Description
Assessment Instructions
Select two of the major world religious traditions. Summarize the key features of each and contrast them with each other and with the Greek philosophical tradition. Write a report in which you consider the following:
- What sensations, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are expressed in religious rituals?
- How have religious traditions survived from their historical origins to the present day?
- What social and cultural differences make it difficult for people from distinct traditions to relate to each other productively?
- What power do these approaches have to transform individual lives?
Your report may well include reflection on the role of religious traditions in your own life, but develop your analysis of the issues independently of your own convictions.
Additional Requirements
- Written communication: Should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- APA formatting: Your paper should be formatted according to APA (6th edition) style and formatting.
- Length: 4–6 typed and double-spaced pages.
- Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Suggested Resources
Capella Resources
The contextual information in the following interactive offers a brief introduction to the four major religious traditions. With the accompanying quiz, you can check your own knowledge of the differences and similarities among their practices.
Capella Multimedia
Click the link provided below to view the following multimedia piece:
Library Resources
The following e-books or articles from the Capella University Library are linked directly in this course:
- Ipgrave, M., Marshall, D., & Williams, A. R. (2011). Humanity: texts and contexts: Christian and Muslim perspectives. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Course Library Guide
A Capella University library guide has been created specifically for your use in this course. You are encouraged to refer to the resources in the HUM-FP1000 – Introduction to Humanities Library Guide to help direct your research.
Bookstore Resources
The resource listed below is relevant to the topics and assessments in this course. Unless noted otherwise, this material is available for purchase from the Capella University Bookstore. When searching the bookstore, be sure to look for the Course ID with the specific –FP (FlexPath) course designation.
- Fiero, G. K. (2016). Landmarks in humanities (4th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
- Chapters 4–6.
11/13/2018
Assessment 2 Context
Print
Assessment 2 Context
Religion
Like philosophy, religion deals with vital questions about human experience and the guidance of conduct, but its
methods and appeals are typically quite different:
Use of revelation instead of reason as a source of evidence.
Focus on the sacred in distinction from the worldly.
Reverence for the supernatural instead of concern with natural explanation.
Appeal to emotional feelings through ritual reenactment.
Preservation of long-term convictions with little allowance for doubt or change.
Community emphasized more greatly than individual thought.
Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam are four of the world’s great religious traditions that have persisted for
many centuries.
Judaism
Judaism emerged three thousand years ago with the move from Egypt to Canaan of a group of Hebrew tribes led by
Moses, who introduced monotheism, or belief in a single deity. For their descendants, political success or failure
was understood as divine reward or punishment. In the centuries that followed, the civilization grew more
organized and gradually developed an extensive literature, written scriptures that were interpreted, communicated,
and enforced by generations of rabbinical teachers. Liturgical practice included chants, music, responsive reading,
and public prayer. Despite their later absorption into Hellenistic societies and later cultures, the Jews have
preserved their tribal and religious identity through successive generations.
Buddhism
Buddhism arose during the same period in India, from the life and teachings of Siddhārtha Gautama. Years of
spiritual searching and meditative practice led him to believe that life involves suffering that can be escaped only
by cultivating humility, selflessness, and nonattachment. Variations on Buddhist teachings spread throughout India,
Tibet, China, and Japan.
Christianity
Christianity combined elements from messianic Judaism, mystery cults, and Hellenistic culture to fashion an
ethical faith system that emphasized compassion and forgiveness. Jesus himself was a gifted teacher who enriched
and expanded traditional concepts from scripture but attracted crowds whose instability threatened authorities from
the Roman Empire. After his death, the apostle Paul developed a theology of sin and redemption, expressed in
writings that soon became the core of Christian scriptures, known as the “New Testament.” Eventually, the
movement was accepted by the Roman Empire and became an official part of culture in Western life. Its worship
incorporated Jewish elements along with the ritual celebration of Jesus’s death through the Eucharist.
