HSC Studies of Religion Question Thread

[sageziman]

Has anyone used Jewish feminism as a Significant idea?
if so how do you structure an essay? - scaffold?

[elysepopplewell]

Has anyone used Jewish feminism as a Significant idea?
if so how do you structure an essay? - scaffold?

Hey Sageziman, I haven't studied this (although I would like to, it's interesting). With any of the significant people/school of thoughts essays, you need to recognise the contribution to the DEVELOPMENT and the EXPRESSION of the religion. I imagine Jewish feminism would actually mix really well with the ethics and practice options of Judaism as well, so it's likely you could apply the feminist theories to these other aspects of the course. I always suggest that you brainstorm all of the impacts of development and expression, and if you can, divide them into categories.

The development of the religion is about the way it has grown or spread, put simply. The expression of the religion is the way it is lived out, in practices mainly. Now, we can say the religion has developed because expression has become more accessible or inclusive, so they can overlap. But for the purpose of study notes (and clarity for you to draw on in an essay), I suggest you divide the significant ramifications of Jewish feminism into development and expression (no stress if there is overlap) because this will provide you a sort of scaffold for an essay. There's lots of ways to divide an essay on a significant person or school of thought. For Christianity, I studied Paul of Tarsus. I split his contributions into his missionary work, and his scriptual work. Now, this wouldn't apply to every significant person because not everyone studies a missionary, of course. So once you've recognised the contributions to development and expression of Judaism, you'll be able to map out some more patterns.

I'm seriously interested in knowing more about this - please do let me know what you find most interesting. If you have any questions about Jewish feminism, I'll happily do my own research to help you find answers if I can, because this topic interests me!

[CaitlinSavins]

What's the best way to structure Studies of Religion notes? I'm really unsure as to the best way to write them, considering things from both the Students learn about and Students learn to columns from the syllabus.

[jamonwindeyer]

What's the best way to structure Studies of Religion notes? I'm really unsure as to the best way to write them, considering things from both the Students learn about and Students learn to columns from the syllabus.

Hey! So for SOR, the questions are based on the right hand column (Learn To) - This is because extended response/short answers almost always come from that column in any subject. MC are the ones that come from the left, usually

So I would structure my notes around the Learn To column - Doing that will give the information that covers the Learn About column anyway remember to check out some of the free notes for SOR to get some ideas!

[zynab]

 hey guys,im new to this so i hope i posted this quetsion in the right place
 I'm having trouble structuring my essay on sexual ethics in Judaism
my teacher wants me to include all the following in on one contemporary example/issue
-content
- responsibility to man, god, and community
-the different perspectives (orthodox/progressive)
do you guys have any good idea on how to structure it

[jamonwindeyer]

hey guys,im new to this so i hope i posted this quetsion in the right place
 I'm having trouble structuring my essay on sexual ethics in Judaism
my teacher wants me to include all the following in on one contemporary example/issue
-content
- responsibility to man, god, and community
-the different perspectives (orthodox/progressive)
do you guys have any good idea on how to structure it

Hey zynab! You sure have, welcome to the forums! on only a rough understanding, I think it would be best to just thread the ideas of "responsibility to man, God and community" and "orthodox/progressive" throughout the response. Like, structure it however makes most sense (one paragraph per ethical issue perhaps?), and just embed/embue those ideas through the work. Chuck links to those things as you do your analysis

This is how I structured my SOR essays, it might interest you!

Hope this helps a little, and hope to see you around the forums in the coming months

[zynab]

ohk cool, thanks for the help jamon

[jamonwindeyer]

ohk cool, thanks for the help jamon

Very welcome!! Feel free to ask any other questions you may have!

[bananna]

Hi
I'm doing SOR 1 and I'm not making any notes...
I intend to start flashcards and use the book I bought from your lecture
Is that a good idea or should I be worried?

thank you

[sudodds]

Hi
I'm doing SOR 1 and I'm not making any notes...
I intend to start flashcards and use the book I bought from your lecture
Is that a good idea or should I be worried?

thank you

Hey bananna!
I never once wrote my own notes (not only for religion, but all my subjects), and relied instead on pre-made notes and writing practice responses Though it does really depend on how you study the most effectively, like if writing stuff down is useful to you then writing your own notes will be beneficial. However if that is not the way you study and your more of a practical learner, IMO the way you are planning to go ahead will be A-okay (even ideal - I know for me at least writing out notes would have been a waste of time as I simply didn't absorb information that way). Hope this helps!

