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Assignments: Paper Three

 

In some ways, the essays we’ve read have all been centrally concerned with the sometimes tense relationship between science and religion—from Boyarin’s quest to locate an identity that mediates between traditional Judaism and secularity to Gould’s explication of the dual meanings of evolution and the relation of that term to religious doctrine (which is precisely what makes the “E” word so dreaded). In Stille’s essay we have a very different model of the relationship between science and religion, one in which they come together both in the person of Mishra and in the efforts to save the Ganges. Given Stille’s essay, as well as all that you’ve learned from Boyarin and Gould, write a paper in which your project formulates a (or the) key strategy (or strategies) for harnessing both science and religion productively, for one’s own life or to solve complex political problems.

Some questions to consider:

  • Is Mishra successful in balancing the demands of science and religion? Is Boyarin or Gould? What makes them successful (or unsuccessful)?
  • How can Mishra’s experience offer us further insight into Boyarin’s quest for identity and Gould’s meditation on evolution?
  • Would you say that Boyarin’s and Mishra’s attempts represent a kind of variational or transformational evolution? And what difference would it make to see them through one or the other?
  • Can the lessons we learn from Boyarin and Mishra help resolve the controversy over the “dreaded ‘E’ word”? How might that work?
  • Could we use elements of all three authors to address problems in the real world? What does each teach us that, when taken together, provides a successful strategy for confronting serious political issues?
  • Where does each author find the meaning of life, and how is that location motivated by science and religion?

Rough drafts must be 4 pages long; final drafts must be 5-6 pages long. Bring a total of 3 copies of your draft to peer revision—I’ll collect one and your peers will comment on the other two.

 

 
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