Author: WyattPitts

Why does More present the traveler as a sensible reformer early in Book I, but not later? According to Wikipedia “Sir Thomas More, venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to May 1532. He wrote Utopia, published in 1516, which describes the political system of an imaginary island state.” 

According to Wikipedia “Utopia is a work of fiction and socio-political satire by Thomas More (1478–1535), written in Latin and published in 1516. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs.” A Utopia is basically a place where everything is perfect. 

This book is about a traveler interested in a perfect world. Where the punishment fits the crime.  If thieves had a job they would have no need to steal. There is only deprivation, no sin. Utopia is a place where there is no money. Jewels, gold, silver. coins, none of it would mean anything. Everyone has everything that they need. Everyone has a job so there are no beggars. There is no fashion. Everything is free because there is no money. No one would even need to steal because they already have everything they need. There is a limited amount of families in a city and a limited amount of people in a family. 

Why does More present the traveler as a sensible reformer early in Book I, but not later? The ideas in this book would not be accepted at first. The author begins with believable ideas at first then brings in more unbelievable ideas. 

Describe family government in terms of the five institutional characteristics: sovereignty, hierarchy, law, sanctions, and succession. 

1# Sovereignty: According to Wikipedia “Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority.” In family government the one completely in charge is the father, and if there’s no father then the mother is in charge. But above all God is the sovereign One. God created all things so He owns all things. Colossians 1:16-17 says “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” 

2# Hierarchy: According to Wikipedia “A hierarchy is an arrangement of items that are represented as being “above”, “below”, or “at the same level as” one another.” Hierarchy also means authority. I go to an organization called Trail Life. It is like boy scouts, but a lot different. First in command is the First officer, then the second officer, then the quartermaster, then the junior patrol leaders. In family government the first in command is the father then the mother then whatever order of kids that the parents want. 

3# Law: According to Wikipedia “Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior.” There are good laws and there are bad laws. In a home the parents make laws to keep their children safe. Some of those laws are be nice to your siblings, do your chores, and do your homework. Some of these laws might seem mean or annoying, but the parents are just trying to protect their children. 

4# Sanctions: Sanctions are basically the rewards of doing something. they can be good or bad. If your dad tells you to do something you might get a reward which would be a good sanction. You would get a bad sanction if you were caught doing something you were told not to. In a home good sanctions would come from obeying, cleaning, and being a good brother/sister, Bad sanctions would come from disobeying, being mean, and stealing. 

5# Succession: According to Google, succession is “the action or process of inheriting a title, office, property, etc.” Basically succession is like when a boy gets married and becomes a husband. After he has a son/daughter he’ll become a father. Or maybe when someone dies you take their place. 

Explain Luther’s main points in the selection you read from On the Freedom of a Christian. According to Wikipedia “Martin Luther OSA was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar. He was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 1507.” He became a monk when one day he got caught in a big storm. He prayed to St. Anne to save him and if he survived he would become a monk. God saved him and he kept his promise to St. Anne and became a monk.

In the year 1520 Martin Luther wrote a book called On the Freedom of a Christian . According to Wikipedia “On the Freedom of a Christian sometimes also called A Treatise on Christian Liberty, was the third of Martin Luther’s major reforming treatises of 1520.” Three main points are love, bondage, and freedom. 

LOVE: According to Living Lutheran, “Love begets love. It’s impossible for true faith not to yield abundant fruits of love because it is by faith that we awaken to God’s abundant love for us in Christ—and love wants to love…. Love is the fruit of faith. Love is the mark of the true Christian.”

BONDAGE: We are all in bondage to sin. The Bible says that no one is perfect. We were all born with sin and we will all die with it. 

FREEDOM: The good news is that God’s response to sin is healing and reconciliation and not punishment. Our sin is Christ’s, and Christ’s “goodness” is our “goodness”. This is called the “happy exchange” by Luther.

Explain Calvin’s main points in the selection you read from the Institutes of the Christian Religion. How does Calvin answer those who say predestination makes God into a being who dispenses justice unequally? According to Wikipedia “John Calvin was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism, including its doctrines of predestination and of God’s absolute sovereignty in the salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damnation.” John Calvin wrote a book called  Institutes of the Christian Religion. The main points are basically salvation of man through faith alone.

Do you think that Luther really believed that Pope Leo X did not know what the indulgence salesmen were saying? According to Wikipedia “Martin Luther OSA was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar. He was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 1507.” He became a monk when one day he got caught in a big storm. He prayed to St. Anne to save him and if he survived he would become a monk. God saved him and he kept his promise to St. Anne and became a monk. 

