Utilizing the course readings of the following questions with thesis-driven essay
Order Description
Utilizing the course readings, address one (3000 words) of the following questions with thesis-driven essay

• What does it mean to study religion anthropologically? How is the anthropological perspective on religion different from the perspective of other disciplines? What are the major schools of thought or theoretical approaches to religion in anthropology and related sciences? What is the contemporary cognitive scientific approach to religion (see Lambek’s introduction and Astuti and Bloch, “Are Ancestors Dead?”) and how does it relate to the anthropological method?

• What is the anthropological critique of “belief”? Is “belief” part of all religions or critical to religions? How are religious or supernatural beings “agents” like, but different from, human beings (see Descola, “Presence, Attachment, Origin”; Poirier, “The Dynamic Reproduction of Hunter-Gatherers’ Ontologies and Values”; and Cannell, “Ghosts and Ancestors in the Modern West”)? What are the main areas or topics on which religions offer ideas or explanations?

• What are the similarities and differences between ordinary language and religious language? Why are they similar, and why are they different? What is myth, and why has it been such a central topic in the study of religion? What was Lévi-Strauss’ approach to religious language (see Lambek, “Varieties of Semiotic Ideology in the Interpretation of Religion” and Stoller, “Religion and the Truth of Being”)? How is religious language a “performance,” and what are some of its performative types and traits?

• What, to you, is an adequate anthropological perspective on the concept of “morality” (see Laidlaw, Kwon, and Daswani)? How do capitalism, globalization, and notions of trade operate in constructing cultural and religious concepts of morality? What does it mean to talk about the “politics” of religion—both individually and collectively—in ethical terms? How does religion legitimate society—and sometimes contest society’s legitimacy?
• Lambek (p. 4), writes that “A particular challenge has been how to address those constellations of thought and practice that do not self-consciously describe themselves as ‘religions,’ as commensurable tokens of a common type, and yet seem to share certain features with those that do. Is ‘religion’ a category whose criteria of membership include self-conscious recognition as ‘a’ religion? Are the criteria to demarcate ‘religion’ from what is ‘not-religion’ or one religion from another objectively discernible?” In other words, is there any definitive, categorical way to delineate what is or is not a religion (or even to distinguish one religion from another)? If you believe it is possible to do so, tell me how you would go about this task and make an argument for why you think your method is adequate. If you do not believe this is possible, make the opposite argument: Tell me why it is not possible to objectively/categorically define “religion.” Also, please provide cases or examples when answering this question: In conversation with Swidler’s essay on the “four Cs,” examine at least one tradition/practice that Swidler would call a “religion” (based on transcendence) and one that he would call an “ideology.”

Writing Tips: As a “thesis-driven” essay, your essay should answer the given questions with a thesis—a clear argument that you can sum up concisely in one sentence (or at most, two sentences)—something like, “I think that X is the case here, because Y.” Then develop the paper by arguing for your thesis. Give me reasons: evidence, quotes, analysis, etc. to support your position. Also try to anticipate what objections other scholars might have to your argument and address them.

There are no “correct” answers here. I don’t care what argument you make, but rather care that you address the text and the question I asked in some substantial way and that you defend your argument well.