Week Fifteen Extra-Credit Assignment

Week Fourteen Essay Assignment

Write an essay on Liberty. Minimum 300 words. Maximum 700.

Bring a hardcopy to class Wednesday 29th. REQUIRED For best paper contest.

Use the sources provided below. Your name and page number should be at the top right hand corner of each page. Single space. You may print front and back.

Christianity is based on God’s Divine Right to rule his creation, this implies hierarchy. Civil society, on the other hand, is based on “Natural Law” in which (all things being equal) persons are equal. Natural law is the origin of the political theory called Liberal Democracy upon which the republic of the United States of America is based.

Focusing Question: Is Christianity uncongenial to Liberal Democracy? If not, then how are the two reconciled? Can they be reconciled?

• The essay should summarize and analyze the two views on this question.
• The essay should contain quoted or paraphrased material from the 10 citations provided below. The material should be well integrated with your own thoughts.
• Show how you have wrestled with different perspectives on the question and have synthesized these ideas to arrive at your own new view of the question.
• The essay should contain no grammatical or mechanical errors.
  
  
  A guideline to writing and organizing:
  1. Summarize the two views. {Paragraphs 1-2}
  2. Analyze: in what way does each text handle purpose, audience, angle of vision, appeals to logic, ethos, pathos, evidence? {Paragraphs 3-4}
  3. Identify themes, similarities, differences in the ideas {Paragraphs 5-6}
  4. In light of what you read, explore your own views on “liberty.” {Paragraph 7}

Hierarchy & Class proofs: View 1

Divine Right of Kings
Christian political doctrine that hereditary monarchy is the system approved by God, hereditary right cannot be forfeited, monarchs are accountable to God alone for the actions, and rebellion against the lawful sovereign is therefore blasphemous.

The doctrine had its origins in the anointing of Pepin in 751 by the pope after Pepin had usurped the throne of the Franks. It was at its peak in 16th- and 17th-century Europe as a weapon against claims of the papacy – the court of Louis XIV of France pushed this to the limit—and was in 17th-century England maintained by the supporters of the Stuarts in opposition to the democratic theories the Puritans and Whigs.
—QPB Dictionary of Ideas, 1994. [1]

The book The True Law of Free Monarchies by King James lays out the doctrine known as the “divine right of kings”—a doctrine of political absolutism. James wrote his treatise to rebut the puritan ideas of the day that would ultimately give rise to the American Revolution. The ‘divine right of kings’ doctrine is closely linked to the concept of ‘apostolic succession’ that underpins much of the Christian church’s claim to authority over its subjects. In short, it is the belief that Bishops, etc. ‘reign’ in the unbroken lineage of Peter and the other Apostles. The crossover between political and religious ‘absolutism’ is seen to this day in the ‘ordination’ of royalty in the United Kingdom, and in genealogical attempts to link modern monarchs (modern monarchs?) to King David, appointed by God.
—Alister L. Hunt Ph.D [2]

A Christian’s Duties to the State
13 Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God. 2So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do good and you will have its approval. 4For government is God’s servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For government is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong. 5Thereforre, you must submit, not only because of wrath, but also because of your conscience. 6And for this reason you pay taxes, since the [authorities] are God’s public servants, continually attending to these tasks. 7Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.
—The Holman Christian Standard Bible, 2004; Romans 13 [3]

Obey Rulers
2I say, “Keep the command of the king because of the oath before God. 3“Do not be in a hurry to leave him. Do not join in an evil matter, for he will do whatever he pleases.” 4Since the word of the king is authoritative, who will say to him, “What are you doing?” 5He who keeps a royal command experiences no trouble, for a wise heart knows the proper time and procedure. 6For there is a proper time and procedure for every delight, though a man’s trouble is heavy upon him. 7If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen? 8No man has authority to restrain the wind with the wind, or authority over the day of death; and there is no discharge in the time of war, and evil will not deliver those who practice it. 9All this I have seen and applied my mind to every deed that has been done under the sun wherein a man has exercised authority over another man to his hurt.
—The New American Standard Bible, 1995; Ecclesiastes 8:2-9 [4]

