Why do fundamentalist and New Age religions want to transform the self and/or society? What techniques do they utilize to gain support and achieve this transformation?

This is a 4-5 paged double spaced essay (Times New Roman, 12pt, 1 inch margins). That means that a minimum of 4 complete pages is required for full credit.

Prompt #1:

Sociologists and anthropologists have identified the second half of the 20th century in America as a time of intensified apocalyptic feeling, a time when fundamentalist and New Age religions articulated new visions of world transformation and salvation. Through a comparative analysis of following two case studies answer the following questions: Why do fundamentalist and New Age religions want to transform the self and/or society? What techniques do they utilize to gain support and achieve this transformation?

Your thesis must clearly provide an answer to both prompt questions (so you will probably need a two part, 2-3 sentence thesis to do this).

Case studies:
-Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion by Benjamin Zeller
-New Age and Neopagan Religions in America by Sarah Pike

Reminders:
-A specific thesis that very clearly answers the prompt question(s). The thesis should then be reinforced throughout the paper in every body paragraph.

-An organized paper. Ideas should flow logically from one to the next. All paragraphs begin with clear transitions and topic sentences.

-All examples selected from the readings should be clearly and explicitly linked back to the overarching paper thesis. The significance of each example pulled from the reading must be clearly explained to the reader.

-Proper use of in-text citations whenever you are summarizing or directly quoting a text from the syllabus.

-Make sure that you bring clear illustrative examples from the readings to elaborate and support your claims.

-Avoid copying long direct quotes into your essay. Quote only the phrases that are really critical to include to make your point. In general, it is always better to summarize the author’s argument in your own words and use an in-text citation as this demonstrates your clear understanding of the text. If direct quotes are used, they should be integrated into a complete sentence and not “left hanging” in the paragraph. All direct quotes should always be followed up with one sentence of explanation so that their significance to your main argument is clear to the reader.

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