“Narratives into Problems”: The College Introductory Course and the Study of Religion

Abstract

I AM GRATEFUL FOR the opportunity to meditate publicly on the task of introduction. While I am aware of the debate, at least as old as Hegel, and recently revived with passion by Derrida, on the status of the preface (Vorrede) and introduction (Einleitung), I set this aside, for the present discourse, in obedience to a counsel of prudence. For it is a fact, despite what we may sometimes claim, that the majority of us, as teachers, earn our living (and our departments get FTE'd) by means of the introductory This is recognized, albeit in an unfortunately grudging manner, in the widespread pejorative term, service course. As college teachers, our primary expertise is introducing. Thinking about introducing should play the same role in our profession as meditating on first principles plays for the metaphysician. It is not a task for amateurs, nor, as is too often the case, should it be assigned casually (or punitively) to neophytes. I take as my starting point the proposition that an introductory course serves the primaryfunction of introducing the student to college-level work, to beginning work in the liberal arts. Its particular subject matter is of secondary import. All of my remarks in this essay are aimed at unpacking this proposition from several vantage points. All college curricular thought, and most particularly thought about