Journal

Not required, but recommended (particularly for students who have difficulty participating in discussions). This is an opportunity for the students own personality and point of view to be expressed more completely. Quality of expression, rather than quantity, is always preferred. The journal could be organized into the following sections:

1) Reflections/Philosophical Inquiry:  Look back on class discussions.  Bring your point of view to some of the ideas expressed. Consider what was not discussed (and perhaps should have been).  Go beyond the immediate problems of people’s everyday religious experience. 

2) Religion as Biography: Using the study guides on various religious leaders, critique the role these individuals played in the issues of their time and today.  Speculate as to how life today might have been different without these people.

4) Editorials/Opposing Viewpoints: This is designed to see if the student can understand and argue both sides of an issue, distinguish between traditional viewpoints within the philosophical/religious context. Essentially, the opposing sides should be presented and a position taken.

5) Arts/Social Commentary: This section deals with the changing mood and attitudes of society as expressed in its music, movies, plays, poetry, song lyrics, books, paintings, architecture, cartoons, etc. It is concerned with spiritual and social crises afflicting society such as racism, sexism, poverty, war, violence, crime, morality,  environmental pollution, urban decay, alienation, loneliness, meaninglessness, power, powerlessness, and elitism. The critique should express the relationship of these attitudes to the contemporary religious belief systems. It should also evaluate the validity of the message the particular artist/writer was trying to communicate. Again, quality, not quantity.