One day on October 31, Martin Luther wrote 95 theses to the Catholic church and nailed them to the doors. According to Wikipedia “The Ninety-five Theses or is a list of propositions for an academic disputation written in 1517 by Martin Luther.” Martin Luther wrote these “complaints” because he wanted the church to stop doing certain things like selling indulgences (paying the church to get your sins forgiven), executing people, and taking advantage of them. In the 95 theses there were some directed towards the church and the pope. In the theses directed toward the pope, Martin Luther was trying to save the pope from slander. According to the dictionary slander means “make false and damaging statements about someone.” Martin Luther says that the pope cares more about money then saving people. The pope gets money from people buying indulgences. Basically the pope is cheating people and Martin Luther makes this clear by saying that you don’t need to pay for indulgences. 

So do  you think that Luther really believed that Pope Leo X did not know what the indulgence salesmen were saying? Yes, I believe he did. 

Is the Family a Legitimate Form of Government? According to Wikipedia “A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.” According to Dictionary.com, a legitimate form of government is “A government generally acknowledged as being in control of a nation and deserving formal recognition, which is symbolized by the exchange of diplomats between that government and the governments of other countries.” 

Is the Family a Legitimate Form of Government? Yes. Families government are the parents. The dad is in charge of the household. I Corinthians 11:13 says “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” 

How would you describe the condition of the Catholic Church on the eve of the Protestant Reformation? According to Wikipedia “The Reformation was a major movement from Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in part to papal authority.” During the Reformation There were horrible thing happening everywhere. Including wars, long torcher, and executions. The Catholic church was much worse though. The Catholic church was lying to people about purgatory, buying your way into Heaven, and you will be blessed by God if you give money to us.   

What were the Ninety-Five Theses about? What was the basic message of Luther’s complaint? Basically the Ninety five theses were complains about ninety five things that the church was doing wrong. The basic message was that people don’t need to pay the Catholic church for anything. 

What can we say about the condition of the Catholic Church on the eve of the Protestant Reformation? According to History, the Protestant Reformation was “the 16th-century religious, political, intellectual and cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the modern era.” A big one was that they took money from people for no reason. At the time people were also torched to death. People were very evil then. 

The Italian War of 1494-1498. According to Wikipedia, “The First Italian War, sometimes referred to as the Italian War of 1494 or Charles VIII’s Italian War, was the opening phase of the Italian Wars.” The Italian war started when Charles VII of France had the idea to invade Italy. The French kept attacking cities, and finally Pope Alexander VI formed the League of Venice. The League of Venice defeated France so Charles VII retreated to France and died. 

We normally think of three people in particular as having been the key artists of the High Renaissance. Who were they? Discuss one major work from each.

Raphael: Raphael was an Italian architect and painter. His greatest work was The School of Athens. 

Leonardo Da Vinci: Leonardo Da Vinci was an Italian painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. His greatest work was the Mona Lisa. 

Michelangelo: Michelangelo was an Italian painter, sculptor, poet, and architect. His greatest work was The Statue of David. 

Did the literary documents Little Flowers and Late Medieval Literature give guidance in their era as to how a typical Christian should live? The author of this story is unknown, but many believe it to have been written by Father Ugolino da Santa Maria. According to Wikipedia, “Most scholars are now agreed that Ugolino was the author of the Fioretti, or Little Flowers of St. Francis, in their original form. Ugolino was probably one of several collectors of traditions in the Marches. The Fioretti appears to have been written sometime between 1322 and 1328.” The book has 53 small chapters and it was based on the life of St. Francis of Assisi. 

According to Wikipedia “Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages. The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works.” One of these pieces of literature is The Song of Roland. According to Wikipedia “The Song of Roland  is an 11th-century chanson de geste based on ]the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux in AD 778, during the reign of the Carolingian king Charlemagne.” According to Cornell College, “Olivier: Roland’s best friend, comrade, and the brother of Aude. He is also referred to as Oliver.” According to Cornell College “Roland: Charlemagne’s nephew and leader of the French army’s rear guard.” This poem twisted the historical event of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778. In the poem there was an invasion of Spain by the ruler Charlemagne to help a set of Muslims to defeat another set of Muslims. Even though this poem twisted the real event in so many ways to the point it made no sense, the Europeans still liked it. 

In little flowers is says that people should be loving and kind, but it says the friars should do this not the common man. In The Song of Roland it says that you should be brave, but also prideful which is wrong. 

Did the literary documents Little Flowers and Late Medieval Literature give guidance in their era as to how a typical Christian should live? Yes on some thing and no to the others.