Critical Response Papers

Your critical response papers should be based solely on the course readings referred to in each of the questions below.  Each paper should be about two pages long, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. Take care to organize your response clearly and to support your points with appropriate quotations from the relevant texts.  Each paper should be proofread carefully for spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.  You must complete six of these during the semester, and they must be submitted at the beginning of class on the dates indicated below unless you are ill or have a family emergency.  You are strongly encouraged to resubmit your first two response papers after revising them in the light of my comments.


Due 9/4:  Do you think that Salzman is sympathetic to the main character’s religious experience or does he explain it away as a medical problem?  Quote one passage in support of your position.  Note that you don't have to argue one or the other side if you think that the author both is sympathetic to her religious experience and explains it medically.  There's no clearly right or wrong answer to this question; I'm concerned to see how well you argue your position and how well your quote(s) support that position.

Due 9/13:  Rosaldo makes the point that all understanding is partial and "positioned."  Using a concrete example from your own experience, discuss the implications of this insight for understanding other cultures and their religious traditions.

Due 9/20:  Analyze the selection from the Book of Genesis (ch. 2-3) in terms of Wendy Doniger's idea that myths produce a kind of "double vision."  What does she mean by this, and how does it apply to the account of human origins found in the Genesis selection?

Due 10/11:  Select one episode from the Gospel of Matthew and one from The Story of Gotama Buddha that you think best exemplifies the roles that each figure plays in their respective religious tradition.  Explain why you selected this episode and clarify what it says about the significance of each figure.

Due 10/23:  Based on your reading of Luther's "Freedom of a Christian,"  identify two issues central to Luther's reform of Christian belief and practice and explain how these issues are reflected in the churches profiled in the video, "Protestant Spirit USA."

Due 11/15:  Based on your reading of Barbara Gunn's "To Be a Pilgrim," do you think she is a pilgrim?  Why or why not?  Support your position with specific quotations from the text.

Due 11/27:  Extra response option:  attend the screening of Haro Hara!  Pilgrimage to Kataragama, Sri Lanka on 11/12; review Victor and Edith Turner's concept of "liminality" as an approach to understanding pilgrimage and apply it to the Sri Lankan pilgrimage documented in the film.  Do you think this approach is adequate to understanding this pilgrimage; what does it highlight about it and what does it downplay?

Due 11/29:  Quoting at least two specific passages from the Therigatha, discuss how gender affects the experience of the women described in this text.


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