New Religions

History 3A

DeAnza College

Christopher R. Jackson, Ph.D.

Paper #3: The “New” Religions

In your third primary sources analysis paper you will compare Buddhism, Christianity and Islam: Where did these religions come from? What do they have in common? How are they different? Why did they spread so rapidly? What was especially appealing about these new religions? What impact did they have on the social and political structure of their respective worlds? Use your textbook and the following readings to write an essay comparing these three world religions.

Please note that this is a history assignment, and thus should attempt an objective analysis of the three religions. Your own feelings on the matter might be important to you, but you should consider carefully whether they belong in such an assignment.

Buddhism

Buddha’s Sermon

Christianity

Excerpt from Gospel according to Luke

Rule of St.Benedict

Eusebius on Constantine

Islam

Muhammad’s Call to Prophecy:

The Holy Qur’an

A Selection from Mohammed’sOrations

Typed, double-spaced, with citations and a list of references (formatted according to MLA style), approximately 700-900 words, to be submitted to the Turnitin website. The paper must be submitted by 11:59 pm on the date due. Note: before sending the assignment, you must rename the file in the following format: LastnameFirstname-papernumber. Example: JacksonChristopher-paper1. If the file is not properly named, it will not be accepted. If the file cannot be opened by MS-Word, it will not be accepted. These assignments will be posted on the class website. Each worth 12.5 points. Click on the links for the assignments. The papers will be graded and returned as a PDF via e-mail. For help on MLA formatting, consult the Purdue Owl.