| 1. |
Focus Question: What
were the key moments and concepts in the development of Judaism and monotheistic
faith? |
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How were the gods generally represented in the ancient Near East?
Which people introduced ethical monotheism? What religious traditions
are the culmination of ethical monotheism? What is the chief source
of knowledge we have about the ancient Hebrews. Under which kings
did Israel reach its peak? What was the fate of the northern kingdom
in 722 B.C.? Of Judah in 586 B.C.? What was the final fate
of the Judaic political state? What were the terms of the covenant
between Abraham and God? What was the pivotal moment in the monotheistic
revolution? What two insights did the prophets contribute to Hebrew
religious thought? What was the crux of the breakthrough to ethical
monotheism? What is the late prophetic concept of history's
culmination? Besides the prophets what is the other key element in
the monotheistic revolution? |
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| 2. |
Focus Question: What
factors aided in the development of Greek philosophical thought and which
directions did it take?
Who was the first Greek philosopher?
Characterize the approach did he and subsequent philosophers used. Why
were the Ionians well placed to be the first Greeks to challenge traditional
Greek views? What was the first problem that the Greek philosophers
examined? What three assumptions did the Greek philosophers make
about the world? Why does Heraclitus of Ephesus introduce the idea
of logos and Anaxagoras of Clazomenae the idea of nous? How did the
atomist view the world? What was the central problem that the Sophists
considered? What was the starting point for Socrates, Plato and Aristotle?
What was the greatest crisis for the polis? How was Socrates like
the Sophists and unlike them? What were the chief positions of the
cynics? How did Socrates and the Cynics disagree about the nature
of virtue? What was Plato’s attitude towards the polis? According
to Plato and Socrates, on what did virtue depend? What was the heart
of Plato's system of philosophy? How did the activity of the Lyceum
differ from that of the Academy? What method did Aristotle use in his investigations?
How did Plato and Aristotle differ in their application of teleology?
How did Aristotle apply teleology to politics? How was Aristotle's
"best state" different from that of Plato? What theory did Democritus
and Leucippus espouse and how/why was it developed? |
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monotheism
Exodus
"Babylonian captivity"
Torah
Diaspora
Sephardim
Ashkenazim
Sophists
Peripatetics
Zionism
Holocaust
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