Choose ONE of the essay topics below. 1. Both Durkheim and James address audien

Choose ONE of the essay topics below.
1. Both Durkheim and James address audiences who worry that their respective investigations disparage or discredit religion. Explain the source of the worry in each case, the way each author responds to it, and the general significance of the worries and responses for the study of religion.
2. Both Weber and Freud discuss long-term historical processes which have resulted in the unique conditions of modern human existence. Explain each process and the conditions of life that it produces, and then explain how, according to Weber and Freud respectively, a scholar of religion (in the one case, a sociologist of religion, in the other case, a psychologist of religion) stands within and towards those conditions of modern existence.
3. Both Wittgenstein and Benedict address a basic problem in the study of religion: how to understand people who think and live differently from oneself. Explain first the methods, questions, arguments which each author advances in recommending a sympathetic understanding of others, and then the lessons which we can or should learn about others and/or ourselves by these means.
Your essay should be approximately 1000-1200 words (but you have some leeway in both directions; quality is far more important than quantity) and should be uploaded as a PDF file to Quercus by 11:59pm on November 18, 2023 . Please double-space and use a 12-point, easy-to-read font.
This assignment is meant to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate the skills and knowledge central to our course. Hence, your paper’s quality (and so its mark) depends on how well it demonstrates the following:
1. An ability to explain the general issue and its significance to a reader who is relying on your explanation to get clear about the issue
2. A thoughtful understanding of the texts that you are analyzing
3. Well-organized thoughts
4. Engaging prose
Citations can be done in any standard format; it is your decision. Whichever format you choose, you should apply it consistently and make sure it is as easy as possible for your reader to look up the source of your quotations and paraphrases. This is not a research paper, so there’s no expectation that you will use any sources other than the primary ones discussed in class. If you do use other sources, please cite them. There is no need to cite lecture notes. If you do use them, do not view them as authoritative; in other words, you are responsible for every interpretative and evaluative claim in your paper.