Defining the Sacred
Order Description
This thesis essay should be a 700-1000 word essay focusing on the assigned readings from the course “EARLY WORLD LITERATURE”.
Choose one of the following topics from either the Analytical. For the analytical choices, be sure to write a thesis-driven essay in response to the topic.
Analytical Choices
Defining the Sacred: Choose two sacred works that we have read, one from the two Abrahamic faiths (Islam and Christianity) and one from the Eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism) and make an argument about what similarities they have, and what those similarities can tell us about what it means for a work to be “sacred.”
• This should be a close reading essay, and should use as evidence primarily passages from the story or stories that you discuss. You may not use ANY outside sources.
• Analytical essays should be focused on making a debatable claim about the work in question. Informational essays or essays consisting of summary are not appropriate for either type of essay. Both types of essay should be supported with discussion of specific passages from the text(s) on which the essay is focused.
The essay should be in MLA essay format (see the sample essay attached below) and should have a self-assessment (which should answer these questions) as the first page. A works cited entry and in-text citations for each text discussed are required.