World Religions, Wednesday, 2nd Period

[preacher-custer.livejournal.com]

Jesse's once again sitting with his feet up on his desk while the students file in. This time the clipboard is already waiting on one of the student desks to be passed around for sign-ins. Under the sign-in sheet is a stack of handouts. "Take one of those handouts on the clipboard when you sign in. Today we're gonna talk about a few things and you're gonna need that to keep up."

"First things first. Take a minute to read the academic meaning of the word 'mythology.'¹ I want to get this straight up front - if I talk about myth in here, I'm not giving it a higher value than if I use the word 'religion.' Some of the resources I'm gonna use are gonna talk about myth and that doesn't mean I'm saying these things are fairy tales. People around the world take their beliefs very seriously and we're gonna respect that." Jesse's personal opinions notwithstanding.

"We've got some big territory to cover today. Animism², American Indian beliefs³, and Australian Aboriginal beliefs⁴. They've got some things in common - in general all of them appreciate that there is value in nature, usually some idea of the soul in all things, or at least all living things. They've got some differences - animism isn't so much a religion as a general world view, American Indians and Australian indigenes developed their religions in widely separated places with different environments; they have different myths and rituals.

After a general introduction, he goes more in-depth to compare and contrast the three topics before giving the students their in-class work.

---

"Work alone or in groups, up to you. Pick a character, god, mythical creature, whatever you want, from American Indian or Australian mythology. Pick one you can identify with, whether it's because you've experienced something similar, it shows your own feelings, it's just something you think is cool, and explain that. If you're working in a group, I don't care how many of you get together to talk. If you're gonna go it alone, you've got to write it down for me and turn it in."

He sits back down behind his desk and grins at the students. "I hate homework. If I give y'all homework, I gotta do homework, so get this stuff done in class. Show me you're payin' attention, and that's good enough for me. We'll find out on the tests whether you were or not."

---

¹Academic views of Mythology
²Animism
³Overview of American Indian religious beliefs
⁴Aboriginal mythology

Dreamtime
Native American mythologies

Syllabus

Comments

Re: Groups or solos

[bookwormwood.livejournal.com]

"I've always been quite fond of the Wolf in the American Indian myths. They have a lot of stories about the Coyote, who's usually a trickster type god. He has a brother Wolf who is wise and good to people, he's cunning, a lot more than Coyote is, but Coyote usually gets them into trouble because he enjoys playing jokes on other animals and people."

Re: Groups or solos

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

"I think exploring Wolf might be a good idea if there are already so many about his brother."



[[OOC: AFK for a little bit.]]

Re: Groups or solos

[bookwormwood.livejournal.com]

"Plus I feel like I can relate to someone smart that gets dragged into bad situations." She laughs thinking of the twins briefly.

((ooc: It's fine by meee~!))

Re: Groups or solos

[enginegirl.livejournal.com]

Kaylee wandered over after Gwynn invited her. "The wolf seems like a shiny idea to me."

Re: Groups or solos

[bookwormwood.livejournal.com]

Matilda grinned. "That's a good way to put it. Oh I'm Matilda, sorry for not introducing myself earlier."

Re: Groups or solos

[enginegirl.livejournal.com]

Kaylee grinned back. "No problem. I'm Kaylee. Nice to meet ya Matilda."

Re: Groups or solos

[bookwormwood.livejournal.com]

"Likewise of course!" Big smile.

Re: Groups or solos

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

"The Wolf gets pulled into bad situations?"

Considering the understanding and experience Gwynn had of religions, she was a little confused.


[[OOC: Sorry, ladies. I'm sick today.]]

Re: Groups or solos

[bookwormwood.livejournal.com]

"Well he wants to do good deeds for others and he's very smart. But his downfall is that his brother Coyote, who always wants to cause generally harmless chaos, drags him along and gets him involved."