visits to religious institutions

visits to religious institutions

Site Visit Papers

During this course, you will make three visits to religious institutions that are new to you. While there, you will observe a service, and then write a paper about your experience (for a total of three visits to three different religious institutions, and three associated papers). Instructions are below for the paper you will write. You will need to plan your visit in advance, so be thinking now about which institutions you might like to visit.

Be sensitive to the religious community you will visit. Please dress and behave properly, and arrive on-time. For greater background information about the community you are planning to visit, be sure to check out the religion-specific chapters posted on canvas, under the module label ‘Site Visits’, from Arthur Magida’s How to Be a Perfect Stranger: A Guide to Etiquette in Other People’s Religious Ceremonies, 2 vols., Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing 1996, 1997.

Most religious leaders welcome visitors, so be sure to try to contact the institution in advance of your visit, or contact someone while there, and identify yourself as a visitor from a local university. Contacting someone in advance not only has the benefit of helping to allay any anxieties you may have, but it also might afford you the opportunity to ask a religious leader or community representative more questions, or to go on a tour of the site. It is not always possible beforehand to get in contact with someone from the community, but do not worry; simply identify yourself as a visitor, and people are very likely to welcome you and assist you in your visit.

Next, you will write a 2- to 3-page paper that answers the following questions. Be sure to use Times New Roman font, size 12, and to double-space your papers. Before the applicable deadline, submit your paper in the ‘Assignments’ tab on Canvas. If you would like, feel free as well to post pictures of your visit.

1) Where did you visit? Please describe the location and the community’s denominational affiliation. Was it large? Small? Conservative? Liberal? What were your impressions of the space? Did the layout of the inside space reflect religious meaning?

2) What was the religious service like? How long was it? What kinds of rituals did you observe? What special clothing did the leaders wear? What sacred symbols (if any) inside the space did you notice? To what extent did the service you observed recall a central myth, story, text, or set of beliefs?

3) Your experience: Did you meet or see anyone associated with the site? If so, what position did they hold within the community, and how did you know? Did you feel welcomed? Like an outsider? Were you comfortable? Did the experience feel inviting or distancing? What did you learn about this religious tradition that you did not know before? Do you feel changed in some way as a result of this experience? If so, how?