Each student will write a term paper on some topic relating to how religious communities change and adapt as they move to different areas or how they deal with other faith communities.

Examples of the former would be how Christianity began in the Near East as a Jewish movement but eventually spread to non-Jews throughout the Roman Empire, or how Buddhism started in India but today has spread to places such as China and Japan where it has exerted immense influence, or how the slave trade led to a synthesis of African religions with Christianity producing the religions we know today as Santeria and Vodou.

Examples of the latter, would be how Muslims view Jews and Christians as Peoples of the Book while rejecting polytheistic religions, or how Hindus view the Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu (though this doesn’t mean they convert to Buddhism).

The paper should be six to nine pages long, excluding bibliography with 12 point font and lines double-spaced. Margins for the pages should be 1 inch on all sides and the style should conform to MLA formatting. Be sure that you include two to three academic or scholarly sources.