The Beginning of Christianity-Coursework

This course is reading and writing intensive.  You will need to spend significant time outside of class preparing for the assigned work.  During the course we will be studying three major works: Plato’s Republic, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Augustine’s Confessions.  During class, we will be analyzing them in their historical context.  This textual work, which will be more of a ‘workshop’ than lecture or straight discussion, is designed to prepare you to write your term paper, in addition to learning the sources themselves, their context, and what they reveal about history.  The discussion of the sources should in addition give you insight into what ‘doing history’ is, namely, the interpretation of sources, which allow us to say something about the past.
For your term paper, you will need to select an additional source, which you will then analyze in light of its historical context, doing much of the same type of analysis as we will be doing together in class.  The paper should be 10-12 pages in length, double-spaced in standard font (i.e.: Times New Roman, CG Times).  This is a research paper and you will need to document your work in footnotes.  The selected texts should fall into the chronological period between c. 500 CE and c. 1400 CE.  Your selected text must be approved by me.  The sooner you begin work, the better the final product will be!  You will also need to use the library for your work.  DO NOT rely on web-based materials, though you may use texts published on the web as the basis for your paper (e.g. from the Fordham Medieval Sourcebook) if approved by me.  You will also need to read what other scholars have said about the text and its author.  Reference librarians are more than willing to help you find materials, as am I.
In analyzing your text, here are some of the questions you should have in mind and answer, at least implicitly, in your paper:
Who was the author?
When was the text written?
For whom was the text written?
Why type of text is this, what is its genre?
What was the purpose of the text?  What was it intended to do?
How does the text go about meeting its intended purpose?
What are the textual strategies the author used to make his point and/or to make his text ‘work’?  Is it persuasive, didactic, argumentative, inspirational?
How does the text reflect its historical context?
What does the text tell us uniquely about the period in which it was written?
This list is not exhaustive, but it is a start.  The final paper is due in class on December 7, 2012.  I am happy to read drafts as I am able. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me.

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