History 288 Home | Schedule of Readings and Assignments

Readings:

  • Bible: Acts 1: 1-8:1, 9:1-31, 11: 1-14:28, 20: 1-28: 31.
  • Lives of Roman Christian Women, 5-17, 20-56, 180-230.
  • Online source: The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp

    Basic Questions:

    1. What passage(s) in the readings did you find particularly interesting? Why? What passage(s) did you not understand?

    2. What do the readings reveal about what it meant to be a Christian?

    3. What do the readings reveal about the nature of Christianity at the time in which they were produced?

    Specific Questions:

    4. Is the Jesus you encountered in the Gospels the same as the Jesus preached in Acts and mentioned in the assigned readings of Lives of Roman Christian Women and The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp?

    5. "The focus of the Gospels is Jesus; the focus of Acts is the Church." Do you agree with this statement?

    6. What can you learn about early Christianity from Acts? List as many points as you can with accompanying references to Acts.

    7. Acts recounts events and speeches with a purpose in mind. What do you think is the basic message of Acts?

    8. Historians read texts carefully and must familiarize themselves with their vocabulary. What do the following terms or phrases from Lives of Roman Christian Women mean or to what do they refer: the psalms (11, 24, 197), brothers (13), believers (14), "the day of their victory" (14), Cappadocian Fathers (21), liturgical (26, 45) and liturgy (220), heretic(s) (32, 198, 199), monastery (33), "the unseen Bridegroom" (37), "those women who called her mother and nurse" (40), "the women dedicated to chastity" (41), "a sliver of the Tree of Life" (42), sanctuary (43), monks (44), cantor (45), "the ascetic life" (46), vigil (185), "he migrated to the Lord" (185), pilgrims (186), Lent (197), Easter (197), exegesis (197), holy communion (198, 225), Mount of Olives (206), Epiphany (206, 218), oratory (212), relics (212, 226), "the sacred body of the Lord" (218), shrine (220, 226), Eucharist (225), matins (226), the Lord's Day (227)? Provide a brief definition or explanation.

    9. Felicitas says: "Now it is I who suffer this, but there it will be someone else in me who will suffer for me, just as I will suffer for him" (13). To what do "this," "there," "someone else" and "him" refer?

    10. Gerontius mentions "the solemn feast day of the blessed martyr Laurence" (185). What is this day in the calendar?

    11. What are the different types of early Christians that you encounter in the readings? In other words, identify their occupations, professions, lifestyles, or commitments. What was Polycarp?

    12. What are the different religious practices of the early Christians? Identify them specifically and indicate the pages on which you found references to these practices. What do you think is happening in the passage that mentions Perpetua and Dinocrates (9-10) or the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, 18 (Chapter XVIII)?

    13. In what ways do you think that some early Christians were similar to contemporaries who were not Christian? (Note that Volusianus, Melania's uncle was still a pagan in the 430s [213], when by law the only religion permitted in the Roman Empire was Christianity as professed in Rome.)

    14. Who was the first Christian martyr?

    15. How would you characterize both the martyrs whom you encountered in the readings as well as their adversaries (guards, officials, onlookers)?

    16. What was the purpose of recording the last days and hours of the Christian martyrs? What do we call this genre of literature?

    17. What was the purpose of recounting the lives of Macrina and Melania?

    18. "Macrina and Melania led very different Christian lifestyles. Macrina's 'philosophical and spiritual way of life' (29), with the emphasis on philosophy, had nothing in common with Melania's 'way of renunciation' (193)." Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? If there are any continuities between the accounts of their lives, what are they?

    Note the enduring significance of Jerusalem in this week's readings. Does the city still have the same importance as it did in the letter of Paula and Eustochium to Marcella? "Envy" (25) and "the adversary" (28) are terms that refer to the devil, as are "the adversary of the race of the righteous, the envious, malicious, and wicked one" (Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, 17). "The regular office" (211) refers to a daily service of prayers, mostly psalms, recited by monks, nuns, and clergy. "Office" here means a duty, not a place of work. The "day of the Passion" (212) is Friday, the day on which Jesus suffered on the cross and died. "Passion" comes from passio, the Latin word for "suffering." An Apostolium (212) is a church dedicated to one or more apostles. Smyrna (today called Izmir in Turkey) was just to the north of Ephesus in the Roman province of Asia.