Religion

Address

ONE of the following topics/questions:

1. Carefully assess the worldviews of two pre-modern mystical figures. Are they

 

ultimately different or similar? Why?

 

2. Carefully assess the worldview of one particular mystical figure. By drawing

 

extensively from his/her works, provide a careful presentation and analysis of

 

his/her major teachings.

 

3. Describe the nature and significance of any important symbol common to the

 

world’s great mystical traditions.

 

4. Why is the remembrance of God (

dhikr) so central to Sufism?

5. Explain the notion of non-duality in Advaita Vedanta.

 

6. Explain the notion of the Jesus Prayer in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. How

 

does this spiritual method allow Christians to fulfill St. Paul’s injunction to

 

pray to God “ceaselessly”?

   

Each essay will

 

be evaluated in terms of (1) the clarity of its thesis, (2) the coherence of its argument(s),

 

(3) evidence of original research and its careful integration into the fabric of the essay, (4)

 

thoughtful reflection on the subject matter, and (5) faithful adherence to the content and

 

formatting guidelines mentioned below.

   

The paper

must

have a clear thesis

 

which is defended consistently throughout. An

essay without a thesis cannot receive more than a C+. A thesis essentially summarizes, in

 

one or several sentences, the entire point of your essay. It is simply not enough to say “I

 

am going to talk about x, y, and z”; you must be more specific than that. A good thesis

 

should be concise and straightforward, and must endeavour to prove a point: “In this

 

essay, I am going to demonstrate that x because of y and z.” You may not use the

 

wording of this example in your essay.

   

Essays are to be

 

10 full pages in length (

excluding the title page and

bibliography

 

), double spaced, and written in Times New Roman font (size 12

).

It must use the normal page layout which comes standard on all Word programs.

 

2. Diction is to be formal, and the essay is to be written in Canadian English.

 

Grammar, syntax, spelling, and style must be impeccable. You may write in the

 

first person.

 

3. All paragraphs—except the first paragraph of your essay—must be indented.

  

Every paragraph in your essay—including isolated quotations and

 

footnotes—must be justified

 

. This can easily be done by using the “paragraph”

function on your Word program.

 

4. Use footnotes as opposed to endnotes and/or internal citations. Footnotes are to be

  

single spaced

and written in Times New Roman font (size 10

). A bibliography

must be appended to the essay. Your method of citation

 must

follow the rules laid

out in the

 

Chicago Manual of Style

.

6. Do not put your quotations in italics, bold, or a combination of the two. Sentences

 

which are more than 3 lines long are to be isolated,

  

single spaced, and reduced to

 

font size 11

 

with their margins indented to 1 inch on both the right and left. This

can easily be done by using the “paragraph” function on your Word program.

 

7. Your essay must have a title page. All pages—excluding the title page and

 

bibliography—are to be numbered at the bottom right corner of the page.