some of the innumerable options for research/writing are:
- design your own religion,
- interview people about science/religion,
- observe religious service, ritual, scientific work,
- some kind of analysis of religious art or music,
- research on any aspects of religion or science,
- compare common themes among several religions,
- some aspect of the history of religions,
- some aspect of the anthropology of religions,
- consider particularly interesting areas that we are omitting for lack of time:
sufism
jewish mysticism
medieval christian mysticism
buddhism
chinese and japanese religions/philosophies
bahai
aspects of christianity or judaism
etc.
some interesting books that you might look at:
- wm. james, varieties of religious experience;
- evelyn underhill, mysticism;
- rudolf otto, idea of the holy;
- stanley tambiah, magic, science, religion, and the scope of rationality;
- ludwig wittgenstein, various writings on religion;
- wm. cantwell smith, the meaning and end of religion, or faith and belief;
- john hick, an interpretation of religion: human responses to the transcendent;
- max weber, the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, other writings on sociology of religion;
- writings of:
augustine
meister eckhart
mechteld of magdeburg
hildegard of bingen
julian of norwich
al-ghazzali
rumi
hafiz
baal shem tov
kabbalah
luther
calvin
john wesley
etc.- thomas kuhn, structure of scientific revolution;
- paul feyerabend, against method;
- karl popper, various books on how science works;
- john brooke, geoffrey cantor,reconstructing nature: the engagement of science and religion;
- erik erikson, young man luther
you MUST discuss your proposed topic with me before embarking on it so we can shape it into something doable.
i have many of the books cited above so ask me about one if you are interested, and i will lend it to you.