A Modell of Christian Charity
God Almightie in his most holy and wise providence, hath soe disposed of the condition of mankinde, as in all times some must be rich, some poore, some highe and eminent in power and dignitie; others meane and in subjection.
—John Winthrop [5]

Natural Rights proofs: View 2

Liberalism
political and social theory that favours representative government, freedom of the press, speech, and worship, the abolition of class privileges, the use of state resources to protect the welfare f the individual, and international free trade.
Liberalism developed during the17th-19th centuries as the distinctive theory of the industrial and commercial classes in their struggle against the power of the monarchy, the church, and the feudal landowners. Economically it was associated with laissez faire, or nonintervention.
The classical statement of liberal principles is found On Liberty and other works of the British philosopher JS Mill.
—QPB Dictionary of Ideas, 1994. [6]

Civil rights: an overview
A civil right is an enforceable right or privilege, which if interfered with by another gives rise to an action for injury. Examples of civil rights are freedom of speech, press, and assembly; the right to vote; freedom from involuntary servitude; and the right to equality in public places. Discrimination occurs when the civil rights of an individual are denied or interfered with because of their membership in a particular group or class. Statutes have been enacted to prevent discrimination based on a person’s race, sex, religion, age, previous condition of servitude, physical limitation, national origin, and in some instances sexual preference.
—Cornell University Law School [7]

The Declaration of Independence

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. [8]

The Western movement of “natural man” and “natural society” is generally understood as a historical development, men and women of middle-class background struggling against the “unnatural” oppression of their societies. American society was born of this movement.

Americans are now ready to be a “natural” as they wish to be. As it has always been since the beginning of this nation, people demand “Leave me alone” from one another and from society.
—Jon Huer, The Dead End: the Psychology and Survival of the American Creed [9]

The notion that the balance of nature could be emulated in political society runs through the writings of Thomas Jefferson. The whole conception of natural rights against society fade in relative importance.
—political science professor Mulford Sibley, University of Minnesota [10]

Week Thirteen Response - Comment Under This Post

Week Twelve Response - Extra Credit

This assignment is for extra credit. This assignment will count for 15 points -- the same as a required assignment. No deadline. Please submit a hard copy.

Requirements:

• The response must be exactly 300 words in length.
• At least 40 percent of your words must be nouns (that is, 120 words must be nouns).

[Pronouns are not counted]

• All nouns (except pronouns) must be circled.

For an example, see the following. the nouns are in red:

A considerable body of critical commentary on Gilman has appeared in the past twenty years, much of it written or contributed to by several authors of a new collection, A Year of Favor, Harper Collins, but it is not much different from previous collections.

Week Eleven Response - Comment Under This Post

Week Ten Response - Comment Under This Post

Week 8 Response - Comment Under This Post

Week Seven Response - Comment Under This Post

Week 6 Response - Comment Under This Post

Week 5 Response - Comment Under This Post

Extra-Credit Exercise -- Hand in a HardCopy

Try your hand at tightening this wordy example. You’ll earn 10 points extra-credit.

Successful writers share a common trait: voice. They write in myriad tones— plaintive, witty, sassy, smart—to suit the subject matter. To make a good grade, college writers typically focus on tone rather than on tightness.

Voice is vital. You can overempha­size it, though, making careless errors that irk professors who have to read a voluminous amount of essays and exercise. You can help them by employing copyediting techniques, not only to polish your prose, but also to increase output.

Create your response first, focusing on voice and target audience. If your piece is the proper length, use the techniques on the next page to tight­en your piece and then add more substance—pithy quotes or perti­nent research. If you exceed the word count, use the techniques to sculpt a publishable piece. Finally, hone, revise and polish your prose to suit course requirements.
WD Based on an article by Michael J. Bugeja: a professor of journalism and a special assistant to the president at Ohio University. Writers Digest; July 2001, Page 42

Below is a loosely written 215-word item. Edit it. Make it Concise!
Jane Doe slumps down in her chair until midnight amid the slush and stale pizza in front of piles of essays threatening to avalanche on her half-empty bottle of cola onto the grimy tile floor of the kitchen.

