RLST

3001: Modern Christianity

Dr. Whitehead
Spring 2018

MID-TERM EXAMINATION (aka Askesis)
This is a take-home examination. You will have one week to complete the exam. It
is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday, March 13.

Instructions:
(1) Please type all of your answers using 12 point font, double spaced pages
with 1” margins. DO NOT WRITE ON THIS SHEET – answers put on the
actual test sheet will not count.
(2) You are to rely primarily on lecture materials; our textbook, The Story of
Christianity; and readings posted on Canvas in writing this exam.
(3) Upon completing the exam, please type and sign the CU honor pledge and
submit it with your finished exam (on the last page of your exam is fine):
“On my honor as a University of Colorado at Boulder student I
have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this
work, [signature]”
Choose TWO of the following four prompts to write your essays. Essays should be at
least 500 words each, and should consist of well written, well thought-out
paragraphs containing references to specific course readings where appropriate.
All of your work on this exam must be original to you. Examples of unauthorized
assistance include: writing your exam with the aid of another student, borrowing
from another student’s work, borrowing from internet sources, and/or citing other
sources without proper attribution. You should quote from course readings as
needed, but don’t overdo it, and don’t rely on quotes to make your argument for you.
Rather, use the “sandwich” method when citing quotes from other sources: write a
sentence introducing the quote, cite the quote, and then write at least one sentence
explaining the significance of the quoted material for the argument you are making.
All references to course texts should be properly cited with either parenthetical or
footnoted references.
1. Pilgrimage. Choose one of the following medieval pilgrimage destinations and
write an essay analyzing pilgrimage to this site as an example of Christian
practice and popular devotion past and present. This will require that you do
some outside research on the pilgrimage destination, its history, its relics, its
architecture/art, and the meaning and practice of pilgrimage in the Christian
tradition (see the “Objects” essay for a starting point). Why was pilgrimage
important as a Christian practice? What is the history of the particular
pilgrimage you chose, and of the site itself? What was the goal of the pilgrimage?
Why did pilgrims make the journey? How did they do so (preparation, specific

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 pilgrimage practices, etc.)? How did pilgrimage affect church architecture at
these sites? Be as specific as possible in your essay.
Choose one of the following pilgrimage destinations:
1. Rome
2. Jerusalem
3. Santiago de Compostela (St. James of Compostela)

2. Contemporary Benedictine Communities. Choose one of the following
contemporary monastic communities, research it, and write an essay analyzing
the ways in which it traces its origins and contemporary practice back to the
Rule of St. Benedict. Which principles of the Rule does it follow and which does it
consider most important? Which principles does it reinterpret for today and
how does it do so? What innovations, if any, do you see the community making?
Choose one of the following communities:

• Lay Benedictines (www.laybenedictines.org)

• Oblates
• Specific Benedictine communities such as St. Benedict’s Monastery in
Snowmass, or Benedictine Sisters of Erie (PA), or Benedictine Sisters of VA,
or another of your choice (google for their websites). Just be sure that the
community you choose has enough public information about its principles,
commitments, practices, and daily life to enable you to write the paper.
• Abbey of Gethsemane, Kentucky (Thomas Merton’s former monastery)

N.B. http://www.osb.org is a good basic resource for the Order of St. Benedict
globally, has a search engine for locating specific communities, and is also a
source for accessing the full text of the Rule. Note that Trappist and Cistercian
communities also “count” as Benedictines because of their heritage as
Benedictine reform movements.

3. Christianity and Just War. Choose a war or military conflict from the following
list and write an essay analyzing how Christians have understood it in light of
the just war tradition. Did they consider it to be a just war? If so, in what ways
specifically (jus ad bellum, jus in bello, or specific criteria within these
categories)? If not, why not? Be sure to carefully outline the arguments made
with specific reference to particular aspects of just war theory. Note that the
purpose of this paper is not for you to argue whether or not in your
understanding this was/is a “just war”; rather, the purpose is for you to analyze
the arguments made for and against the war by those within the just war
tradition in order to see how, when and why they are interpreting just war
principles in the particular ways they do, and how this can be understood within
the larger context of the Christian just war tradition. Expect to find dissenting
views: the Pope, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), U.S. Catholic
theologians, individual U.S. Catholic bishops and priests, U.S. lay (non-clergy)

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 Catholics and Protestants, all have different stances ranging from pacifism to
strongly believing that war is just under certain circumstances. The key here is
to understand how given this spectrum, all of them are operating
within/reacting to/further developing the just war tradition, broadly conceived.
Choose one of the following wars/military conflicts and analyze them from the
perspective of Christians informed by the just war tradition (start with the “War”
reading on Canvas for context and some helpful suggestions for web resources):

• U.S. Civil War

• World War I (for contrast you could also consult here the Catholic Worker
Movement’s pacifist stance toward the war, led by Dorothy Day)
• World War II
• Cold War
• Vietnam War
• Kosovo/Balkan conflict
• Gulf War

4. Martyrdom and Mysticism. Using primary sources from our readings,
compare and contrast the tradition of Christian martyrdom with that of Christian
mysticism. What similarities and differences do you see? Questions you might
consider include:
a. Definitions and identifications: Who is a martyr? Who is a mystic? What
kind of qualities do each have? Is gender an important lens for thinking
about these roles; if so how and why; if not how and why not?
b. Experience: What is a martyrdom? What is a mystical experience?
c. Understandings of the body: How do mystics understand the body and
the body’s role in a mystical experience? How do martyrs understand the
body and the body’s role in martyrdom?
d. Understandings of the notion of will and choice: What is the role of the
human will, or the faculty of choice, in an experience of martyrdom or
mysticism?
e. How have conceptions of martyrdom and mysticism changed over the
course of the Christian tradition? For example: compare early vs modern
Christian accounts of martyrdom.

Minimum word count: 500 words for each essay/1000 words total. You can
exceed this word count up to 1500 words if you wish. Be sure all of your sources
are properly cited; see me or Jeffrey if you have any questions about proper citation
or other questions about the exam.

Good luck!

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