WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS


Since this course carries a Research designation, you will be asked to explore a variety of primary and secondary sources in preparation for your final essay, which is to be a sustained and carefully revised piece of critical writing.  This website provides you with bibliographical information on the course topic, including specialized bibliographies on twenty-four individual authors.  Bear in mind that the primary and secondary literature listed here is by no means exhaustive; it should be enough, however, to get you started with exploring a given writer/issue.  Additional research should be conducted by using standard online databases (such as the MLA bibliography, Philosophical Abstracts, etc).  Once you have identified your research topic, you are strongly encouraged to set up an appointment with a reference librarian at Perkins; the library staff is exceptionally capable and eager to assist you. – What follows is an outline of the individual phases comprising your research- and writing-assignments for this course:


  1. I.Short Paper (due January 26th): factoring in the ideas and arguments presented in lectures up to that point, write a short essay—4-6 pages double-spaced—on one of the following selections from the Enlightenment, all posted under the Primary Texts section at this website:

  2. •Baruch de Spinoza, “Of the Interpretation of Scripture”

  3. •John Wesley, “The Nature of Enthusiasm”

  4. •Voltaire, “On Superstition” OR “On the Interpretation of the Old Testament”

  5. •Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, “Of the Spirit and the Power”

  6. •David Hume, “Natural History of Religion”


  8. II.Annotated Bibliography (due March 2nd): This annotated bibliography is to include no less than 8 titles, 5 of which should be secondary texts, and it is to focus on a single author or issue.  If you choose the latter, it will be important for you to consult with the instructor or teaching assistant to ensure that the topic you mean to pursue has been clearly defined and appropriately limited in scope.  Each annotated entry should give the full and exact bibliographical information of the text/edition that you have read (Example: Coleridge, Samuel Taylor.  “Lectures on Revealed Religion” in Lectures 1795 On Politics and Religion, ed. Lewis Patton and Peter Mann (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1971), pp. 75-230.) – The annotation of a given text should concisely summarize the following aspects of the text: 1) how it is organized; 2) its principal claims (thesis); 3) its methodology, what kinds of evidence it relies on; 4) its principal intertexts—i.e., texts, traditions, or viewpoints to which it responds directly. – Each entry on your annotated bibliography should be between 250-350 words in length.  As regards your choice of author or topic, be sure to avail yourself of the full range of options available; that is, inasmuch as the annotated bibliography will become the basis for your final research paper, be sure to choose a topic of clear interest to you.  Whether a given subject has already been “covered” in lectures thus far should not determine your choice of author or topic. 


  10. Following the annotated bibliography should be a 250-word statement describing the research paper that you intend to pursue in extension of research conducted thus far.  It is crucial that you give careful thought to this abstract of your proposed paper, as this will be the basis for feedback that you’ll receive before embarking on the paper itself.  Identify which text will be your principal focus, what argument you anticipate to make, what sources (of those you’ve already explored) you expect to use and also potential further secondary materials on which you may draw.


  1. III.Research Paper (advanced draft due April 6th): write a critical essay on one an author or topic covered by research undertaken for your annotated bibliography.  Your focus should either be a particular primary text or a specific concept or problem.  This paper is to be approximately 15 pp. in length (double-spaced).  All texts should be quoted in MLA style. You should not only quote secondary literature in passing but in at least some instances argumentatively engage it.  In order for your interaction with secondary (critical) literature to be truly effective, and so as to prevent your own writing from becoming merely reactive vis-à-vis other critical literature, make sure that you embark on the writing of your paper with a clear and well-articulated sense of your thesis. – Your draft will be returned to you with recommendations for revision by April 15th.  You will then have until April 22nd (last day of classes) to make revisions and to turn in the final version of your paper, which is the one for which you will be graded on this assignment.


GRADE BREAKDOWN:

  1. •Short Paper: 15%

  2. •Annotated Bibliography: 25%

  3. •Research Paper: 40%

  4. •Attendance/Participation: 20%



  1. SECULARIZATION & MODERNITY

  2. ASSIGNMENTS