Goal: To take the knowledge about the study of religion you have acquired throughout the semester and apply it to a new context: a new secondary source, primary source, intellectual figure, or key question.

Your final written exercise can take one of several forms.

Book review

Choose one of these books below (all are available in the BU Library) and write a scholarly review of it: what is its argument; what sources does it marshal to make that argument; how effectively does it make that argument; for whom will this argument be interesting or appealing. Your review should be 750-1500 words. You should refer to specific parts of the book by page number, even if you do not quote it directly. ("In the introduction, author lays out their case (pp. 1-10).")

Russell T. McCutcheon, Critics not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of Religion

Craig Martin, A Critical Introduction to the Study of Religion

Tomoko Masuzawa, In Search of Dreamtime: The Quest for the Origin of Religion

David Chidester, Authentic Fakes: Religion and American Popular Culture

Kathryn Lofton, Consuming Religion

Kathryn Gin Lum, Heathen: Religion and Race in American History

Intellectual biography

Choose one of the authors we have read this semester and construct an intellectual biography using whatever reliable sources you can find (in print or online): where and how were they educated? what major questions did they pursue in their surviving work? who did they influence with their thinking? Your intellectual biography can take many formats: a series of slides in a Power Point; a timeline; a straightforward narrative. You are free to use sources online (academic webpages, wikipedia) but you should also look for resources in the library: read the acknowledgments of their books or recent book reviews or (for older scholars) biographies or treatments in secondary literature. To facilitate your work, make use of the databases and other resources on the links and resources page.

Annotated bibliography

Choose one of the topics we studied this semester and construct an annotated bibliography that would help you (or anyone) expand their knowledge of this topic. An annotated bibliography lists major sources for that topic and provides brief explanations of what a reader can expect to find in that source. You should have at least ten sources, at least five of which much be print. Annotations may be brief (one sentence) or for significant sources more robust (a paragraph). To facilitate your search, make use of the databases and other resources on the links and resources page.

Debate preparation

This can be a group project (I am happy to help you find group members). There are several “study of religion” debate topics below. Choose one of them (or come up with your own! but check with me before proceeding with it) and construct at least five arguments for both sides of the debate using only sources we have read this semester (including class discussion and additional sources introduced by your classmates). Format is up to you: bullet points; a cartoon; a prose narrative; reenacting the debate on video, etc. Each debate should be formatted as "pro" and "con" with respect to the debate resolution.

Debate topic 1: It is useful to study "religion."

Debate topic 2: It is important to have personal experience of a religion that you are studying.

Debate topic 3: Religion is a universal aspect of human behavior.