Religion Paper

REL 103: Final Exam, Part 1 Background We started the semester by looking at several famous theories of religion and we concluded that attempts to reduce “religion” to something else entirely (e.g. economics, fake science, psychological desires) are not convincing in the end. We then looked at a couple of theories that refused to see “religion” in those reductionist terms and followed their central insight that “religion” is actually best studied by looking closely at particular religious traditions. We investigated 2 of these traditions (Christianity and Islam) and found that they have many important differences as well as some significant areas of common ground. Prompt Please respond to the following question: What are the most significant gains and losses when we shift the focus of our studies from “religion” to particular religious traditions? (Keep in mind that serious scholars today tend to agree that the gains do outweigh the losses) In other words, you should build a convincing case that closely examining particular religious traditions is more fruitful than studying “religion” as a broad, abstract category. Requirements

1. You must submit your essay on Isidore as a Word file prior to the final exam period AND bring in a paper copy of your essay to hand to me during the final exam period.

2. Your essay must be somewhere between 600 and 800 words. 3. You must incorporate at least 3 sources from our course into your response. Make

sure it’s clear to me which sources you’re using. 4. You may NOT use external sources for this essay. 5. Your essay must clearly be your own work. You may not work closely with

classmates on this essay. Failure to abide by this will result in a 0 for this portion of the final.

6. You are welcome to use the Write Place for this assignment Grading Rubric 20 points: Clearly addresses the prompt’s basic question 20 points: Coherently incorporates key sources from the course 10 points: Displays a willingness to go into some depth with essay’s key claims 5 points: Timely submission of both electronic and paper copies 5 points: Contains appropriate grammar and spelling The remaining 40 points will come from the in-class portion of the final exam.