[elysepopplewell]

Hi
I'm doing SOR 1 and I'm not making any notes...
I intend to start flashcards and use the book I bought from your lecture
Is that a good idea or should I be worried?

thank you

Hey bananna! My best way of studying was to write, and re-write, notes for each exam. So half yearlies, trials, HSC, always re writing, adding, then condensing, etc. I found this worked really well and was one of the least stressful ways of studying. I'd have my textbook open, any class notes I'd made, and any other notes I could find around the web, and I'd take from those notes and write my own palm cards. So, it sounds like we have similar methods!

[Mary_a]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to this website, so hopefully I am doing this correctly! My SOR2 teacher likes to choose fairly obscure focuses for significant people and ideas For Judaism we studied Holocaust Theology and for Christianity we studied Liberation Theology. To be perfectly honest I am incredibly confused in regards to Liberation Theology with regards to what I need to discuss ie. concepts and people because my teacher has provided so much information that the core concepts have become lost and I'm quite nervous because I cannot seem to grasp the notions and what I will need to discuss.

I was just wondering if anyone studied/is studying Liberation Theology and actually understands who to answer it in terms of what the markers/examiners are looking for?


Thank so much,

Mary 

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to this website, so hopefully I am doing this correctly! My SOR2 teacher likes to choose fairly obscure focuses for significant people and ideas For Judaism we studied Holocaust Theology and for Christianity we studied Liberation Theology. To be perfectly honest I am incredibly confused in regards to Liberation Theology with regards to what I need to discuss ie. concepts and people because my teacher has provided so much information that the core concepts have become lost and I'm quite nervous because I cannot seem to grasp the notions and what I will need to discuss.

I was just wondering if anyone studied/is studying Liberation Theology and actually understands who to answer it in terms of what the markers/examiners are looking for?


Thank so much,

Mary 

Hey Mary! Welcome to the forums - You are definitely asking in the right place, hope to see you around more throughout the year

I can't help you with this question specifically, unfortunately - But hopefully someone else can!

[elysepopplewell]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to this website, so hopefully I am doing this correctly! My SOR2 teacher likes to choose fairly obscure focuses for significant people and ideas For Judaism we studied Holocaust Theology and for Christianity we studied Liberation Theology. To be perfectly honest I am incredibly confused in regards to Liberation Theology with regards to what I need to discuss ie. concepts and people because my teacher has provided so much information that the core concepts have become lost and I'm quite nervous because I cannot seem to grasp the notions and what I will need to discuss.

I was just wondering if anyone studied/is studying Liberation Theology and actually understands who to answer it in terms of what the markers/examiners are looking for?


Thank so much,

Mary 

Hey Mary,
I haven't studied Holocaust or Liberation theory, but I might be able to offer some pointers for your notes and approaching the ideology. In this section of the syllabus, you need to be looking at the contribution to the DEVELOPMENT and the EXPRESSION of the religious tradition. So when you approach the ideology, you should be looking at the main tenants of the ideology so that you can, at least, "describe" the ideology to me in a few sentences if I asked you. Basically, you just need to understand the basics of it all. Then when you get deeper and start looking at specific events, speakers, and how the ideology progressed within context, you can start looking at things in terms of development and expression. So, these aren't always clear cut and often contribute to each other, but try to think of it like this:
-Contribution to the expression of a religion is a contribution to the way it is acted out and spoken about. Ultimately, the way it is expressed.
-Contribution to the development of a religion is a contribution to the spread or nature of the religion - did the spread of this ideology lead to an increased accessibility of the religion? Did it lead to more adherents? Did the community become stronger during this time?

Often, they are connected. But for the purpose of clarity in your notes, I would try to divide them.

Remember, ideologies are products of context. Consider carefully what gave rise to the ideology and how the ideology manifested itself in the religion's development and expression. What changed because of the ideology - essentially. What changes were caused?

So, even though the ideology may be an obscure study choice, you'll still follow the same study plan/syllabus as everyone else. So once you understand the basics of the ideology, you just need to slide it into the study scaffold of DEVELOPMENT and EXPRESSION in order to respond to the syllabus' requests!

[ajajaj]

Hi Elyse!
I downloaded your St Paul notes! Can you please clarify these points:

Gained many converts to Christianity through his new teaching - Particularly, in the Greek-speaking world. The cosmopolitan nature of Hellenic regions meant that the people were open to new ideas. In his Epistles, Paul invited them to move away from Jewish habits or at least become welcoming of non-Jews.
Paul Hellenised Christianity - This gave it the wide appeal it has today (please explain what 'hellenised' means!)
Thanks & I hope you're enjoying study abroad!