A Complete Student’s Guide to Religious Studies Essays

A Complete Student’s Guide to Religious Studies Essays Religious studies is a popular college class. While religious studies classes are not usually required, taking one of these classes can be an eye-opening experience. Learning about other religions can help students to better understand the culture and values of the religious group members. Occasionally religious studies can also be a high school elective class. For the sake of this article, we will use tips and examples that are suitable for both college and high school religious studies essays. Religious Studies Essays: What’s Behind Them There are four basic types of essays that can be used in high school or college classes: narratives, descriptive essays, expository essays, and persuasive essays. Essays are usually based on a student’s opinion and backed up with facts. Each type of essay can be used in religious studies classes. Let’s take a look at how. The first of these essays are narrative essays. Narrative essays tell a story, usually based on a student’s life. Descriptive language, the use of adjectives and dialogue, helps to make the story more vivid. For this type of essay to be used in a religious studies class, a student could write about their experience with their religion or with people who follow other religions. However, when writing these kinds of essays, it is important to not be derogatory towards people of other religions. Descriptive essays are exactly what they sound like. They involve writing about a person, place, or thing in extreme detail. In these essays, it important to use adjectives. This type of essay is best when you are discussing religious figures or religious artwork. These types of essays are likely to work best as a part of a religious studies essay, rather than the whole essay. Expository essays are concerned with the facts and nothing but the facts. This type of essay is great for religious studies classes when you need to write about historical events, rather than topics based on opinions. While writing these essays, it is best to avoid putting any bias in your paper, as this may make your essay seem less reliable. The last major type of essay is a persuasive essay. With this type of essay, you want your audience to agree with your argument. To do this, you will need to back up your opinion with facts. Make sure to use reliable sources when you do this. One way this could be used in religious studies classes is to write about an opinion you have on a religious matter and explain why your opinion is right by using facts How to Choose the Most Interesting Religious Essay Topics Picking a topic for a religious studies paper can be difficult, especially since religious studies classes often cover a variety of subjects. Below are some topic suggestions with ideas on how to use them in your essay. These topic ideas will work for either Christian religious studies classes or world religion classes. We have put listed at least one topic for every major world religion. Feel free to use any of these topics for your own essay, just make sure to cite your source! Paul brought Christianity to Europe, but he made many changes to the teachings (compared to what Jesus taught). Were these changes for the better or worse?Paul never met Jesus, but he had a dream in which Jesus spoke to him. He often disagreed with Jesus’s apostles who had known him in life. Does Paul’s dream give him the authority to make changes to Christianity or should he have left the teachings of the church to Jesus’s primary disciples? The Five Pillars of Islam help to guide the Muslim faith. How do these pillars compare and contrast to the virtues of other major world religions? Muslims are often prejudged in today’s society. Is there anything in their pillars that make them â€Å"look bad† or are the pillars all positive? How do the pillars affect the way Muslim people should act? Are the pillars similar to virtues in other religions? Discuss. There are four noble truths (four central beliefs) in Buddhism. Are these truths still expressed in Buddhism today? Are they also shown in other religions?Buddhism is an Eastern religion that is practiced in many Asian countries. However, there are several branches/sects of Buddhism. Do all of the branches follow the four noble truths? If so, do they have anything else in common? If not, what are the other branch’s values? Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions. Discuss the changes that have occurred in the religion over the years. Are these changes good or bad?Over the centuries, Hinduism is sure to have gone through some changes. How have these changes affected Hindu people? What were some of the primary beliefs of the religion centuries ago and what are they now? There are several Jewish holidays each year. Describe one of these holidays and their significance to the Jewish faith. Some of the most important holidays in Judaism include Hanukkah and Passover. Describe one of these holidays or another prominent Jewish holiday. Write about the history of the holiday and how it is celebrated today. This could make a great expository essay. Writing Tips from Our Experts Now that we’ve discussed some of the types of essays there are and some of the topics that would work well for a religious studies essay, let’s discuss how to actually write the essay. Follow some of the tips below to learn how to organize your paper, write the various parts of the paper, and to learn some editing skills. Pre-Writing The more research and organizing you do before you write a paper, the less time you will have to waste by looking for sources and trying to cure a writer’s block while you are actually writing. There are two basic ways to do this. The