Please complete the final exam individually. It is, of course, open notes, and you may respond to answers which address topics on which you focused for your essays.
Short Answer (choose 5)
Your answer should be about 100-150 words (longer is fine). Each answer counts for 10 points.
1. What is habitus? Why is it important to think about habitus in the study of religion?
1. Weve encountered numerous of examples of the impact of colonialism on religion. Firstly, define colonialism, then choose one example of a religion of the colonized that was impacted by colonialism and briefly describe the way(s) in which it was impacted.
1. What is civil religion? What are some examples of civil religion in the United States?
1. An argument can be made that any religion represents a range of beliefs and practices so vast that we should speak of Judaisms, Christianities, Islams, Buddhisms, Hinduisms, etc. Choose one of the religions that we studied, and discuss at least two forms/sects of its practice that are so different that they warrant this kind of distinction.
1. What are the hudud in Islamic Law? How were they historically treated?
1. What does Buddhist philosophy mean when it speaks of emptiness?
1. What kinds of themes are found in the teachings of Jesus Christ in the New Testament? How do modern movements of Christianity (Liberation Theology, the Christian Right, the prosperity gospel, etc.) connect toor fail, in your reading, to properly reflectJesus teachings?
1. What is the Talmud? How is the Talmud studied in Judaism?
1. According to Vine Deloria Jr., indigenous peoples of America had a very different conception of death than Christianity. How does he describe their understanding of death, and how it relates both to life and to their connection with particular places?
Long Essay (choose 2)
Your answer should be about 300-500 words. Each answer counts for 25 points.
1. What is the World Religions Paradigm (WRP)? What are its basic assumptions? Choosing one tradition that is arguably religious, discuss how certain aspects of that tradition may be highlighted, while others are lost/suppressed, when it is understood through the lens of the WRP as religion.
1. What is identity? Why is it important to think about individual identity (internal and external) and group identity in the study of religion? Offer examples encountered in our course of how we may see: 1) a fluidity of identity (for instance, in the sharing of sacred spaces); and 2) a rigid identity potentially leading to conflict.
1. Feminism hasand continues to bea radically important movement that has sought to guarantee equal rights and opportunities for women on a global scale. At the same time, certain assumptions of what is often a white and upper-class movement have been harmful for women outside of these categories, particularly when feminist discourse is wedded with imperialism. One clear point of such conflict can be seen in the judgment (both societal and legal) on the wearing of the hijab by Muslim women. Discuss how source(s) we encountered in class (including potentially the documentary, The Light in Her Eyes) reflect the complexity of wearing the hijab (in what ways, for instance, is it understood by Muslim women?) and how it relates to feminist discourse.
1. Weve encountered a range of arguments relating to the emergence of the category of Hinduism. Why do some assert that Hinduism as a category of a single religion emerged out of British colonization? Why is this assertion contentious? You may wish to connect this to our discussions of the World Religions Paradigm in your response.
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