roughly 1 page paper

Instructions: Please choose any two of the following questions/prompts and compose detailed essays in direct response.

Compare and contrast Lenape religion with early colonial Christianity in the Delaware Valley as concerns their understandings of God, nature, and humanity’s place in the cosmos (i.e., who we are, why we’re here, and where we’re going). In doing so, engage in informed speculation as to what features of Lenape religion might have appealed to William Penn and Johannes Kelpius, if any, and explain why. Your essay should draw upon at least three authors we have read thus far and from at least one lecture and film.

Expound upon the relationship between religion, race, slavery, and abolition in colonial and early republican Philadelphia. In doing so, state the positions of Benjamin Lay, Benjamin Rush, Jarena Lee, and Absalom Jones, and discuss the religious foundations of each. Your essay should draw upon at least three authors we have read thus far and from at least one lecture and film

What is American Civil Religion, according to Robert Bellah, and what is Philadelphia’s place in its origins? What do you think that Hannah Freeman and Richard Allen, respectively, would have thought about the notion, and why? Your essay should draw upon at least three authors we have read thus far and from at least one lecture and one film.

What is the relationship between religion and poverty in Philadelphia? In your view, it what way(s) has this relationship been different for African American communities and immigrant communities over the last fifty years in the city, and why? In articulating your response, please draw upon concrete examples from any three articles or book chapters that we have read during the semester and at least one lecture and one film.

What is religion? What is a riot? Compare and contrast the role that religion played in the Philadelphia Bible Riots of 1844 and the Columbia Avenue Riots of 1964. In considering the social and cultural realities of Philadelphia today, would you expect similar riots to break out in the city sometime over the next fifty or so years? Why or why not? In articulating your response, please draw upon concrete examples from any three articles or book chapters that we have read during the semester and at least one lecture and one film.

In terms of its religious culture, how has North Philadelphia changed over the course of the twentieth century through to the present? In stating your case, please consider the recent histories of any three of the following congregations in particular: St. Malachy Catholic Church, Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Church of the Advocate, Muhammad Mosque 12 (Nation of Islam), and/or Zion Baptist Church. Also please draw upon concrete examples from any three articles or book chapters that we have read during the semester and from at least one lecture and one film.

According to R. Stephen Warner, what is the “new paradigm” for the study of religion in America, and what is the relationship between disenfranchisement and religious pluralism in America? Using examples from religion in the greater Philadelphia area in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, argue for or against these two key theses in Warner’s influential essay. Your essay should draw upon at least three authors (Warner included, of course) we have read this semester the class lectures, discussions, and films.