Selecting Theme for Written Report & Accumulation of Sources
After reviewing all previous textbook readings, discuss the following:
As we have journeyed throughout the semester we have focused our studies on identifying major themes and different teachings of the religions of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. We have either directly or indirectly focused on developing a deeper understanding of each religions’ theology, sacred scriptures, code of ethics, prayer and worship rituals, and a brief history of the religion. For the most part, we have looked at each of these religions independently, but now as we begin to wrap up our course we will revisit these religions and begin to examine them critically and ask the intriguing question: What similarities (and differences) do these religions share amongst each other regarding their teachings of a specific topic?
For your final written report, you will select a theme, from the list below, and recapitulate each religion’s teaching on that particular theme. You will then complete a comparative analysis on the significant similarities that each religion has with Catholicism specifically – not just Christianity in light of the topic as well as delineate their distinct differences. Once you have completed the comparative analysis, you will reflect on the following question:
- How can (or how has) the knowledge gleaned in this report and in this course change(d) your perspective/outlook on dialogue with people of other faiths? ‘
- You can share a personal experience that you have had with someone of a different faith background or how you think having a better understanding of these different teachings will help shape your future interactions with people of different faiths.
Instructions:
- Select the theme, from the list below, that you plan on focusing on for the final paper
- Identify at least 6 different sources (other than the course text) that you plan on utilizing within your final written report.
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- You will need to identify at least 1 different source for each of the 5 religions
- For each of the sources, provide the following:
- Name of the Source
- Website URL to the source
- Which religion the source pertains to
- Ex: Christianity, Hinduism
- If it pertains to more than one you may list them all.
- Ex: Christianity, Hinduism
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List of Selected Themes:
- Religion’s Understanding of God
- The Divine
- Metaphysical and Supernatural Beings
- Soteriology
- How is salvation achieved?
- Eschatology – End Times
- Death and the Afterlife
- Final Judgement
- Creation
- Of the Universe
- Humanity
- Pain and Suffering
- Freedom and Free Will
- Virtues
- Sin and Forgiveness
- Treatment of Women or the Marginalized in Society
- Prayer and Worship Practices
- Celebrations of Life Events
- Birth
- Adulthood
- Marriage
- Funerals
- Initiations into the Religion
Submission Instructions:
- Your initial post should be at least 150 words. Incorporate 6 different sources, formatted and cited as the instructor indicated in the announcements.
