Assignment
QUESTION 1
Please type the thesis statement of your final paper in the space provided.
QUESTION 2
In "Errand into the Wilderness," Perry Miller suggests that second and third generation British colonists in America felt like they were actors on a stage, but the spotlight had been turned off. What does he mean by this? Why did they imagine that they had an audience? Who was that audience supposed to be? What collective myth informed their thinking?
QUESTION 3
Today, we take the separation of Church and State to be a fundamental part of the US Constitution. But was it always this way? Did the Puritans believe this to be necessary? Later founders, namely, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and James Madison debated about the role of religion in government and the role of government in religion. What were some of their arguments and what was the final Constitutional decision?
QUESTION 4
Robert Bellah suggests that there is a "civil religion" that operates alongside the various religious traditions in the United States. He argued that civil religion is not explicitly Christian. Choose one example of civil religion and argue for or against Bellah's suggestion that civil religion is different than Christianity.
QUESTION 5
How did the French Jesuits differ from the British Protestants in their attempts to convert native peoples? What were their strategies and underlying assumptions?
QUESTION 6
Catholicism has an easy tendency to be mapped onto, syncretized, and hybridized with other religious traditions, as we have seen through both settler colonialism in Canada and the Atlantic slave trade in Haiti, Jamaica, Brazil, Trinidad, and parts of the United States. Explain this process of hybridity with 3-4 examples of rituals and religious practices from these two historical events.
QUESTION 7
Explain the ritual of the vision quest as described by Lame Deer. How does Arnold van Gennep's theory of ritual help us to understand it?
QUESTION 8
How did myth (prophecy) inform and ultimately result in the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890?
QUESTION 9
Lame Deer explains the importance of pain in the Sun Dance ritual. Why is ritualized pain important? How has the level of pain changed over time? What does the ability to endure pain signify?
QUESTION 10
West African religions are sometimes called "danced religions." What are some of the African religious forms and rituals that earned this title and is there evidence of these forms and rituals in today's African American churches?
QUESTION 11
Discuss the role of magic in West African religions. What are its different forms? How do beliefs in magic inform ritual practices? Who is the ritual agent who protects against witchcraft and malevolent magic? What is his/her role? What kinds of problems would s/he help solve?
QUESTION 12
Marla Frederick argues that between the false binary of "accommodation" and "resistance" there is a world of people using the church to form productive lives within oppressive structures with empathy, gratitude, and righteous discontent. Explain the narrative of "accommodation" vs. "resistance" in African American traditions and apply it to one aspect of the tradition that we have studied.
QUESTION 13
Some have argued that the Prosperity Gospel is being abused by some megachurch pastors in African American congregations, who use collected tithes for their own personal gain, i.e. "Black Church, Inc." Explain the Prosperity Gospel, its scriptural context, and how is it interpreted in African American churches. How has the rise of the megachurch and famous, charismatic pastors changed the way the Prosperity Gospel is enacted? What are some of the social, ritual, and congregational effects?
QUESTION 14
Malcolm X was completely transformed by what he believed to be the black man's religion of Islam (Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam) while he was in prison. Relate this to what you have read about Native American struggles for access to their indigenous religious practices in prisons. How might Malcolm X's life have been different if he had been prohibited from practicing his chosen religion in prison? How would Native American experiences in prison be different if their religions were religions of the book? Discuss.
QUESTION 15
What is the Model Minority myth and how does it relate to anti-black racism? What are its effects on Asian American populations?