Reed College
Reed College

Humanities 110

Introduction to the Humanities

Paper Topics | Spring 2003 | Paper 3

Due Date: Saturday, 26 April 2003, 5 pm in Faculty mailboxes
The format and length of the paper will be determined by your conference leader.

  1. Why does Jesus employ parables to communicate his teaching? In what respect is paradox a crucial element within these parables, and how does this articulate the relation between the Letter and the Spirit, the Law and the Word presented in the Gospels of Matthew and John.

  2. Compare the attitudes toward Jewish religious law and the treatment of non-Jews expressed in the sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, with the views of Paul on the same subjects in his Letter to the Romans. If we take Paul to be offering a reading or interpretation of Jesus' teachings, what significant choices does Paul make, where others might be possible. Explain why those choices are significant.

  3. In the book of Revelation, the present age culminates with both celebration and lamentation over the destruction of Rome/Babylon (18.1-19.10). What is wrong, or right, with Rome? How is the reader supposed to respond to this reading of Rome?

  4. In Apuleius's The Golden Ass, is "curiosity" presented as an impediment to the attainment of happiness and truth? Why or why not?

  5. Apuleius, like Ovid, makes a longer narrative out of inset stories. Choose one or two of these stories. What is the relevance of each to the larger structure and themes of The Golden Ass.

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

  7. Compare the representations of evil in two of the following: Matthew, Tractate Avot, John, Paul, and Revelation.

  8. Identify and compare the models of herioism represented in two of the following texts: Daniel, The Jewish Wars, Tractate Avot, The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas, and The Golden Ass.

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

  10. Discuss the prologue of John, the Tractate Avot, or The Golden Ass. In what ways does the prologue fit and fail to fit with the central theme of the text?

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