In this coming year students will be expected to go deeper into many of these same areas of study, and will begin to engage in comparative and socio-critical inquiries. Although this subject will require some discussion of both scientific and philosophical approaches to religion, the main emphasis will be on understanding the actual experience of religion. Science looks at religion concretely and objectively. Philosophy looks at it abstractly and subjectively. This course will require the student to combine these by taking a subjective look at concrete forms of religious thought and behaviour.
Religious symbols have power.
After doing a case study of a specific religious group, you and one other classmate will write up the main points of your research in the form of an essay and use this as the basis for a class presentation. If you have any doubt about whether your topic is appro- priate, you should ask for the lecturer's approval before beginning any serious research. Give a copy of your paper to the lecturer by 5pm on the day before the presentation. Your revision should take into consideration the comments given by the lecturer on your jointly written project, as well as the questions raised by your classmates during the presentation. One good approach would be to include in the term paper some additional theoretical assessments of your case study.