Religion

Religion is a diverse discipline, reaching across many cultures and eras, as well as across many disciplines, such as History, Literature, Philosophy, and Anthropology. Accordingly, students can find several appropriate ways to approach the task of writing a paper for a Religion class.

However, some students come to Religion classes looking for an opportunity to consider the "eternal questions." While Religion classes do provide this opportunity, writers should not mistake their Religion papers for soul-searching opportunities.

Papers for Religion classes are, first and foremost, academic papers. Religion essays employ secular academic tools to help us understand or evaluate religious ideas and points of view. Researchers of differing faiths communicate with each other through these secular tools, and through the conventions of academic writing. By adhering to these secular tools and conventions, scholars advance academic discourse.

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of writing an essay in Religion is figuring out how to analyze or criticize texts that are so authoritative and definitive. How does one presume to write about texts such as the Bible, the Qu'ran, or the Torah?

Perhaps the most comfortable way of approaching the analysis of religious texts is through the lenses of other disciplines. The methods, theories and assumptions typically employed in the Humanities and Social Sciences can be useful tools of investigation when writing a Religion paper.

For example, you might explore The Gospel According to Matthew through the lens of history, trying to understand how the historical context influenced its author. Your essay might analyze in what ways Matthew's understanding of his audience affected his relation of the life of Christ. Or you might look at the evolution of Christian beliefs, and find the impetus for these evolutions in historical events - for example, the events leading to the Protestant Reformation.

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