1. Ancient Gender Considerations: 1.1, 1.4, 2.1. Gender roles and challenges thereto remain a lively topics of debate today. Are gender roles biologically or socially determined? Neither? Both?

2. Marriage: 1.5, 4.7, 10.6. Some of civilization’s earliest laws pertained to marriage, but a variety of constraints and freedoms pertained husbands and wives. How do these laws reflect different civilizations’ treatments of gender?

3. Legal History: 1.6, 4.6, 6.2. All cultures have had various taboos regarding individual behavior, and early civilizations codified these taboos into written legal systems. How do these legal systems constrain and/or facilitate human freedom?

4. Early Religious History: 5.3, 5.7, 6.3. The early centuries of the Common Era featured remnants of traditional Roman religion, early Christianity, and the beginning of the Muslim tradition. Where do these different religions overlap? How did they conflict with one another?

5. Medieval Social Responsibilities: 6.6, 8.1, 8.6. Many social contracts and obligations pertained to the lives of medieval Europeans. Where did these arrangements offer security and protection? Where did they limit or eliminate freedom?

6. Cultural Perspectives: 6.1, 6.5, 10.4. Few westerners during this period of history attempted to appreciate non-westerners within the latter’s cultural context. How do these perspectives reflect western cultural orientation and/or biases?

7. Politics and Christianity: 6.7, 7.1, 7.5. Many early Christians intertwined religion and politics from the outset of this phenomenon. Was this inevitable given the Roman Empire context and the highly fragmented nature of the early followers of Jesus?

8. Medieval Christianity: 7.2, 7.3, 7.6. All sorts of rules of behavior characterized medieval Christian groups, particularly monastery and nunnery members and their followers. What do these rules of behavior say about the Christian religion as a whole? How do they differ from the more politicized aspects of Christianity?

9. Religion and Philosophy: 8.4, 9.2, 9.3. Toward the later medieval period various theologians and philosophers began to question and challenge official church dogma, eventually anticipating the Protestant Reformation and even secular trends. Do these thinkers reflect true religious spiritualism, atheism, only alternative dogma – or what?

10. Christian Domination of non-Christians: 7.4, 7.7, 10.3. In addition to being politicized, much of Christian history has also been militarized. How do you explain this, based on the documentary evidence? Did earlier warrior traditions derived from Roman and Germanic tribal cultures distort the original pacifist teachings of Jesus? Are pacifist ideals unrealistic amidst violently conflicting peoples and their differing cultures?

Length: about 3 pages, double-spaced, 12 point font, standard margins

I. Introduction

II. Summary, document one

III. Summary, document two

IV Summary, document three

V. Analysis and conclusion

I. Introduction

II. Summary and analysis of document one

III. Summary and analysis of document two

IV. Summary and analysis of document three

V. Conclusion

* avoid first and second person – this is a formal paper: use third person

* avoid long quotes – instead, summarize in your own words

* avoid informal language or flowery prose

IMPORTANT FINAL NOTE: save a copy of your paper on your computer hard drive, on a separate disk, and on paper. A lost paper is no excuse. You are responsible for the paper getting into my hands. Late papers will only receive partial credit.