How to Write an Essay on a Religion
Before attempting to write an essay on religion, it is essential to outline your research methodology. This helps to avoid serious omissions and errors in content.
Be sure to always verify your research sources in the event a bibliography is required as supporting data for your content or the essay may spawn future essays. For example, your methodology should outline factors such as choice of religion, origins of religious data and references, overall intent of the essay and conclusive summation.
An essay on religion can also be supported by interviews with religious leaders who grant rights to use information they provide.
Religion topics may include:
- Global effect of the specific religion
- Consequential religious developments and changes
- Religion vs. science
- Religious theories and philosophy
- Denominational and demographic conversion patterns
- Religious psychology
Topics for an Essay
The topics chosen for an essay on religion can vary so long as the variables are linked to the specific purpose of the essay.
The essay’s initial introduction should clearly, precisely and accurately delineate the basis of the topic chosen.
For instance, an essay on Baha’i Faith offers the essayist the ability to present a topic that introduces Baha’i as a faith that teaches its followers the essential worth of all religions based on the unity of all people.
Ref: https://www.bahai.org/
How to Write an Essay
The first sentence of an essay should be the most powerful lead into the total essay structure. For an essay on religion, the first sentence should quickly identify religion as the main subject.
Introduction of the main subjects should be followed by a historical account of the particular religion, founders and important dates and events in the religion’s early history.
It may also be worthwhile to create a controversial or contradictory arguments, pro or con, related to the religion of choice.
You can use footnotes to indicate additional information needed for further explanation, elucidation or notification.
The Body of an Essay on Religion
Always keep in mind an essay should have optimal reader appeal even when it is mainly for submission as a college study report. Therein lies the total value of the essay.
The body of an essay on religion needs to educate the reader as to the religious intent of the founder and congregants.
This part of the essay may go into deeper details of the religion’s tenets of faith, practices, congregational ceremonies and rites and also active participation of the religion’s congregants.
Highlight the Mental, Spiritual, Physical and MetaPhysical Features
At this point in the essay’s content, it may be advantageous to revert to an individualistic approach that highlights the religion’s mental, spiritual, physical and metaphysical features incorporated into the tenets of the particular faith as it relates to each individual practitioner.
These features may include religious practices that enhance spirituality such as deep mental meditation, spiritual cloistered religious retreats that involve fasting and abstinence, physical religious practices such as seasonal rituals like Stations of the Cross practiced during Lent in the Roman Catholic faith or metaphysical studies of religious philosophies from varied philosophers that include:
- Thomas Aquinas
- Rene Descartes
- Thomas Merton
- Thomas More
- Soren Kierkegaard
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- Baruch Spinoza
- Richard Swinburn
- Muhammad
There are many other philosophers who can be researched for an essay on religion, depending on the specific religion chosen.
Ref: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philosophy-religion/
Make an Essay on Religion Interesting
Should the choice of an essay on religion be focused on elements such as gender or race, the body of the essay should be replete with interesting information on motivations of the religion’s founder(s) as well as that of congregants/practitioners. Religion essay topics of this nature are fully capable of maintaining reader interest.
Make effective and efficient use of well-researched data by choosing information that captures reader attention most expediently.
One tip to identify this type of captive writing style is awareness of information that also captures the essayist’s attention.
Conclusion
The most effective religion essay topics should be the beating heart of the essay’s functionality and main purpose.
Make sure the essay is tightly knit from introduction to conclusion. The conclusion to an essay on religion should fulfill the objective of the essayist’s intent and initiative as well as sate the reader’s desire to be fully informed and interested in the religion essay topics.
