Due: Friday Feb. 16 in the History Office, 145 Eggers Hall, by 4pm. It is recommended that you give the paper to the office staff, so that they can verify the time you turned it in. Please do not slide them under the door of my office, and do not send them through Campus Mail. The TA for your discussion section will be grading your papers; any special arrangements should be made with him/her.

Lateness policy: One full letter grade will be deducted for each day (not counting weekends) the paper is late, unless you have a valid excuse: medical (get a note from the Health Center) or serious family emergency.

Please write a 4-5 page (typed, doublespaced) essay on one of the following topics.

1. How did early Christians respond to the experience of persecution? (Draw mainly on the Martyrdom of Perpetua; Pagels will also be helpful.)

2. In what ways was Christianity transformed by the acquisition of political power after Constantine? How did Christians react to their new status as dominant majority? (primary-source readings for Week Three will be most useful, but you might also draw on Weeks Four and Five. Use Brown RWC for background and context.)

3. Using Augustine’s Confessions and John Chrysostom’s How to Raise your Children (Week Four) discuss what it meant to become a Christian c. 400 AD. How many aspects of your daily life would you have to reform in order to be a "true" Christian as defined by these authors? (Draw mainly on these two texts. You may find it helpful, though it’s not required, to read additional parts of the Confessions, where Augustine describes his youthful career and his conversion: Books 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 will be relevant and can be found on the same website. Brown RWC may also provide useful background and context.)

These are very broad questions, and there are any number of ways you could answer each. That is to say, I am not looking for any particular "right" answer. The important thing is that you decide which interpretation makes sense to you, make a clear argument, and support it by referring to evidence.

***Please note: each of the assignments given above REQUIRES you to make use of primary sources (ancient texts, usually in the xerox reader or assigned online.) You may also refer to Pagels, Brown or to my lectures, but it is NOT ACCEPTABLE to turn in a paper based solely on textbook and lectures.

Please read carefully the handout defining and explaining plagiarism.