Christian Religion
have a thesis. be 4-6 pages long and conform to the basic format explained in the syllabus: an introductory paragraph which includes your thesis, a body of several paragraphs which develops your argument, and a concluding paragraph summing up your argument. show that you have incorporated at least 2 articles from This Sacred Earth (not counting the Lynn White article or any supplemental information you gather on your chosen religions, which should be approved by me), although the sources do not have to be properly cited in this draft. In addition to your two required sources, for prompt #10 you also will find a source for basic information on your chosen non-Western religion to help you understand it and inform your comparative discussion (For this paper, I already provided some but I don’t know how good are they). More information on your TSE term paper: Your essay should be 4-6 pages long, and the writing formal. I will grade mechanics, such as grammar, spelling, and proper citation style. This must conform to basic structure and page length requirements, have a thesis, and show the use of the required number and type of sources. Pay attention not only to the overall structure of your paper (constructing an outline might help), but also to how you organize the information in your paragraphsdoes each sentence logically follow from the previous one, and does all the information in the paragraph relate to its topic sentence? Also, begin to pay attention to grammar and spelling. The idea for this part of the project is for you to: Learn to do a close reading of historical writing Learn to analyze and critically evaluate ideas, arguments, and points of view (those of your peer as well as those of the sources used in your paper) Develop skill in expressing yourself orally and in writing. 1. Begin your introduction with an explanation of Lynn White’s thesis on Christianity’s effect on the natural world and why it is important. 2. Compare at least one religion from each of the following two categories: a. A Western Christian religion: Catholicism or some branch of Protestantism (e.g., Lutheran, Baptist, etc.). b. A non-Christian or non-mainstream religion or philosophy (e.g., Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, animism/paganism, eco-feminism). 3. For each of your chosen religions, explain how the spiritual tradition interprets the relationship of humans to the natural world. In your explanation, you should consider the following questions: Has this interpretation changed over time? (Are theologians and religious authorities now responding to current environmental crises by attempting to redefine or reconfigure the spiritual tradition?) How does the religion understand and respond to the question of human causation of environmental decline, species extinction, etc.? How might these spiritual traditions contribute to or hinder environmental healing? 4. Provide an answer to the question, based on your examination of the sources, whether (or not) Lynn White was correct. Note that your answer to this question is your thesis, and you should include it in your essays introduction, as well as in your conclusion. Previous Next