Note: Your seminar grade will be determined by the quantity of your responses (how many questions you answer and how many other students you respond to) and the quality (how well you demonstrate an understanding of the ideas you're responding to, how detailed your responses are, how coherent and in-depth they are, etc.) |
Directions:
1. Read pages 1-62 in The Fingerprints of God .
2. Answer one of the following questions with a 3-5 paragraph mini-essay. Include quotes and specific references to the text in your answers!
- The Ingredients of Mysticism : In Chapters 1 and 2, Hagerty lays out some of the elements that are hallmarks of a mystical experience. What are some of these elements, and how does one recognize them? Why are the elements so consistent, no matter what the specific faith of the person who experiences them? Have you ever had such an experience, or known anyone who did? How did you (or the other person) interpret the event/s?
- The Gap Between Religion and Science : In Chapter 1, Hagerty lists some reasons why she thinks scientists have been reluctant to study religion. Summarize some of the reasons that science has resisted the study of religion, and discuss why this resistance has recently begun to fade, paving the way for more scientific study of religious and spiritual phenomena.
- Mind over Matter : In Chapter 3, Hagerty discusses some of the recent findings about the mind-body connection. What is the nature of this connection? What role does faith or spirituality play in the interaction between mind and body? Have you ever experienced a mind-body connection, or witnessed anyone who has?
- Hagerty's Thesis:
What do you infer Hagerty's main idea to be? How does she summarize what the book will be about, and how do you predict she will go on to demonstrate that thesis? Do you see any logical fallacies, or places where her logic falls apart, in the first three chapters? Where would you agree with Hagerty? Where would you disagree? Be as specific as possible.
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3. Submit your response to the Assignment Chamber.
4. Post your response to the Forum by midnight Monday, October 12.
5. Read all the other students' posts.
6. Respond to at least two other student's posts (more is better) . You will have until midnight, Monday, October 19, to read and respond to the other students' ideas in the website.
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