Religion and Theology Essay Paper

Religion and Theology Essay Paper

RELS / INTL 312: Final Paper

This final paper is due on Friday, November 19, at 5 PM, on Canvas. It should be 1000-1250 words. Double-spaced.

The goal of this paper is for you to explore a topic of interest to you. You may write about any of the three religions (ISLAM, JUDAISM, OR CHRISTIANITY) though ideally, you will write about two or three of them, in a comparative manner. With whatever topic you choose, I want you to refer to some of the theorists we discussed at the beginning of the semester: Durkheim, Geertz, Asad, Lofton, Tillich.

Here are some ideas for topics:

Take a political issue of interest to you. Examples could be abortion, taxation, warfare, same-sex relationships, etc. Compare how all three religions approach these issues. Do NOT just tell me about what each religion says about these issues. Tell me what their stances on these issues reveal about the religion’s values.

Analyze a current event relating to religion. For example, how evangelical Christians vote in the United States. How the Pope relates to politicians. How religion affects the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Do NOT simply summarize this current event. Analyze it.

Look at a pop culture representation of one of the three religions. Could be a movie, tv-show, book, poem, song, comic, cartoon, comedy routine. You could also compare different representations of the same religion or representations of the three different religions. Or do a deep dive on one representation. Do NOT just summarize the piece of pop culture you are looking at. Analyze it.

Look at a historical event relating to one or more of the religions. For example the Crusades, religious conflict in Ireland, the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Holocaust, etc. Make sure that you focus on the religious aspects of these events, how they shaped religion, how religion shaped them, etc. Again, do NOT just summarize these historical events. Analyze them.