestants," Practical Anthropology.l970: 210-219.
Turner, Harold W. "Old and New Religions Among North American Indians," Missiology. l973,2:47.
Turner, Charles V. "The Sinasina Stone Bowl Cult," Practical Anthropology. l970: 28-48.
Van Rheenen, Gailyn. "Cultural Conceptions of Power in Biblical Perspective" Missiology, January1993
Welton, Michael. "Themes in African Traditional Belief and Ritual," Practical Anthropology. l97l:l-l8.
Wright, Michael. "Some Observations on Thai Animism," Practical Anthropology. l968: l-7.
Yancey, Philip. "Tree Trunks and Other Trivial Pursuits," Christianity Today, May 17, l985, p. 8.

In microform:

"Christian response to phenomenon of witchcraft in Ghana," an MA thesis by Vincent Boi-Nai.
"Elements of a strategy for the evangelization of Rastafarians with special reference to Jamaica," an MA thesis by Laurie Lind

Books

Beals, Ralph L. and Harry Hoijer. An Introduction to Anthropology. pages 434-470.
Bessy, Maurice. A Pictorial History of Magic and the Supernatural.
Conn, Harvie. Eternal Word and Changing Worlds.
De Waal Malefijt, Annemarie. Religion and Culture.
Durkheim, Emile. Elementary Forms of Religious Life.
Diederich, Bernard and Al Burt. Papa Doc and the Tonton Macoutes. pages 345-357.
Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy.
Frazer, James George. The New Golden Bough. (Found in "reference" section)
Gehman, Richard J. African Traditional Religion in Biblical Perspective.
Haviland, William A. Anthropology. pages 535-560.
Hiebert, Paul G. Cultural Anthropology. pages 371-396.
Keesing, Roger M. Cultural Anthropology. pages 385-405.
Kottak, Conrad Phillip. Cultural Anthropology. pages 260-284.
Leach, Maria, ed. Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, l972. (Located in "Reference" section)
Leslie, Charles, ed. Anthropology of Folk Religion.
Lessa, W. A. and E.Z. Vogt, editors, Reader in Comparative Religions.
Levy-Bruhl, Lucien. Primitives and the Supernatural.
Lowie, Robert. Primitive Religion.
Melton, J. Gordon. Magic, Witchcraft and Paganism in America. ("Reference" section)
Nevius, John L. Demon Possession.
Nida, Eugene A. and William A. Smalley. Introducing Animism.
Taylor, Robert B. Cultural Ways. pages 229-246.

Check also the 20-volume series Peoples of the Earth located in the "reference" section.

How do I go about learning their language?

The gospel can never become contextualized until it is expressed in a people's native (or heart) language. [ read more ]

Other SNU missions course materials and syllabi

Howard Culbertson, Southern Nazarene University, 6729 NW 39th, Bethany, OK 73008  |  Phone: 405-491-6693 - Fax: 491-6658
Copyright © 2000, 2001 - Last Updated: February 28, 2007 |  URL: http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/tradsyll.htm