Grading:

Visual or Performance Art 20%. The most important element will be the creation of pieces of student visual and/or performing arts relevant to religion in the final weeks of the course, but there will be some more formal written work (two short papers on religion and art: one around the middle of the semester and another towards the end. Remember that this must be visual or performance art. Although you can use any artistic medium, you must provide a visual display or peformance for the class. So, for example, you can write a poem, but you have to read it before the class. Student Exhibitions will take place from week 13 onwards.

Class Documentation 15%. Also very important will be the ongoing documentation of students' responses to the course material. This will be something like a class journal and must include your responses to the classes, to our discussions and to the class readings. It will preferably be submitted as a computer document so that you can include any other material you feel appropriate, including visual images or even sound bites and movie clips.

Students will also be asked to report on at least three "Co-curricular activities" 10% that is, activities or events outside of class that the student deems relevant to the topic of this course. Turn in your co-curricular reports IN your class documentation--three in all over the whole semester; they need only be about 250 words in length. Mark them as a co-curricular report by giving them an appropriate heading.

Your class documentation should also eventually include readers' responses, although these are optional. They will add up to 10% to your grade. A maximum of three of these readers' responses may be submitted in the form of short (c. 250 words), focused reviews of specific pieces of reading. Choose one chapter, or even one part of one chapter, from the class text book or from a reading of your own selection, and write a short summary and review. Explain its contents and your reaction to it. Mark them as a reader's report by giving them an appropriate heading.

Paper #One 5%A short essay (due October 11th) showing your own original research into some facet of the course material and demonstrating your own understanding of religion and the arts. See here for some more information. The papers will be graded for both creativity and insight and for technical standard of writing. See here for many errors that can easily be avoided.

Paper #Two 10%A second, slightly longer, essay (due November 29th) showing your own original research into some facet of the course material and demonstrating your own understanding of religion and the arts. See here for some more information.

Final Exam 10%The final examination will consist of a final re-submission of your entire class documentation from the beginning to the end of the semester. This should be corrected and upgraded. Comments and ideas from later in the course should be integrated into the materials from earlier. The instructor's responses, corrections and comments should likewise be integrated into the final text.

Class participation 10%

(and, of course, class attendance) up to 10% of the grade