Essay

#2: October 14 at 7 pm
Length: 1500 1800 words

For this essay, you must:
Choose one of my prompts or produce your own prompt.
Identify weaknesses from your first essay that you can improve upon in this
essay. This will also involve coming up with strategies for addressing these
issues. Ill have you talk about this in your cover sheet.
Bring an introduction, one or two paragraphs, and an outline of your essay for
the in class peer review on October 12. (Youre welcome to bring a full draft,
but I wanted to list the minimum I expect you to bring.)

As with your first essay, you must:
make an argument (this does not mean that you should tell me whether or
not you think something is good or bad or right or wrong; rather, it means
that you should present a thesis with a clear statement of analysis.)
offer textual evidence that renders your argument compelling.
Use the MLA style to cite your sources both in the text and in a works cited
at the end of the paper.
Answer the questions on the cover sheet with a few questions I ask you to
answer.

Your essay will also be evaluated in terms of:
clarity of organization
word choice
grammar
punctuation
spelling
Your second essay requires you to employ theory (Tillich, Orsi, or Lincoln) to analyze
some aspect of Bowman and/or Browns books. In order to write an effective essay,
you will want to be sure that you focus on a particular theme that you can usefully
explore with the help of one of the theory readings. For example:
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-
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How does Bob Orsis discussion of the relationships that form within religions
help us better understand Vodou?
According to Bruce Lincolns definition, does Vodou constitute a religion?
Employing Paul Tillichs idea of ultimate concern, how can we understand
plural marriage as a critical part of Mormon faith?

Youre welcome to answer any of the questions I just provided as examples, but
youre equally welcome to propose and answer your own question.
Also: I would strongly prefer that you not re-use the same theorist that you employed
for the first essay. That said, some of you employed two theorists (for example
Lincoln and Orsi) in your first essay; in that case, you can use whichever theorist you
want for the second paper.