RELG and CLAS 401 Research Seminar
RELG 401/CLAS 401 is a capstone course where students will have the opportunity to practice and sharpen their research and writing skills to produce a major paper in their chosen area of emphasis, Classics or Religious Studies. Students are expected to participate orally and engage in class writing and reading activities designed to foster critical thinking and argumentative writing.
Students may write research papers on topics situated within the Near East from ca. 1200 BCE to the time of Constantine (d. 337) as the geographical and temporal constraints. This should allow for many topics in Hellenism and Roman Empire, as well as for ancient Israelite religion, and the origins of both rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. I am an historian, specifically an historian of religions, and you will have to work on an historical topic within the parameters I have given. I will not allow topics that focus on philosophy or literary interpretations, though literary texts may certainly be used as primary sources. You could, for example, focus on the social implications of those texts. Military topics will be scrutinized for their potential to yield an original thesis idea. Remember that your paper must have an argument: you cannot simply write a report.