SYLLABUS

Endings: Scientific and Religious Thinking About the Ultimate Fate of the Universe

A 10-Credit Coordinated Studies Program*

Spring 2006

Daily 9:00-10:50 A.M.

Room 3460

Faculty: Tracy Furutani, Sciences, 528-4509, tfurutani@sccd.ctc.edu

Office Hours:

Michael Kischner, English, 528-4540, mkischner@sccd.ctc.edu

Office Hours: Tues. and Thurs., 1:30-3:30 and by app’t.

Brian Zindel, UW Teaching Fellow, bzindel@u.washington.edu

Office Hours: by appointment

Website: http://faculty.northseattle.edu/tfurutani

Required Texts:

· Paul Davies, The Last Three Minutes

· Peter Ward and Don Brownlee, The Life and Death of Planet Earth

· The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Third Edition/College

· Stephen Harris, Understanding the Bible, Seventh Edition

· Snorri Sturluson, The Prose Edda

· Photocopied materials to be announced

Courses offered within the program and prerequisites:

In a coordinated studies program, everybody studies the same material and participates in the same activities. You should be registered for the following 10 credits:

ENG 110 C1 Ancient Literature 5 cr.

SCI 100 C1 Introduction to Science 5 cr.

*Also available are 2 credits of English in ENG 296 C2, , Independent Study in English (item # 1214)

Course questions:

1. Which basic scientific principles are especially relevant to discussions of the ultimate fate of the universe?

2. How does modern science apply these principles to speculation about the possible of extinction of humans, the extinction of life on Earth and in the solar system, and the various theoretical fates of the universe?

3. What does modern scientific cosmology say about how the universe could end?

4. What do modern scientific geology and biology say about the extinction of species?

5. What are the basic features of apocalyptic thought and writing, and what is the connection between the apocalyptic and the eschatological?

6. What apocalyptic and eschatological themes are found in the literature of the ancient Israelites and early Christians – the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament?

7. What literary and historical factors might account for the presence of such themes in this literature?

8. What apocalyptic and eschatological themes are found in other ancient literature and mythology?

9. What principal differences exist between the approaches of science and the approaches of religious literature to questions about the ultimate fate of the universe? In other words, how do science and religion differ as ways of knowing?

Course objectives:

To understand the scientific method.
To understand such basic ideas of modern science as the principles of thermodynamics and evolutionary theory.
To apply these ideas to particular natural phenomena.
To become knowledgeable about portions of the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and related writings, with an emphasis on the prophetic and apocalyptic writings.
To understand what it means to take a literary approach to ancient sacred literature.
To understand the historical and literary influences that help account for the nature of apocalyptic writing in the Bible and related writings.
To gain greater skill and confidence in writing as a tool of self-expression and academic inquiry.
To experience different kinds of learning, including collaborative learning in groups.

A special note on how the Bible will be dealt with in this class:

The Bible is many things to many people. One thing it is is an anthology of writings from the Judeo-Christian tradition, composed over a period of a thousand years by many authors and editors. This is how we will look at it in this course. Our study will be guided by the same literary and historical questions we ask of other ancient books: Who wrote it? Who edited it? How did it come to include the writings it includes? What information do we have about the historical and cultural circumstances in which it was written? How can this information help us to understand why its authors wrote as they did and what they had in mind when they wrote? How does it compare to other literary and historical writing?

Many people, even people for whom the Bible also has personal meaning, find it quite possible to view it as literature and as divinely inspired at the same time. Some people have trouble with this, though. They have trouble dealing with the idea that everything in the Bible may not be literally true as we understand “true” when dealing with modern historical writing. Such people may be challenged by some of what is taught and read in this course. If you are one such person, please understand that no disrespect is intended toward your views. The approach to the Bible in this course is based largely on the work of distinguished Jewish and Christian scholars at the world’s major universities and religious seminaries in the.

NSCC General Education Outcomes

North Seattle Community College has established a list of desired general education outcomes for students in its A.A. and A.A.S. degree programs. This coordinated studies program aims to help students make progress towards the following outcomes from the NSCC list:

· Recognize the value of intellectual inquiry, personal responsibility, and ethical behavior.

· Discover the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge.

· Discover, develop, and communicate one’s own creative and critical ideas in writing and respond in effective writing to the spoken, written, and visual ideas of others.

· Access, evaluate, and apply information from a variety of sources and a variety of contexts.

· Work and communicate effectively in groups.

· Identify and understand fundamental concepts of the physical and life sciences and the effects that the uses of these concepts and resulting technologies have on the individual, on society, and on the biosphere.

· Understand the nature of the individual and of the relationship between the self and the community.

Program Requirements and Grading System

Grading will be on a point system. Each seminar preparation, essay, and in-class activity, as well as a group poster project, will be worth a certain number of points. At the end of the quarter, totals will be computed as follows:

Class meetings and seminars — preparation and participation : 30%

For almost every class meeting, there will be a reading assignment and written homework – sometimes in the form of questions to answer in writing, sometimes in the form of written reflections to support participation in seminars on the reading. In the absence of tests, these are perhaps the most important course requirement on which course grades will be based.

Essays – three essays: 30 %

Three essays of 4-5 pages will be required. They will require you to draw on ideas and materials presented in both the “science” and the “religion” part of the course.

In-class activities: 20 %

Some class time will be devoted to small group activities – perhaps a science problem to be solved by a group, all of whose members put their names on the answer, or perhaps a question on the previous night’s reading.

