Christian Denominations Analysis Essay Questions

PART ONE

For this assignment, you will need to submit a list of 3 academic sources that you plan on using for your Christian Diversity paper along with a brief explanation for each source detailing why you think it is a reliable source.

Please list the 3 sources (including the link to the website if you found it online).

Then, for every source please write 1-3 sentences explaining how you found this source and why you think it is reliable.

B. You also need to let me know which two churches you are going to visit for your final paper. For this part of the assignment, you have three options:

1. Visit a local church for their regular Sunday service (or another day if they do services on other days of the week)

2. Watch a service streamed online if you can find a church (local or not) that streams their weekly services online

3. If you are unable to find either of these options for one of the churches/denominations that you are researching, you could also watch a documentary about that church/denomination or interview someone who identifies as part of that church/denomination. If you are choosing this option, please explain in detail what documentary you are going to watch and why you feel it’s relevant and who you are going to interview.

PART TWO

One of the main themes of our course is Christian Diversity – that in its over 2000 year history, Christians have understood the life, teachings, and meaning of Jesus very differently. These differences have led to an incredible diversity of denominations and churches within the religion we call Christianity. So, for your final paper you are going to choose two of these denominations or churches within Christianity and research their distinctive histories, teachings, doctrines, and practices. In your paper I want you to learn and write about both what makes these particular forms of Christianity unique as well as what ties them together with the rest of the Christian “family”.

STEP ONE: CHOOSE TWO CHURCHES OR DENOMINATIONS

The first thing that you will need to do is choose two different denominations or churches within Christianity to write about. You can access a list of denominations and churches here – I tried to include as many Christian denominations/churches as I could here, but I know there are others out there. If you have heard of a particular form of Christianity that you want to write about that’s not on this list, just let me know!

On September 18 you will be required submit the two churches/denominations you will be writing about as well as a short explanation as to why you want to research those two. More detailed instructions for that assignment are located here.

STEP TWO: RESEARCH YOUR CHURCHES/DENOMINATIONS

Once you have chosen the two denominations/churches that you will write about, it is time to start researching. You can of course begin your search by looking online – just remember that you have to be very cautious about what are trustworthy and not trustworthy sites concerning religion. Sometimes a website states that it is just trying to give information about a particular religion or denomination, but they might actually be trying to convince someone that this religion/denomination is wrong or bad. It is best to look at information published by the official organization of that church/denomination itself as well as information published by a college, university, reputable news source, etc. I always tell students that it’s okay to start with Wikipedia! It’s a great place to BEGIN your research, never to finish it. Wikipedia has good introductory information on pretty much any topic, but their best resource is really their bibliographies at the bottom of each page. That will give you a great idea of where to go to look more deeply into this topic – it usually consists of books, articles, websites, interviews, etc. that you can then use to locate more detailed information.

I also suggest visiting the Grossmont Library – either in person or online. You can go directly to their website here.Links to an external site. Right from their homepage you can begin your research by typing in the titles of your churches/denominations.

I also love searching for books on Amazon because they have a great algorithm to help show you many related books on a specific topic, then I hop right over to the San Diego Library websiteLinks to an external site. to see if they have that book so I can read it for free! (BTW if you don’t have a library card yet, get one! I just read that California is going to start letting people get into California State Parks for free with their library card – books and nature both for free – what could be better?)

On October 2 you will be required to submit an Annotated Bibliography where you let me know a few of the resources you have found as well as what type of information those resources are providing.

STEP THREE: ATTEND OR WATCH A SERVICE AT YOUR CHOSEN CHURCHES

In order to get a better understanding of the two churches or denominations that you have chosen, I would like you to either visit a weekly Sunday service at a local church that corresponds to your chosen church/denomination or watch a service online. During the pandemic, many Christian churches began to stream their services online, so watching a weekly service is also acceptable for this assignment if there isn’t a local church or you prefer to watch a service instead of attend one in-person.

STEP FOUR: WRITE YOUR PAPER

After you have gotten started on your research you can start writing your paper, which should address the following questions and follow the following format:

INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH:

1. What two denominations/churches are you going to compare in your paper?

2. Why did you choose these two?

3. Did you have any previous knowledge or experience with either of these denominations/churches?

4. What expectations do you have about the relationship between these two denominations? i.e. do you think that they will be very similar? Or do you think that they will be very different from each other?

BODY OF YOUR PAPER:

Denomination/Church One:

1. What are the origins of this denomination/church? Does it trace its origins back to Jesus and the Apostles? And/or is there a particular time at which this denomination/church broke away from a larger church/denomination? (This could be from the Imperial Church, the Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, or another denomination of Protestantism)

2. Are there any significant events in the history of this church/denomination?

3. What are the demographics of this church/denomination?

• In what countries are there members of this church/denomination?
• How many members of this church/denomination are there?
• Can you find any information on whether this is a growing or diminishing movement? (i.e. are they gaining or losing members overall?)

4. How does this church/denomination view Jesus? Do they follow or disagree with the Nicene Creed? Do they agree or disagree with the Council of Chalcedon? Do they have any unique beliefs about Jesus, the Trinity, afterlife, etc. that are not shared by other Christian churches/denominations?

5. Describe the worship practices of this church/denomination. How do they worship or revere Jesus? Do they celebrate any of the sacraments? If so, how many? What is their weekly service like?

6. Describe the worship space of this church/denomination. Where do members of this church/denomination gather together? What does the space look like? Is it highly decorated or more bare and minimalist? Can you find any information on WHY this church/denomination sees this as the most appropriate way to create a holy space?

Denomination/Church Two:

1. What are the origins of this denomination/church? Does it trace its origins back to Jesus and the Apostles? And/or is there a particular time at which this denomination/church broke away from a larger church/denomination? (This could be from the Imperial Church, the Catholic Church, Orthodox Church or another denomination of Protestantism)

2. Are there any significant events in the history of this church/denomination?

3. What are the demographics of this church/denomination?

• In what countries are there members of this church/denomination?
• How many members of this church/denomination are there?
• Can you find any information on whether this is a growing or diminishing movement? (i.e. are they gaining or losing members overall?)

4. How does this church/denomination view Jesus? Do they follow or disagree with the Nicene Creed? Do they agree or disagree with the Council of Chalcedon? Do they have any unique beliefs about Jesus, the Trinity, afterlife, etc. that are not shared by other Christian churches/denominations?

5. Describe the worship practices of this church/denomination. How do they worship or revere Jesus? Do they celebrate any of the sacraments? If so, how many? What is their weekly service like?

6. Describe the worship space of this church/denomination. Where do members of this church/denomination gather together? What does the space look like? Is it highly decorated or more bare and minimalist? Can you find any information on WHY this church/denomination sees this as the most appropriate way to create a holy space?

COMPARATIVE CONCLUSION PARAGRAPH:

You will finish your paper by doing a general comparison of the two denominations/churches, which should include the following:

How are these denominations/churches different from each other?

How are they similar? What do they share?

Do you believe that these two churches could ever be “in communion with each other” (i.e. recognize the validity of each others’ approach to the Christian tradition)?