I'm also confused about this.
According to the syllabus:
"the nature, role and importance of pivotal individuals or schools of thought:
– TWO pivotal individuals or schools of thought, ONE from each of TWO religious traditions chosen from the same period
EITHER from the period of early foundation."
Note the capitalised "either" so I assume we only need to know one period?
However,
"the effect that TWO pivotal individuals or schools of thought from the contemporary period, ONE from each of TWO religious traditions, have had on the everyday lives of believers."
This dot point stipulates we must know the "Everyday life of believers" for the contemporary period.
The last one states
"Students learn to:
compare and contrast the effects brought about by TWO pivotal individuals or schools of thought from the same period, ONE from each of the TWO religious traditions, with reference to TWO of the following areas:
– challenge to the tradition
– extent and significance of the change
– reaction and response by the religious tradition
– changes in society requiring adaptation of teachings
– continuing impact today."
The final dot point indicates we will only need to know about one period in this case. Since the cross religion studies question is now an essay, I asuume they will only ask a "Everyday life of Believers question" or ask us to compare/contrast role, nature, importance, challenge to tradition, contnuing impact today, etc. for either period .
Really hope I'm right here.