There are many reasons why Doe, an assistant professor, puts a failing grade on some essays, and length of the essays is one of them.

Professors dislike wordiness. Why shouldn’t they? Less is really more.

“Too many writers tend to be wordy. True, a response should be conversational. But it shouldn’t ramble. We just don’t have the time. Good prose—good college-level prose, at least—plants an image or idea in the mind of the reader, phrase after phrase,” Doe says.

According to Doe, on manuscripts, approxi­mately 42 responses out of 480 per month is acceptable, requiring 12 hours evaluation per week during a semester. Consider a 1-week assignment with 15 contact hours per week in which the instructor will be grading/marking and will require prep time. The instructor would be credited service of:
15 x 3.48 = 52.20 hours of service per week
52.20 x 2 = 104.40 hours of service total

Before taking a sip of her soda pop, Doe places a failing mark on another response after read­ing her umpteenth submission and noting the perils of teaching today.

Consequently, it is tougher than you might think to hand in a padded response. However, a student’s chances of success will improve by using copyediting techniques. Otherwise, you will waste time and money and give up on the dream of being an A-plus writer.


Tightening Tips:
• Extreme mood setting. Use a few descriptive words in your lead, of course, but don’t overload it with sen­sory data.
• “To be” constructions. You usually can collapse sentences that begin with“there are” or “it is.”•Conjunctive constructions. Each excised word counts when you are try­ing to honor word counts. Cut unneeded conjunctions.
• “To be” appositives. You can tighten appositives that begin with “who is,” “which are,” etc.
• Excessive possessive constructions. You usually can delete “of by reposi­tioning words or by using a noun’s or pronoun’s possessive case.
• Exclamatory comments. Sometimes they emphasize a point. Mostly, they take up space.
• Parenthetical comments. Analyze any­ thing parenthetical. If important, it’s misplaced foreshadowing. If unimpor­tant, delete it.
• Rhetorical comments. You usually can omit these without losing meaning.•Unprocessed quotations. Make full quotes partial, paraphrasing weak, redundant or ungrammatical sections. The written word is usually sharper than the spoken.
• Unprocessed research: Here, the research is in the wrong voice. Worse, it’s usually wordy.
•Adverbial time elements: Cut the adverbs and revise chronologically. Or end up with gobbledygook. •Adverbial transitions: One or two per manuscript may be allowable, but this isn’t.
—Michael J. Bugeja

Week 4 Response - Comment Under This Post

Week 3 Response - Comment Under This Post

Remember: midnight Wednesday Deadline.
Length requirement for response post: 300 words.

Test Blog - Comment Under This Post

You can merely write a few words to test or you can put up a response with headings, playing with various fonts and so forth. We'll take a look at these Monday 26th.

Welcome

This is The Readers Response Blog for EH 225 Section 101

You will read a selection in class every Monday and Wednesday

On Wednesday, before midnight that day, write a 300 word response. Please respond by using the comment link at the bottom of each post!!!

On Friday, we share responses.


Use the Following Structure for Responses:
The ABC Reading Structure

[Put your name at the top of the response.]

A Title – Entitle Your Response.

Basic Passage - Choose a passage: sentence or lines (no more than three) which include a central meaning. This passage should connect with the title.

Correlate – Write about how the passage applies to you, to someone you know, to a group or to society. Here are some questions that might help you. See what connections you can make and explore:

• Are there any passages in the reading that you, because of your life experience, are especially able to understand and appreciate? Write about one of those passages and show how it relates to your experience.

• Choose a passage from the reading, and tell what it helps explain about an experience you have known. After you have said as much as you can, consider this: does the passage exhaust the meaning of the experience, account for the experience you have in mind?

• Would a person who accepted this person’s ideas choose the same paths in life that you have chosen or that you have seen others choose? How would the ideas for this reading alter your life or the life of someone you know well?

Are the writer’s ideas useful to a person in a certain lifestyle or profession? What difference would these ideas make for someone living that lifestyle or practicing that profession?