Islam
Islam was founded by an Arab merchant named Muhammad who saw himself as the fulfillment of a tradition
ranging from Abraham through Moses and Jesus to his own conception of the relationship between the community
and the one God, Allah. The recitation of his teachings, recorded in the Qur’an, was shared with other people
throughout the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and much of the world. During several centuries of stagnation in the
https://courserooma.capella.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/HUM-FP/HUM-FP1000/180700/Course_Files/cf_assessment_2_context.html
1/2
11/13/2018
Assessment 2 Context
West, Islamic scholars preserved, communicated, and extrapolated from the classical period’s achievements in
philosophy, science, and medicine.
https://courserooma.capella.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/HUM-FP/HUM-FP1000/180700/Course_Files/cf_assessment_2_context.html
2/2
11/13/2018
Religious Traditions Scoring Guide
Religious Traditions Scoring Guide
CRITERIA
NON-PERFORMANCE
BASIC
PROFICIENT
DISTINGUISHED
Assess the role of
ritual in expressing
religious traditions.
Does not assess the
role of ritual in
expressing religious
traditions.
Explains the role of Assesses the role of Assesses the role of ritual in
ritual in expressing ritual in expressing
expressing religious
religious traditions. religious traditions.
traditions; assessment
includes explicit
connections between
specific rituals and religious
traditions.
Describe the
historical origins of
selected religious
traditions.
Does not describe the Lists the historical
historical origins of
origins of selected
selected religious
religious traditions.
traditions.
Describes the
historical origins of
selected religious
traditions.
Analyzes the historical
origins of selected religious
traditions.
Explain how
selected religious
traditions continue
to influence
contemporary life.
Does not explain how
selected religious
traditions continue to
influence
contemporary life.
Describes how
selected religious
traditions continue
to influence
contemporary life.
Explains how
selected religious
traditions continue
to influence
contemporary life.
Analyzes how selected
religious traditions continue
to influence contemporary
life; analysis includes
specific examples.
Explain the
transformative role
of religious values
in personal and
professional life.
Does not explain the
transformative role of
religious values in
personal and
professional life.
Describes the role
of religious values
in personal and
professional life.
Explains the
transformative role
of religious values in
personal and
professional life.
Explains the transformative
role of religious values in
personal and professional
life; explanation includes
specific examples from
religious practices.
Write coherently to
support a central
idea in appropriate
format with correct
grammar, usage,
and mechanics.
Does not write
coherently to support
a central idea in
appropriate format
with correct grammar,
usage, and
mechanics.
Writes in support
of a central idea
with inconsistent
attention to format,
grammar, usage,
and mechanics.
Writes coherently to
support a central
idea in appropriate
format with correct
grammar, usage,
and mechanics.
Writes coherently, using
evidence to support a
central idea in a consistent
format with correct
grammar, usage, and
mechanics.
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1/1
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Assessment 2 Context
Assessment 2 Context
Religion
Like philosophy, religion deals with vital questions about human experience and the guidance of conduct, but its
methods and appeals are typically quite different:
Use of revelation instead of reason as a source of evidence.
Focus on the sacred in distinction from the worldly.
Reverence for the supernatural instead of concern with natural explanation.
Appeal to emotional feelings through ritual reenactment.
Preservation of long-term convictions with little allowance for doubt or change.
Community emphasized more greatly than individual thought.
Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam are four of the world’s great religious traditions that have persisted for
many centuries.
Judaism
Judaism emerged three thousand years ago with the move from Egypt to Canaan of a group of Hebrew tribes led by
Moses, who introduced monotheism, or belief in a single deity. For their descendants, political success or failure
was understood as divine reward or punishment. In the centuries that followed, the civilization grew more
organized and gradually developed an extensive literature, written scriptures that were interpreted, communicated,
and enforced by generations of rabbinical teachers. Liturgical practice included chants, music, responsive reading,
and public prayer. Despite their later absorption into Hellenistic societies and later cultures, the Jews have
preserved their tribal and religious identity through successive generations.
