Reed College
Reed College

Humanities 110

Introduction to the Humanities

Paper Topics | Spring 2001 | Paper 3

Due Date: Saturday, April 21st, 2001, 5 p.m. in the Faculty mailboxes in Eliot.
The format and length of the paper will be determined by your conference leader.

  1. In "The Gospel According to Matthew," Jesus says the following: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." (V:17) To what extent do Jesus' own teachings in Chapter Five support or undermine this bold pronouncement? In order to build your case, be sure to draw explicit comparisons between the teachings in Chapter Five and the Jewish laws and traditions that we have encountered in the Hebrew Bible.

  2. Comparing the speeches of Josephus (pp. 317-322), Titus (pp. 339-341) and Eleazar (pp. 398-403) in The Jewish Wars, analyze each speaker's beliefs about the proper relation between political and divine authority.

  3. Choosing 2 or 3 different characters from the following list, analyze the ways in which each represents him or herself as a "combatant for God": Matthew's Jesus, Josephus' Eleazar (leader of the Sicarii at Masada), Perpetua, Athanasius' Antony.

  4. Choosing a pair of texts from our current readings (Week 9-12), compare the ways in which they represent one of the following key figures in the Judaic and early Christian traditions: patriarch, priest, prophet, rabbi, rebel, or ascetic. For example, you could compare the ways in which "The Rule of the Community" and The Life of Antony represent differing ideals or models of asceticism. Or you could compare the ways in which Matthew's Gospel and John's Revelation represent differing models of prophecy. Or you could compare the ways in which Matthew's Gospel and The Tractate Avot represent different models of the rabbi and his teaching. (The possibilities for combination are numerous.)

  5. Drawing on specific scenes from Matthew's and John's gospels, compare the way in which those scenes illustrate or exemplify particular tenets in Matthew's and John's respective theologies.

  6. How is the tale of Cupid and Pysche related to the rest of Apuleius’ Golden Ass?

  7. In his Letter to the Romans, what uses does Paul make of the Abraham and Isaac story?

  8. Find an image from any period depicting an episode from Athansius’ Life of St. Anthony. How does this image construct an idea of the ascetic in visual terms?

  9. In consultation with your conference leader, write a topic of your own devising.