Group poster project: 20%

Students will work in pairs all quarter researching a number of course-related topics. They will present what they learn by creating and talking about posters. Details of this assignment will be forthcoming in a special handout.

After totals are computed in each category, they will be added into a grand total that will be mathematically translated into a decimal grade. You will receive one final grade for the program, and it will be assigned to both of the courses you are registered for.

Policy on attendance: As will be obvious from the course requirements above, you cannot keep up with this course from a distance. In the absence of tests, full, punctual attendance and participation are a necessity for fulfilling the requirements of the course.

Policy on make-ups: Missed class, seminar, or in-class activities cannot be made up. Missed essay due dates may be made up only at the discretion of the instructors in the case of clear illness or emergency. Normally, this will be allowed only when instructors have been notified in advance. When something comes up, don’t stay away; get in touch!

Please let us know – in the first week, if possible -- if you have any special learning challenges such as dyslexia which might require extra time on tests or other accommodations. Since artificial fragrances can inhibit the learning of chemically sensitive persons, we ask that you refrain from wearing them in this class.

Schedule of Topics and Readings (subject to change)

Ward and Brownlee, The Life and Death of Planet Earth (referred to as “Ward and Brownlee”)

Paul Davies, The Last Three Minutes (referred to as “Davies”)

The New Oxford Annotated Bible (referred to below by names of separate books, plus chapter and sometimes verse – for example, Gen. [Genesis] 6.1 to 9.29, Mark 13.

Stephen Harris, Understanding the Bible (referred to below as “Harris”).

Snorri Sturluson, The Prose Edda (referred to below as “The Prose Edda”)

Handouts as specified below.

Week 1 – April 3: Ways of Knowing

Topic: Scientific and non-scientific ways of knowing. What kinds of question do scientists and non-scientists ask? By what measures do they assess the “truthfulness” of an answer? How do they express and represent knowledge? How do the different kinds of thinking change or evolve?

Readings: Marcia Bartusiak, “Beyond the Big Bang: Einstein’s Evolving Universe”; Suzanne Langer, “The Prince of Creation”; Paul Boyer, “When U.S. Foreign Policy Meets Biblical Prophecy” (all these articles are in the Packet 1 handout); Revelation (last book of the Bible).

Questions for study I (science)

Week 1 English assignment

In-class exercise 1

Week 2 Monday English assignment

Week 2—April 10: Myth and Science

Topics: Definitions of “myth”; differences between myth and science; scientific and religious eschatology; the role of mythmaking in theology.

Readings: Ward and Brownlee, Ch. 1 and prologue; Davies, Ch. 1; Bernard F. Batto, Introduction to Slaying the Dragon (handout); Hesiod (handout); Harris, pp.40-60 of 7^th edition. Other readings to be announced.

Note: Please attend the talk by UW professor Scott Noegel on Monday; he will lecture on creation myths.

Questions for study I key

Questions for study II (science)

Week 2 Wednesday English assignment

Week 2 Thursday/Friday English assignment

Essay 1: Religion, science and the Flood

Week 3 – April 17: Human Responsibility for the End of Things

Topics: The role of humans in environmental degradation (science) and in incurring divine wrath (religion).

Readings: Ward and Brownlee, ch. 2, 3, and 6; Gen. 1.1 to 9.29 (creation, Cain nd Abel, Noah) , 11.1-9 (Babel) , 12.1-3 (call of Abraham), Exodus 3.1-15 (call of Moses), Exodus, 20.1-26 (the Ten Commandments), Exodus, 31.18 to 32.3(the Golden Calf). Relevant readings in Harris will be on weekly assignment sheet.

Questions for study II key

Questions for study III (science)

Week 3 Monday English assignment

Help on Essay 1

Essay 1 grading criteria

Seminar question for Thursday, April 20 (science)

Week 4 – April 24: Basic Principles – Cause and Effect in the Physical and Moral Universe

Topics: Governing principles of physics and of relations between the Israelites and their God, Yahweh, in the Hebrew Bible.

Readings: Davies, ch. 2 and 3; Numbers 25.1-9 (sex and apostasy), Deuteronomy 4.1-40 and 28.1-68 (the Deuteronomic promise and threat), Joshua 2.1-24 and 5.13 to 7.26, 10.1-14 (the conquest of Canaan), Judges, 21.25 (one verse on the mess the Israelites made of things), 1 Samuel 8.1-22 (the Israelites ask for a king). Relevant readings in Harris will be on weekly assignment sheet.

Essay 1– due Tuesday, April 25

Questions for study IV (science)

Questions for study III key

Week 4 Monday English assignment

Week 4 Wednesday and Friday English Assignment

In-class exercise 3

Poster project details

Week 5 – May 1: Prediction and Prophecy

Topics: Implications of scientific theory; the judgments of biblical prophets on the present.

Readings: Ward and Brownlee, 11, 12, 13, and epilogue; Davies, ch. 7, 8, 9; Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah , Ezekiel, Zechariah, Joel, Malachi (details on chapter and verse to come)

Week 5 Monday English assignment

Questions for study V (science)

Questions for study IV key

Week 5 Wednesday/Friday English assignment

Essay 2 assignment

Week 6 -- May 8: Prediction and Prophecy (continued)

Previous week’s topics and readings continued.

Questions for study VI (science)

Questions for study V key

Week 6 Monday English assignment

Week 6 Wednesday English assignment

Week. 7 – May 15: The End Times