Review Guide for Mid-term Exam for Introduction to World Religions S 2017
**In addition to the sources listed below, you may check the Power Point slides for class lectures that I posted to the course website**
Basic Details
We will meet in the class room for the exam
The exam will be a closed-book exam
You may bring 1 page with basic outlines for your answers with you the day of the exam
This 1 page may list the basic points that you will make, but cannot include quotations
and detailed answers for your question
You will place the 1 page outline on your desk and I will review it as the exam begins
Your essay answers should be about 2-3 paragraphs in length
You will be given three questions on the exam
The three questions will be identical to three of the questions below
You will have to answer two and only two of those three questions on the exam
You can choose the two out of three questions that you answer
Rubric
Here is a rubric to understand how you should answer them:
An “A” answer:
Does not state opinions, but rather uses specific language and examples from the materials to answer the question
Uses enough examples to make a strong answer
Uses clear language
Does not include any language that is irrelevant to the answer
A “B” answer:
Uses some specific language and examples from the materials, but leaves out some important information
Language is understandable but not very clear
Includes language that is not relevant to the answer
A “C” answer:
Includes some examples, but also includes opinions instead of examples from the material
Language is not clear
Includes language that is not relevant to the answer
A “D” answer:
Includes few examples from the material
Relies on opinion more than examples from the material
Language is heard to understand
Most language is not relevant to the answer
A failing answer
Does not adequately use examples from the material
Relies entirely on opinion
Language is not understandable
Most language is not relevant to the answer
Questions:
I. Cultural practices and challenges of international justice
Female Genital Mutilation is About Controlling Female Sexuality
Clarion Project – Challenging Extremism | Promoting Dialogue
Is Female Genital Mutilation an Islamic Problem?
http://www.meforum.org/1629/is-female-genital-mutilation-an-islamic-problem
Points to address:
Explain why the video claims that female genital mutilation is a way of controlling female sexuality
Explain how the video claims that female genital mutilation relates to the honor of men and to patriarchy
Explain why the article claims that some elements of Islam and Middle Eastern culture promote female genital mutilation?
II. Describe Sufism
Sources to use:
“Rumi Love and Ecstasy Poems” posted to course website
Video: Sufi Soul, clips available through Power Point slides on Sufism and Islam posted to course website
Points to address:
Take quotations from two of the poems in “Rumi Love and Ecstasy Poems”
These quotations should be close, but since you are remembering them they do not have to be exact
Explain that Rumi connects these poems to the experience of the divine lover
Explain why you chose these two poems
Contrast Rumi’s message with the ideas of Islam that the Western world often sees in the popular media
Describe the practice of whirling as you see it in the “club whirler” from Sufi Soul
Describe the experience that the club whirler says she has when she is performing
Use her words/quotations and be specific
Describe how the DJ experiences her whirling
Describe how the DJ experiences Sufism
III Describe Islamic Ritual Practices
Sources to use:
Power Point slides posted to course website
Living Religions
Points to address:
Describe the following:
The four pillars of Islam
The daily Prayers or Salaat
Ramadan
Hajj: the pilgrimage to Mecca
The Ka’bah
Choose 2 characters from “Inside Mecca” and describe 3 points in time during their journey to Mecca and their experience of Hajj that stand out to you about this
Islamic experience
IV. How does Wahhabism relate to ISIS?
Sources:
“You Can’t Understand ISIS If You Don’t Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia” (read in detail): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/isis-
wahhabism-saudi-arabia_b_5717157.html
“What is Wahhabism? The reactionary branch of Islam said to be ‘the main source of global terrorism’” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/29/what-is-wahhabism-
the-reactionary-branch-of-islam-said-to-be-the/
“Saudi Arabia’s top clerics condemn Paris attack” http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/11/14/Saudi-Arabia-s-top-clerics-condemn-Paris-attack.html
Points to address:
Describe who Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab is
Define the interpretation of Islam that Wahhab purported to follow
The difference between Wahhab and the practitioners of mainstream Islam that surrounded him in his time
Describe who Ibn Saud is
The reason that Saud was interested in making an alliance with Wahhab
The relation of ISIS to Wahhabism
The relation of contemporary representatives of Islam to the terrorist attacks that Wahhabists justify
V. How according to Chomsky does U.S. foreign policy play a role in the development of ISIS?
Sources:
“The United States is a Leading Terrorist State”
The United States is a Leading Terrorist State: An Interview with Noam Chomsky
“America Enabled Radical Islam…”
http://www.salon.com/2015/10/18/america_enabled_radical_islam_how_the_cia_george_w_bush_and_many_others_helped_create_isis/
“How Disbanding the Iraqi Army Fueled ISIS”
http://time.com/3900753/isis-iraq-syria-army-united-states-military/
Points to address:
Brief examples of the strategies of the United States in the Middle East since the 1960s
The disbanding of the Iraqi army as an example of U.S. strategies in the Middle East
VI. Why did the United States Invade Iraq according to the official documents that the Bush administration filed when they invaded Iraq? Note that these official
documents were later declassified and available to the public, but that the documents were not available to the public when Bush went to war.
And, how are the reasons in those documents different from the reasons for the invasion of Iraq that the Bush administration told the American public and the world
when Bush announced the invasion on TV?
Sources:
“Why We Did It” – The Invasion of Iraq https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jv3CVhwies
Bush announcement of invasion of Iraq
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zT-ZHBbOzM
“Iraq invasion was about oil”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/20/iraq-war-oil-resources-energy-peak-scarcity-economy
“Iraq war was illegal and breached UN charter, says Annan” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/16/iraq.iraq
Points to address:
Point by point, how the claims in Bush’s announcement of war compare to the claims of official documents
The evidence that exists to show that the U.S. breached the UN charter when they invaded Iraq
VII. Approaches to Religion
Sources to use:
“Religious Responses” in LR
Points to address:
Describe in detail the following perspectives about religion. Be sure to include the figures we talked about that represent the different perspectives (for example,
Karl Marx is one of the figures who represents materialism):
Process
Functional
Materialist
Faith
Define the following terms:
Theistic
Monotheistic
Polytheistic
Monistic
Non-theistic