first way to save time on your paper is to write an outline for your paper. Outlines are helpful for all sorts of written documents. This includes essays, term papers, and even this very article! This can help you to avoid writer’s block because you will have all of your ideas written out before you even begin writing your essay. When you don’t have to stop to think of new ideas, your writing can flow! You can use this link to be redirected to an essay outline worksheet. This worksheet gives step-by-step instructions to help write an outline. Another thing you can do to make things easier on yourself is to do all of your research and take notes before you even begin writing your paper. Make sure to write down your sources or type up your works cited to save even more time. The more notes you take, the less time you will have to spend rereading your sources later. While this will take up some more time before you start writing your paper, it will save you time in the long-run. One good place to find scholarly sources for your essay is to search by using Google Scholar. Essay Writing: The Importance of Structuring Of course, writing the actual essay is the most important part. There are five basic elements that need to be included in every essay. In this section, we will go over how each of these sections can be applied effectively in your essay. Introduction; Thesis Statement; Body Paragraphs; Conclusion; Reference/ Page. Let’s look at writing an introduction and a thesis statement, as a thesis statement is always a part of the introduction, often as the last sentence in the paragraph. A thesis statement is a one-sentence-long part of the induction that describes what your main argument is and what points you are going to use to support it. An example a thesis statement you could use for a religious studies class is below. ‘The Virgin Mary is an important figurehead in many Christian sects, but women are not always treated fairly in the religion; this essay will discuss the factors, including the role of women in and outside of the physical church.’ To make this into a complete introduction, simply add on a few more sentences (before the thesis statement) to further explain what your essay will discuss. An introduction is usually around four sentences long, with the thesis statement being the main component of the introduction. Keep this in mind as you write your introduction. Body Paragraphs The body paragraphs will make up the bulk of the essay. Most essays in both high school and college classes contain at least three body paragraphs. These paragraphs each have a specific structure that should be followed. The first sentence should work to introduce the main point of the body paragraph. The next two or three sentences should be focused on evidence to support your main point! Make sure to cite your sources! The last paragraph should be a short summary (conclusion) to wrap up the paragraph. Conclusion The conclusion is actually very similar to the introduction. It is only one paragraph long. Instead of introducing the main points of the paper, you are summing up what you already wrote. In this paragraph, make sure to restate your thesis statement and your main points. Once you do this, your paper is almost done! Reference Page A reference page is a vital part of any essay! If you skip this section, you may very well fail your entire paper. This is because if you do not cite your sources, then you can be accused of plagiarism. You are most likely to be required to use MLA or APA formatting with your sources. To learn how to use these citations styles (and more), you can click on this link. The site can also teach you how to use internal sources, which are just as important to have as the sources listed in your reference page. Post-Writing Tips You Can’t Ignore When scheduling time to work on your essay, make sure that you make time for editing your paper. While many students skip this step, editing is the key to improving your overall essay grade. There are a few things that you should always check for when you are editing your essay: spelling and grammar mistakes, accidental plagiarism, and awkward sentence structure. Let’s take a look at how to improve each of these parts of your essay. Whether you are writing your essay in a Word document, in Google Docs, or in a third-party writing program, you are likely to have some sort of grammar and spelling checking system build into the program. While these programs can catch a lot of mistakes, they miss out on a few key features. That’s why it is best to always look over your paper again, or run it through another spelling/grammar checker, like Grammarly. Doing this can help you catch simple mistakes before your teacher does. Next, make sure that you have not accidentally plagiarized. To do this, you will want to make sure that all of your sources are cited both internally and in a page. Read over your paper to make sure you have done this. If after doing this you are still worried, run your paper through a plagiarism checker. One great plagiarism checker for students is Turnitin, which provides free trials of their service. Lastly, look for sentences that just don’t sound right. One of the best ways to do this is to read your paper out loud. Sometimes, when you read in your head, you may skip over awkward lines. Reading out loud can help you to more easily catch these mistakes. You can also have a friend look over your paper, as they might catch something that you didn’t. Well, we hope that these tips can help you to write your religious studies paper. Make sure to check out some of the sources we’ve outlined in this article for additional help. If you follow our tips, you are almost guaranteed to get a passing grade on your essay. Good luck!

