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Your paper should be at least 1500 words long and should follow this format: In

Your paper should be at least 1500 words long and should follow this format:

In this course we are studying the sacred texts of seven of the largest and most ancient religions in the world and their sacred texts. We are reading short passages from all of these scriptures, but as you can see, these are just a tiny glimpse into the VAST amount of scriptures in the world!

So for this assignment, I want to give you the opportunity to research a topic that is interesting and meaningful to you.

You will be required to write a paper on a topic of your choice. You will choose a topic that interests you and that you want to explore more in-depth in a particular sacred text. For example, women in the Vedas, justice in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), love in the Bible, Jesus in the Book of Mormon, or charity in the Quran. Students will choose a topic and sacred text, then find five passages from that text that discuss their particular topic. Students will write a short introduction/interpretation of each passage and then a summary of their overall impression of what the text teaches about that topic.

The purpose of this assignment is to

  • allow you to explore a topic and text that is meaningful and of interest to you
  • practice analyzing a sacred text to uncover its meaning for human life

See the directions and rubric for more details

In this course we are studying the sacred texts of seven of the largest and most ancient religions in the world and their sacred texts. We are reading short passages from all of these scriptures, but as you can see, these are just a tiny glimpse into the VAST amount of scriptures in the world!

So for this assignment, I want to give you the opportunity to research a topic that is interesting and meaningful to you.

You will be required to write a paper on a topic of your choice. You will choose a topic that interests you and that you want to explore more in-depth in a particular sacred text. For example, women in the Vedas, justice in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), love in the Bible, Jesus in the Book of Mormon, or charity in the Quran. Students will choose a topic and sacred text, then find five passages from that text that discuss their particular topic. Students will write a short introduction/interpretation of each passage and then a summary of their overall impression of what the text teaches about that topic.

The purpose of this assignment is to

  • allow you to explore a topic and text that is meaningful and of interest to you
  • practice analyzing a sacred text to uncover its meaning for human life

See the directions and rubric for more details

After you have chosen your text and topic and found your five verses that discuss your chosen topic, you are going to write your paper!

Your paper should be at least 1500 words long and should follow this format:

  1. Introductory Paragraph
    • Tell me about your topic and text – what is it and why did you choose it?
    • Tell me about your expectations – what were your assumptions or expectations about what the text would say about this topic? Did you have any previous experience with this topic or text?
  2. Five Verses
    • Then you are going to include your 5 verses. Be sure to include the full text of the verse (the sentence or paragraph in which your topic is mentioned) and tell me where in the text it is from (book, section, chapter, and/or verse number).
    • For each verse I want you to write a 2-3 sentence interpretation of what you think that verse is saying about the topic. You could include information about the context of the verse in the sacred text or what you think the verse means.
    • For one of these verses, you need to include two different translations of the verse and write a few sentences about how the differences between the translations and how those differences could lead to different interpretations.
  3. Conclusion Paragraph
    • Overall, do you think that the scripture has a single teaching about your topic? What does your text ultimately say about your topic? Do you think that the sacred text has a consistent message about your topic? Or does it describe your topic differently in different verses?
    • How did your findings match up to your expectations? After finding and interpreting these passages, were your assumptions/expectations confirmed? Or did you find that the text said something very different about your topic from what you expected?
    • What did you learn overall about this religion from writing this paper?
  4. One direct quotation from one of your academic sources
    • You must include one direct quotation from one of the academic sources that you included in your Annotated Bibliography. It can be anywhere in your paper, but should be in quotation marks and followed by an in-text citation.
  5. Bibliography and Sources
    • You must also include a bibliography with the two different translations of your sacred text that you used to write your paper.
    • Your bibliography should also include the two academic sources that you included in your Annotated Bibliography.
    • Your paper should be double-spaced, Times New Roman, size 12 font.

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