Essay for Religion Class
Budget: $10 – $30 USD
Essay: ALTERNATIVE WORLD RELIGIONS Books and courses typically come up with a group of 5-8 "world religions" when thinking of "religion" they way we normally do.
If the idea of "religious studies" and "world religions" came about in a different time and place, how might a different group have imagined the world? How might they have imagined "religions" differently and what would they call them? You can pose an alternate event/timeline (e.g., if medieval Japan was where the discipline was forming). Choose a chapter from our textbook (OTHER THAN Christianity) and ask, if this tradition in a particular time and place was shaping the concept of a world paradigm, how might they have seen it? In other words, based on their values, traditions, and social context, how might they have divided up the world? What would they call it (aka what would be the alternative to “religion?” What would be their words for all of the “religions” they saw?
You will challenge that paradigm by coming up with a group of “alternative world religions” with:
a different name and description of "religion" baed on your chosen group's (e.g., Shinto) point of view.
a brief alternative history of its spread and development (e.g. how did Shinto become the dominant worldview/"the men with the pens"?)
new names and images for your alternative groups/subgroups (e.g., instead of Christianity, Buddhism, African Traditional Religions, etc, what would Shinto have named/categorized?)
an explanation of who got left out of the paradigm (e.g., indigenous traditions often get left out of the world religions paradigm because for so long Christians did not recognize them as having "a legitimate religion"-- who would get left out of your group's version?)
a new map of your world cultural paradigm with the new labels and categories.
Finally, you will provide a written assessment of your paradigm: what are some problems in your new model? Does your new model make similar moves as the “world religions paradigm”?
You must also cite at least 5 quotes, examples, etc from the textbook as you rationalize your choices. This might require slight outside research, so please cite your sources. Your essay must be at least 1000 words.
To clarify: You’re not "making up" new deities, but you’re doing things like rethinking the groups/names/separations of existing "religions", or giving names to things that aren't colloquially called “religious,” and just generally rethinking and challenging the categories. Think about each of our weekly readings and lecture themes for that tradition/unit, and then think about how you might apply them to a reworking (indeed, a challenge) to the "world religions" paradigm.
you can pick any religion from the text book i am attatching a link and an student example essay
If the idea of "religious studies" and "world religions" came about in a different time and place, how might a different group have imagined the world? How might they have imagined "religions" differently and what would they call them? You can pose an alternate event/timeline (e.g., if medieval Japan was where the discipline was forming). Choose a chapter from our textbook (OTHER THAN Christianity) and ask, if this tradition in a particular time and place was shaping the concept of a world paradigm, how might they have seen it? In other words, based on their values, traditions, and social context, how might they have divided up the world? What would they call it (aka what would be the alternative to “religion?” What would be their words for all of the “religions” they saw?
You will challenge that paradigm by coming up with a group of “alternative world religions” with:
a different name and description of "religion" baed on your chosen group's (e.g., Shinto) point of view.
a brief alternative history of its spread and development (e.g. how did Shinto become the dominant worldview/"the men with the pens"?)
new names and images for your alternative groups/subgroups (e.g., instead of Christianity, Buddhism, African Traditional Religions, etc, what would Shinto have named/categorized?)
an explanation of who got left out of the paradigm (e.g., indigenous traditions often get left out of the world religions paradigm because for so long Christians did not recognize them as having "a legitimate religion"-- who would get left out of your group's version?)
a new map of your world cultural paradigm with the new labels and categories.
Finally, you will provide a written assessment of your paradigm: what are some problems in your new model? Does your new model make similar moves as the “world religions paradigm”?
You must also cite at least 5 quotes, examples, etc from the textbook as you rationalize your choices. This might require slight outside research, so please cite your sources. Your essay must be at least 1000 words.
To clarify: You’re not "making up" new deities, but you’re doing things like rethinking the groups/names/separations of existing "religions", or giving names to things that aren't colloquially called “religious,” and just generally rethinking and challenging the categories. Think about each of our weekly readings and lecture themes for that tradition/unit, and then think about how you might apply them to a reworking (indeed, a challenge) to the "world religions" paradigm.
you can pick any religion from the text book i am attatching a link and an student example essay