Discussion Forum Instructions and Guidelines

Instructions for writing your post

1.  Review all of the resources that have been posted for the section. 

2.  Post your writing by the deadline. 

     Word count:  Minimum of 350 for original post

3.  Post your response to TWO classmates by the deadline. 

     Word count:  50 – 75 each response

[Note:  You can access a very helpful grading rubric by clicking the gear icon in the upper right corner of the Discussion Forum page.  The rubric breaks the assignment down into points possible for each section.]

Guidelines for formatting your post

You do not need to use a formal essay format.  However, you DO need to do the following:

1. Use your best writing skills:  complete sentences, appropriate punctuation, etc.  Proofread before posting!!

2.  Break up your writing into paragraphs to make it easier for others to read – especially me!  🙂

3.  Include a couple of well-chosen quotes from the resources to support your writing. However, do not overload your writing with quotes!  

[Note:  NO works cited page is necessary, but please give me a one or two word clue as to which resource you are quoting.  Example:  (Human Journey) or (Frontline; then the first two words of the title of the article.  Example:  (Frontline: Jesus Was)].

4.  Be specific with your writing!  Don’t use generalizations like “Jesus was a great guy.”  “He was born in Bethlehem.”  “His mom’s name was Mary.”  Get right to the writing prompt right away.  

5.  In your responses to classmates:  Don’t just simply agree with everything they say.  Ask questions, add something more to their ideas, or (respectfully) explain how your ideas are different than theirs.

 

Writing prompt: 

Please summarize your understanding and your feelings about the interpretations contained in the video called “The Lost Gospel of Thomas: Unknown Teachings of Yeshua” (listed as #3 on our list of resources for this section).  The teachings in the “secret” gospels can be very difficult to understand (as you will see when you read through them in your textbook), but this video explains a bit more clearly what these teachings might be saying.  (Hint:  It will greatly improve your ability to understand the video and your overall understanding of these kinds of teachings if you go through the other resources before watching the video.)

NOTE:  It will not help your grade in the slightest if you simply reject the gospels not contained in the Bible based on your beliefs.  If you wish to reject them, that is absolutely fine, but you must do it based on information found in the scholarly resources.  Remember that Jesus said in all four New Testament Gospels that he gave secret teachings to his followers, and these gnostic gospels have been authenticated to the time and place of his early followers.  While the orthodox church did not approve of these texts – based on the church’s own understanding and agenda – many of Jesus’ followers found them to be very meaningful and closer to their own understanding of his teachings.  

As always, please include direct quotes and/or references to the video if you wish to receive a higher grade. 

 post a short (5-7 rich sentences) response to someone else’s message about the OTHER question, the one you did not answer. 

 

Oceans in Common. In what ways were the ancient civilizations of the Americas and Oceania (the ones mentioned in Chapter 6) similar to the societies covered in earlier chapters (Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, etc.)? What, if any, were the major differences between ancient American/Pacific societies and their counterparts in Asia and Africa?

Like early Aryans discussed in chapter 4, in the beginning, Mesoamericans lived as small villages and hamlets and only gathering on special occasions in the ceremonial centers, observe rituals or exchange goods. Main difference from the rest of the world, Mesoamericans had ceremony places that serves as a capital and a few ruling elites, priests, artisans and crafts people were lived in that ceremonial place suggesting that during this time, Mesoamericans already developed distinctive social status which is similar to others. Ceremony places served as a capital for a while soon invited the formation of cities. Also, this places had complex of temples, altars, pyramids, stone sculptures and tombs for rulers that requires hundreds of thousands of human labors which concludes that there were people with much lower status that works for the ceremonial places even though they don’t live there.

Olmecs society didn’t need to irrigate their field because they had a good amount of rainfall. However, like Harappans, they built drainage system to control the water flood otherwise, their settlement would be destroyed.

It is clear that Austronesian people had efficient marine transportation like Egyptians from their migrations to Polynesia which allowed them to organize agriculture-depended life around New Guinea and reach even farther islands.

Another main difference is complex society did not develop following certain river like China following Yellow river and Yangzhi river and Egypt following Nile, on the contrary, Mesoamerican lowlands had thin and tropical soils which quickly loses their fertility. So the Maya (the earliest heirs of the Olmecs) built traps designed to trap the silt carried by the rivers.

