Religion and Society in Spain (Religión y Sociedad en España)

Objectives
At the end of the course the students will have: - a precise knowledge of the three fundamental religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) followed with more or less force by people living in the iberian peninsula.
-An understanding of the role of religion in shaping the specific processes that affected the history of Spain from the Middle Ages to the present.
-A good overview of the dialectic related to cultural heritage as a narrative construction tool of the past, and the role it plays in the identities of the present.

Description of Contents: Programme
This course will deal with the influence of religion in Spanish society, so powerful over the centuries that it can be affirmed, without danger of error, that current Spanish society cannot be understood without studying religion, which has configured very diverse aspects. of human life. The program will be divided into six large blocks that will offer an overview of the religious phenomenon in Spain in the 21st century.
I.Religion in today´s Spanish society: general aspects.

1. Today's topics: news to understand the current religious world in Spain. The meaning of religion in a pluralistic,globalized, emotional and moralizing sociocultural context.
2. The current panorama of religion in Spain: the Christian majority, and the minority representation of other religions.The influence of Christianity in the configuration of social, festive, cultural and other aspects.
3. Religion as an essential aspect for the knowledge of aspects such as the occupation of the territory(bishoprics,parishes, monasteries).
4. The problem of religion in today's world: the secularization of Spanish society together with the need to wonder about the meaning of life.

II.The roots of the Hispanic religious phenomenon and its impact on today's society

5. Religion as an essential aspect in the historical evolution of the peoples of the Iberian Peninsula. The ways of seeing and understanding that evolution today.
6. Christianity: the arrival in Roman Hispania at the hands of James the Apostle. The first Christians of Hispania.
7. Judaism: the arrival in Roman Hispania. Who came first? Christianity or Judaism?
8. Christianity in the configuration of the first truly Hispanic kingdom: the Visigoths. The councils of Toledo.
9. The arrival of the Arabs - causes of the rapid conquest and organization of the occupied territory.
10. The permanence of Christianity in the kingdoms of the north ¿ religious ideology as part of the construction of the kingdoms.

III. Religion as a factor of social construction

11. The three religious communities of the Iberian Peninsula ¿ forms of representation of each of the religious groups
12. The three religious communities of the Iberian Peninsula ¿ economy of each of the groups
13. The three religious communities of the Iberian Peninsula ¿ the family as a fundamental social nucleus
14. ¿Coexistence of three cultures?

IV. The cultural influence of religion

15.Christianity and its artistic and literary manifestations.
16 .Judaism and its role in Hispano-medieval culture.
17.Islam and its influence on art, poetry and science.

V. The gender perspective in the view of Hispanic religions.

18. Women in Christianity: feminine values and religious manifestations (female religious congregations).
19. Women in Judaism: the safeguard of the religion through the maintenance of the customs of the community.
20. Women in Islam: their role in the family and in culture.

VI. The three religious communities from today's perspective.

21.The evolution in the ways of understanding the religious phenomenon: from the 16th to the 20th century.
22.The change in the way of looking at relations between religious groups after September 11.
23.Current debates on the use of the religious past.
24.CONCLUSION - An objective reflection to assess the role of religion in the lives of human beings.

Learning Objectives and Methodology
This course involves lectures involving theory regarding the characteristics and history of the three religions included, and their inter-relation in Spain from the Middle Ages to the present. The practical part will include visits to significant places for the minority religions in today¿s Madrid, so that they may better understand the nature of current religious coexistence.

Assessment System 

• 40% Exam
• 30% Paper and presentation
• 30% Participation
• 100% Total