The Myth of Cupid and Psyches Forbidden Love

The Myth of Cupid and Psyche's Forbidden Love The great Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, was born from the foam near the island of Cyprus, for which reason she is referred to as the Cyprian. Aphrodite was a jealous goddess, but she was also passionate. Not only did she love the men and gods in her life, but her sons and grandchildren, as well. Sometimes her possessive instincts led her too far. When her son Cupid found a human to love one whose beauty rivaled hers Aphrodite did all in her power to thwart the marriage. How Cupid and Psyche Met Psyche was worshiped for her beauty in her homeland. This drove Aphrodite mad, so she sent a plague and let it be known the only way the land could get back to normal was to sacrifice Psyche. The king, who was Psyches father, tied Psyche up and left her to her death at the hands of some presumed fearsome monster. You may note that this isnt the first time in Greek mythology that this happened. The great Greek hero Perseus found his bride, Andromeda, tied up as prey for a sea monster. Andromeda was sacrificed to appease Poseidon who had ravaged the country of Ethiopia, which was ruled by her father after Queen Cassiopeia had boasted about her own beauty. In the case of Psyche, it was Aphrodites son Cupid who released and married the princess. The Mystery About Cupid Unfortunately for the young couple, Cupid and Psyche, Aphrodite was not the only one trying to foul things up. Psyche had two sisters who were as jealous as Aphrodite. Cupid was a wonderful lover and husband to Psyche, but there was one odd thing about their relationship: He made sure Psyche never saw what he looked like. Psyche didnt mind. She had a fulfilling nightlife in the dark with her husband, and during the day, she had all the luxuries she could ever want. When the sisters learned about the luscious, extravagant lifestyle of their lucky, beautiful sister, they urged Psyche to pry into the area of his life that Psyches husband kept hidden from her. Cupid was a god, and gorgeous as he had to have been with Aphrodite for a mother, but for reasons known best to him, he didnt want his mortal wife to see his form. Psyches sister didnt know he was a god, although they may have suspected it. However, they did know that Psyches life was much happier than theirs. Knowing their sister well, they preyed on her insecurities and persuaded Psyche that her husband was a hideous monster. Psyche assured her sisters they were wrong, but since shed never seen him, even she started having doubts. Psyche decided to satisfy the girls curiosity, so that night she took a candle to her sleeping husband in order to look at him. Cupid Deserts Psyche Cupids angelic form was exquisite, so Psyche stood there gawking at her husband with her candle melting. While Psyche dawdled, ogling, a bit of wax dripped on her husband. Her rudely awakened, irate, disobeyed, injured husband-angel-god flew away. See, I told you she was a no good human, said mother Aphrodite to her convalescing son Cupid. Now youll have to be content among the gods. Cupid might have gone along with the de facto divorce, but Psyche couldnt. Impelled by the love of her gorgeous husband, she implored her mother-in-law to give her another chance. Aphrodite agreed, but ungraciously, saying, I cannot conceive that any serving-wench as hideous as yourself could find any means to attract lovers save by making herself their drudge; wherefore now I myself will make trial of your worth. The Epic Trials of Psyche But Aphrodite had no intention of playing fair. She devised 4 tasks (not 3 as is conventional in mythic hero quests; this is a feminine story), each task more exacting than the last. Psyche passed the first 3 challenges with flying colors, but the last task was too much for Psyche: Sort a huge mount of barley, millet, poppy seeds, lentils, and beans. Ants (pismires) help her sort the grains within the time allotted.Gather a hank of the wool of the shining golden sheep. A reed tells her how to accomplish this task without being killed by the vicious animals.Fill a crystal vessel with the water of the spring that feeds the Styx and Cocytus. An eagle helps her out.Aphrodite asked Psyche to bring her back a box of Persephones beauty cream. Going to the Underworld was a challenge for the bravest of the Greek mythical heroes. Demigod Hercules could go to the Underworld without much bother, but even Theseus had trouble and had to be rescued by Hercules. Psyche barely batted an eye when Aphrodite told her she would have to go to the most dangerous region known to mortals. That part was easy, especially after the tower told her how to find the entryway to the Underworld, how to get around Charon and Cerberus, and how to behave before the Underworld queen. The part of the fourth task that was too much for Psyche was the temptation to make herself more beautiful. If the perfect beauty of the perfect goddess Aphrodite needed this Underworld beauty cream, Psyche reasoned, how much more would it help an imperfect mortal woman? Thus, Psyche retrieved the box successfully, but then she opened it and fell into a deathlike sleep, as Aphrodite had secretly predicted. And by and by shee opened the boxe where she could perceive no beauty nor any thing else, save onely an infernall and deadly sleepe, which immediatly invaded all her members as soone as the boxe was uncovered, in such sort that she fell downe upon the ground, and lay there as a sleeping corps.William Adlington Translation (1566) Reunion and Happy Ending to the Myth of Cupid and Psyche At this point, divine intervention was called for if the story were to have an ending that made anyone really happy. With Zeus connivance, Cupid brought his wife to Olympus where, at Zeuss command, she was given nectar and ambrosia so she would become immortal. Incontinently after Jupiter commanded Mercury to bring up Psyches, the spouse of Cupid, into the Pallace of heaven. And then he tooke a pot of immortality, and said, Hold Psyches, and drinke, to the end thou maist be immortall, and that Cupid may be thine everlasting husband. On Olympus, in the presence of the other gods, Aphrodite reluctantly reconciled with her pregnant daughter-in-law, who was about to give birth to a grandchild Aphrodite would (obviously) dote on, named Pleasure. Another Story of Cupid and Psyche C.S. Lewis took Apuleius version of this myth and turned it on its ear in Till We Have Faces. The tender love story is gone. Instead of having the story seen through the eyes of Psyche, its seen through her sister Orvals perspective. Instead of the refined Aphrodite of the Roman story, the mother goddess in C.S. Lewis version is a far more weighty, chthonic Earth-Mother-Goddess power.