Early political situation and division of the Mesoamericans were much like Aryans. Decentralized control over the city where small villages or communities have their own authorities. Even in the pacific island, Lapita people established communities for trading purpose and later because of more power and land small communities start to conflict bringing the start of forming a city and even state.

Torture

Early in the War on Terror initiated by the Bush administration after the attacks of September 11, 2001, President Bush signed documents prepared by his legal advisors authorizing aggressive measures in prisoner interrogations, including practices that some consider to be torture, such as “waterboarding.” If you don’t know what waterboarding is, or have never seen it, you might be interested in a 5-minute video showing a journalist who volunteered to be waterboarded. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LPubUCJv58.

Some people believe that the United States is morally bound to avoid questionable tactics such as waterboarding. If we are to be the leader of the world economically and militarily, it is incumbent upon us to be the moral leader as well. After all, how can we criticize other nations for torturing prisoners if we engage in torture ourselves? We have to be “The Good Guys,” setting an example of correct behavior that the rest of the world can follow.

On the other hand, some people believe that in a war where the other side follows no such rules – sending impressionable (some would say brainwashed) teenagers wrapped with explosives into crowded markets to blow themselves up, along with innocent shoppers whose only crime is buying food at the wrong place at the wrong time – we cannot afford to limit ourselves to humane interrogation tactics that might fail to stop a terrorist attack. Americans generally use the phrase “enhanced interrogation techniques” to describe tactics that most people, like U.S. Sen. John McCain (who was himself subjected to torture in North Vietnamese POW camps) consider torture and unacceptable.

President Trump is convinced torture works and should be considered a valid tool of American foreign policy. His choices to lead the Defense Department and CIA both disagree and are outspokenly against torture.

A commonly cited example is the hypothetical “ticking time bomb:” if we had good information that a terrorist group had obtained a nuclear weapon and was going to explode it in Washington D.C. within 24 hours, would we be justified in torturing a prisoner we believed had information about the attack? A pretty good Wikipedia article is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticking_time_bomb_scenario.

Some say that torture does not result in reliable information anyway, because the person being tortured will say anything just to make the torture stop. In response, others insist that the interrogators know that will happen, that some information is better than none, and that prisoners are under too much stress to make up false stories.

What is your opinion? Should the U.S. have a firm unbreakable policy that we will never torture prisoners? Or should we have a policy that allows torture?

For a little more information, you might start by checking out the links I’ve provided. (And remember not to make any assumptions about my personal opinions based on anything I post.) Or you may look for other outside information. Be sure that, as with anything you do in any class or in life, you cite anything you use from an outside source.

Remember you need to make your “Initial Post” of at least 250 words and you need to complete at least two responses (the “Final Posts”) of at least 200 words each to classmates by the dates shown in the course schedule. 

Remember there is one date for your Initial Post and a later date for your Final Posts.

Torture DOESN’T Produce Useful Information.docx

The Myth of the Ticking Time Bomb.docx  
5 Myths About Torture and Truth.docx  
Americans Should Never Use Torture. In Any Circumstances.docx  
Cheney leads defense of CIA torture of prisoners.docx  
Does Torture Work – The C.I.A.’s Claims and What the Committee Found.docx  
The Strategic Costs of Torture.docx  
Moral injury — the quiet epidemic of soldiers haunted by what they did during wartime.docx  

Reply to posts below:

first post:

I do not feel like torturing prisoners should be allowed in the United States. We have such a significant number of reasons not to torment. It spoils those people who do it. They all guarantee to help and guard the U.S. Constitution, a report that typifies what we are, the way we are constituted. That Constitution contains the fifth Amendment, which furnishes us with the privilege to stay noiseless, the privilege not to implicate ourselves when charged. It degrades the country that approves it. It expels moral specialist and authenticity from any reason, regardless of how commendable something else. It enables and enflames the adversary and helps its motivation. It uncovered our detainees of war to the same or more regrettable treatment without plan of action on the worldwide stage. Demonstrate to me the military authority who would state that he or she is alright with American administration individuals, caught in war, being subjected to the torment procedures utilized by the CIA, and I will indicate you somebody who ought not be in charge. It disheartens me to hear our pioneers withdraw from this history, this rule, this American esteem and to guard torment. It doesn’t appear to be deserving of the Home of the Brave. On the off chance that we are overcome, similar to Washington, let us believe in our capacity to pick up the insight we require, savagely if essential, yet dependably ethically. Spend the assets fundamental, employ more individuals, create and send new advancements, frame the organizations together required.

