Controversy in Religion and Religious Figures
Part 1:
Write an essay of no more than 1500 words in answer to the following question:
In the ‘Introduction’ to Book 1 Newman argues that the preservation of the legacy of the controversial figures in Book 1 owes ‘more to the needs of their followers […] than to historical accuracy’ (Newman, 2013, p. v). Why is this significant for the scholarly study of religion?
Guidance notes:
Part 1
Part 1 is worth 75 per cent of the marks for this assignment. In this part, you will explore Edwina Newman’s statement, in the ‘Introduction’ to Book 1, concerning the ways in which followers remember significant controversial figures and their activities. You have been asked to analyse why this is important for the scholarly study of religion so you will need to make sure that the points you make in your essay address this question throughout. Think about the following: is it possible to isolate these figures from the responses people make to them?; what do followers need from these figures and why do scholars of religion need to be aware of these issues? Make sure you provide evidence for the argument you make. You should be able to construct a coherent answer to the question using only the study materials for Book 1 but you are encouraged to make use of the suggestions for further reading and any other independent research you have done on the figures in Book 1.
Part 2:
Imagine that you have been asked to write an essay on Jonestown and the People’s Temple. Conduct a preparatory search for the following useful sources:
- one academic, peer reviewed, journal article
- one book
- one newspaper article.
Construct a correctly formatted bibliography of the sources you have chosen and write a short explanation of why and how you selected these particular sources. You should write no more than 300 words (excluding the bibliography).
Guidance notes:
Part 2 is worth 25 per cent of the marks for this assignment. It develops your key skills of finding and critically evaluating information sources for authority and/or bias, using the PROMPT criteria, and presenting work in an accurate and appropriate style. PROMPT is a structured approach to the critical evaluation of information. PROMPT stands for Provenance, Relevance, Objectivity, Method, Presentation and Timeliness. For further information on the use of these categories for the evaluation of your sources, see the Evaluate information page on the OU Library website.
Please note that you have 300 words in addition to the bibliography for this part. (Bibliographies, as well as assignment titles, are not included in the word count of any assignment.) You will find detailed help, and a worked example for a task very similar to Part 2, in the Assessment Guide, Section 3, ‘Searching for appropriate additional resources’. Note that a book review may help you select a book but a book review is not a book and neither is it a journal article.
