Reflection and Article Review

REL 2350, Philosophies of World Religions 2

6. Unit Assessments: This course contains eight Unit Assessments, one to be completed at the end of each unit. Assessments are composed of written response questions.

7. Unit Assignments: Students are required to submit for grading Unit Assignments in Units II, III, IV, VI and VIII. Specific information and instructions regarding these assignments are provided below. Grading rubrics are included with the each Unit Assignment. Specific information about accessing these rubrics is provided below.

8. Ask the Professor: This communication forum provides you with an opportunity to ask your professor general or course content related questions.

9. Student Break Room: This communication forum allows for casual conversation with your classmates. Unit Assignments Unit II Reflection Paper Religious Ceremony Observance Your task in this assignment is to observe a religious ceremony (any ritual, festival, or worship) and write a reflective paper about that experience. You may observe a ceremony of a different denomination or sect of your religion as long as the ceremony is different in some way from what you are used to. For instance, if you are Roman Catholic, you can observe a Pentecostal worship service, as the liturgy is vastly different. This assignment is about observation, not participation. You may observe a ceremony in video form, if necessary, but it is better to witness the ceremony first hand so that you may use all of your senses to describe the event. Reflective Writing Reflective writing is very similar to journal writing, but there is less focus on you as the writer, and more focus on the event and an academic reflection of that event. You are more likely to use readings from the course or other outside sources to support your analysis of the event. Reflective writing consists of two main parts: a description and a reflection. The writer must first describe the event or situation that is the topic of the writing. The description should be objective—facts and detailed observations. Then the writer reflects on the experience with personal feelings and opinions, followed by an analysis of those feelings. What is the point of reflective writing in an academic setting? Reflective writing helps you examine why you think the way you do and thereby provides a learning experience. By careful analysis of the facts of an event or situation, and then the same careful analysis of your own preconceived ideas and whether they are strengthened or changed by the experience, you will be able to gather and observe practical and personal evidence to support or challenge what might be an abstract idea in your profession or in the area of academics being studied. This is one of the few times in academic writing when it is appropriate to write in the first person. Checklist for reflective writing:

� Introduction � Detailed description of event or situation

o Use as many of the senses as appropriate in your description. o Is there any background information known that would be relevant to share?

� Analysis of the situation and of your feelings o What were your initial thoughts? o Are there any connections to be made between this experience and previous experiences? o Has this experience changed your assumptions/values/attitudes/beliefs on the subject matter? o What do your changed feelings/understandings about the topic imply for you personally or professionally?

� Identification of future learning opportunities o Reflect on how the insights you gained from creating this Reflection Paper might affect the way you view your

actions and thoughts in the future. � Conclusion

Please completed the following Reflection Paper and Article Review. Both MUST be APA Format. Use the Course Textbook listed below for the reference. Course Textbook Fisher, M. P. (2013). Living religions (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

REL 2350, Philosophies of World Religions 3

It is important to understand that reflective writing is not a simple descriptive essay. It is an exercise in critical thinking and a method for creating meaning out a seemingly abstract concept. Your response should be at least 400 words in length and use APA format (to include a title and reference page) .No abstract is necessary. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations. Unit III Article Review Locate one article in the Waldorf Online Library that addresses the topic of sacred Buddhist texts in connection with Buddhist involvement in social and political issues. Write a review of the article that includes the following elements:

� Summary of Article � Analysis of connection between article’s main points and description of interpretation and exegesis in unit lesson � Evaluation of the article’s conclusion and supporting reasons

Your paper should be at least two (2) pages, not including the title or references pages. APA formatting must be used throughout. The following are a few journals that you might find useful in your research of the topic. (This is not a complete list, and you certainly may use an article from another academic journal.) These are all located in Academic Search Complete database.

� Buddhist-Christian Studies � International Journal For Philosophy of Religion � Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion � Sociology of Religion � Method & Theory In The Study of Religion � Journal of Contemporary Religion � Reviews in Religion & Theology

Please contact your librarian if you need additional help locating an article. The librarians’ contact information can be found on the right side of the online library page. Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below. Unit IV Scholarly Activity Art Creation and Analysis Your task is to create a piece of art that reflects a text that has some meaning to you. The art can be in any form you can imagine. You can paint, draw, sing, perform a dance, take a photo, make pottery, make a collage with magazine pictures, create a meal, or whatever you can think of. You can use any text that is important to you. It can be a religious text, but it does not have to be. You could use a poem, a song, a newspaper story, a letter from an old friend, or anything else that has some value to you. You do not have to be an artist to do this assignment and you do not have to be an expert in symbolism. The point of this assignment is to see the connection between art and religion by creating your own art and your own symbolism. By participation in the analysis of a text based on your beliefs of what it means and creating a work of art based on those beliefs, you might better be able to analyze works of art and their connection to religion. Consider what you read in the Unit III lecture concerning exegesis. Take into consideration every element that might affect how you interpret the piece of text for your art. What is your cultural lens through which you are reading the text? (Think back to your spiritual autobiography in Unit I.) Who is the author of the text? What is the author’s culture? Who was the intended audience of the text and what is their culture like? What is the purpose of the format of the text (Scripture, poem, story, etc.)? What is the grammar and sentence structure like? These are all elements to consider as you analyze your chosen text. Follow each step in the list below.

1. Choose a text to analyze. (It can be as small as one or two sentences from a piece of work. You do not need to choose an entire piece of work, as that would be too much to contain in one piece of art.)