Second post:

  I am a person with fear of violence. I do not like to watch movies that are violent, especially torture. I have heard a lot about the brutal forms of torture for prisoners of war criminals who are extremely serious, or those who take the testimony. But the results for those forms of torture are helpful or not, it depends on a lot of different opinions. It is worse for me than for the death penalty. Physical pain can cause frightened prisoners to give statements that are not true. There are many cases where innocent prisoners are tortured to death because they refuse to plead guilty or give testimony. They cannot prove themselves innocent. And there are cases until several years or decades to find clear evidence, then the innocent will have suffered a lot of unjustly. I do not dare mention the torture forms because to me it is terrible. There have been several incidents that have been discovered: torture may be the quickest way to force a felony and may well be the only way to end a case. There are many cases, while people are watching the results, only to find that the criminal committed suicide in prison and the court cannot continue. I think of these tortures. And of course, to me it is an unacceptable thing. I want the government to make the right choices rather than torture to deal with criminals and make sure there are no innocent prisoners. And I often wonder why in some European countries, the prison is almost “paradise” but the crime rate is very low.

 

1. Watch Flight of Faith:  The Jesus Story    (This 48-minute video will give you an overview of the landscape in which Jesus lived – and how it looks today.  The narrator tells the traditional story of Jesus’ life, but as we go through the semester, we will see that there are many other ways of understanding Jesus and his teachings.)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU5p6061M34
2. Read  Jews and the Roman Empire. Judea was the province in which Jesus lived located within the massive Roman Empire.  (Just read down through “Tensions in Judea at the Time of Jesus’ Birth.”)  https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/portrait/jews.html
3. Read The Human Journey: (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。 Jesus and the Origins of Christianity – A Multicultural Story http://humanjourney.ishk.net/ideas-that-shaped-our-modern-world-section/jesus-and-the-beginnings-of-christianity-a-multi-cultural-story/
4. Read Frontline: (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。 The Tensions Between Faith and History: Can Christian faith be reconciled with an historical approach to Jesus and the Bible?  This article will address the possibility of conducting a historical study of Jesus while holding firm to religious belief in Jesus.   https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/jesus/tensions.html
5. Read Frontline: (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。  Jesus was born, lived and died as a Jew.  https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/jesus/bornliveddied.html
6. Read Frontline (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。:  The Complexity of His Religious Identity.  Jesus was viewed as many things: healer, wisdom teacher, apocalyptic preacher, and anointed one (Messiah). https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/jesus/complexity.html
7. Historical references to Jesus’ life.  There isn’t a lot of outside evidence of Jesus’ life, but there is some. 

Answer 3 questions

1.  What do these scholars have to say about how they reconcile their Christian faith with an historical study of Jesus and the Bible?

2.  What do the scholars have to say about how an historical/critical study of Jesus benefits and enhances their faith?

3.  What do you see as the dangers of studying Jesus from a historical/analytical approach?  What are the advantage? 

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Constructing Deductive and Inductive Arguments

Arguments consist of premises and conclusions. Premises are structured so as to lend support to conclusions. The kind of support that a premise lends to a conclusion allows us to distinguish between deductive and inductive arguments. This week, you will be constructing both kinds of arguments.

1.  In three premises each, construct one example of each following deductive argument form:

·  Modus ponens

·  Modus tollens

·  Hypothetical syllogism

·  Disjunctive syllogism

Make sure your arguments are deductively valid and that your examples are your own. Here are two examples of the general format that your arguments should take:

Modus ponens:

1.  If it is raining, then it is pouring.

2.  It is raining.

3.  Therefore, it is pouring.

Modus tollens:

1.  If Jack went to the grocery store, then he bought cookies.

2.  Jack did not buy cookies.

3.  Therefore, Jack did not go to the grocery store.

2.  After you construct the preceding deductive argument forms, construct a three premise syllogism. For example:

1.  All men are mortal.

2.  Socrates is a man.

3.  Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

3.  After you construct a three premise syllogism, construct one of each of the following inductive argument patterns:

·  Induction by enumeration

·  Reasoning by analogy

·  Statistical induction

·  Higher-level induction

Your examples of inductive argument patterns should not be expressed in premise form. Rather, they should be informally expressed in writing. You should have one paragraph for each pattern. Be as detailed as possible.

Finally, please remember to label your arguments. This makes it easier for them to be graded. Include your name, course section, and the date at the top of your assignment document.

View your assignment rubric.