Humanities 110

Paper topics # 3

Due Date: Saturday, April 22, 2000, 5 pm

The format and length of the paper will be determined by your conference leader.

1. Compare the representations and significance of the crucifixion scene in the Gospels of Matthew and John.

2. Compare the idea of covenant in one episode from Genesis (Noah or Abraham) with that in the Gospel of either Matthew or John.

3. Define the criteria for chosenness or election in two of the following: Isaiah, Matthew, John.

4. Compare the representations of evil in two of the following: Matthew, Tractate Avot, John, Paul, Revelations, Life of Anthony.

5. Identify and compare the models of heroism represented in two of the following texts: The Way Things Are, Germania, Exodus, Daniel, The Jewish Wars, Tractate Avot, The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas, the Golden Ass.

6. Compare the significance of sacrifice in either Genesis or Exodus with that in the Gospel of either Matthew or John.

7. Compare how two of the following figures justify faith in the absence of tangible interaction with the divine: Isaiah, Daniel, Matthew, Josephus, John, Perpetua.

8. It could be said that Roman, Judaic, and early Christian cultures all exhibit an interest in askesis -- a disciplined withdrawal from, or renunciation of, the strictly temporal or material world for the benefit of individual spiritual development. Compare the nature of renunciation and its rewards as represented in two of the following texts: Gospel of Matthew, the Golden Ass, The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas, The Life of Anthony.

9. In The World of Late Antiquity (p. 82), Peter Brown argues that: "it was more significant for the immediate future of Christianity that the leaders of the Christian church ... found they could identify themselves with the culture, outlook and needs of the average well-to-do civilian. From being a sect ranged against or to one side of Roman civilization, Christianity became a church prepared to absorb a whole society." Evaluate this view by considering the relation between the Roman institutions, beliefs and ideals we have studied and those represented in one of the following: Matthew, John, Paul, and Perpetua.

10. In consultation with your advisor, write on a topic of your own devising.