Buddhism
Buddhism arose during the same period in India, from the life and teachings of Siddhārtha Gautama. Years of
spiritual searching and meditative practice led him to believe that life involves suffering that can be escaped only
by cultivating humility, selflessness, and nonattachment. Variations on Buddhist teachings spread throughout India,
Tibet, China, and Japan.
Christianity
Christianity combined elements from messianic Judaism, mystery cults, and Hellenistic culture to fashion an
ethical faith system that emphasized compassion and forgiveness. Jesus himself was a gifted teacher who enriched
and expanded traditional concepts from scripture but attracted crowds whose instability threatened authorities from
the Roman Empire. After his death, the apostle Paul developed a theology of sin and redemption, expressed in
writings that soon became the core of Christian scriptures, known as the “New Testament.” Eventually, the
movement was accepted by the Roman Empire and became an official part of culture in Western life. Its worship
incorporated Jewish elements along with the ritual celebration of Jesus’s death through the Eucharist.
Islam
Islam was founded by an Arab merchant named Muhammad who saw himself as the fulfillment of a tradition
ranging from Abraham through Moses and Jesus to his own conception of the relationship between the community
and the one God, Allah. The recitation of his teachings, recorded in the Qur’an, was shared with other people
throughout the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and much of the world. During several centuries of stagnation in the
https://courserooma.capella.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/HUM-FP/HUM-FP1000/180700/Course_Files/cf_assessment_2_context.html
1/2
11/13/2018
Assessment 2 Context
West, Islamic scholars preserved, communicated, and extrapolated from the classical period’s achievements in
philosophy, science, and medicine.
https://courserooma.capella.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/HUM-FP/HUM-FP1000/180700/Course_Files/cf_assessment_2_context.html
2/2
11/13/2018
Religious Traditions Scoring Guide
Religious Traditions Scoring Guide
CRITERIA
NON-PERFORMANCE
BASIC
PROFICIENT
DISTINGUISHED
Assess the role of
ritual in expressing
religious traditions.
Does not assess the
role of ritual in
expressing religious
traditions.
Explains the role of Assesses the role of Assesses the role of ritual in
ritual in expressing ritual in expressing
expressing religious
religious traditions. religious traditions.
traditions; assessment
includes explicit
connections between
specific rituals and religious
traditions.
Describe the
historical origins of
selected religious
traditions.
Does not describe the Lists the historical
historical origins of
origins of selected
selected religious
religious traditions.
traditions.
Describes the
historical origins of
selected religious
traditions.
Analyzes the historical
origins of selected religious
traditions.
Explain how
selected religious
traditions continue
to influence
contemporary life.
Does not explain how
selected religious
traditions continue to
influence
contemporary life.
Describes how
selected religious
traditions continue
to influence
contemporary life.
Explains how
selected religious
traditions continue
to influence
contemporary life.
Analyzes how selected
religious traditions continue
to influence contemporary
life; analysis includes
specific examples.
Explain the
transformative role
of religious values
in personal and
professional life.
Does not explain the
transformative role of
religious values in
personal and
professional life.
Describes the role
of religious values
in personal and
professional life.
Explains the
transformative role
of religious values in
personal and
professional life.
Explains the transformative
role of religious values in
personal and professional
life; explanation includes
specific examples from
religious practices.
Write coherently to
support a central
idea in appropriate
format with correct
grammar, usage,
and mechanics.
Does not write
coherently to support
a central idea in
appropriate format
with correct grammar,
usage, and
mechanics.
Writes in support
of a central idea
with inconsistent
attention to format,
grammar, usage,
and mechanics.
Writes coherently to
support a central
idea in appropriate
format with correct
grammar, usage,
and mechanics.
Writes coherently, using
evidence to support a
central idea in a consistent
format with correct
grammar, usage, and
mechanics.
https://courserooma.capella.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/HUM-FP/HUM-FP1000/180700/Scoring_Guides/u02a1_scoring_guide.html
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