Ancient Greek Philosophy & Comparative Religion Study Guide: 'Phaedo' & Job, Study notes of World Religions

Download Ancient Greek Philosophy & Comparative Religion Study Guide: 'Phaedo' & Job and more Study notes World Religions in PDF only on Docsity! Study Guide for Section #2: Stories of “Fall” – Fall 2002 1. Why do scholars argue that Plato’s dialogues are ritual not transmission communication? 2. When did Socrates die? 3. State two reasons why scholars argue that you cannot just assume that the words and actions of Socrates in one of Plato’s dialogues are the actual words and actions of the historical Socrates. 4. Explain what scholars mean they argue that Socratic conversations were a genre of writing in ancient Greece. 5. How does the Phaedo clue the reader that it is not an actual record of Socrates’ death? 6. The Phaedo starts with a paradox. Socrates says that the philosopher lives the best life – and yet the philosopher is not afraid to die and indeed, looks forward to dying. Why does Socrates think that the true philosopher meets death with good cheer? 7. Define reincarnation. 8. Define the Theory of the Forms. 9. Explain the relationship of the Theory of Forms to the theory of recollection. 10. Analyze what Plato is ritually communicating by his presentation of Socrates. 11. Socrates was executed by the Athenians because they thought that philosophical examination threatened the religious order and the political order. T/F? 12. Socrates believed that all wisdom is learned in life. T/F? 13. The Platonic belief in an absolute distinction between soul and body is shared by Christianity, Judaism and Islam. T/F? 14. Plato believed that truth was absolute, timeless and universal—so that all souls understood justice itself in the same way. T/F? 15. Only Christians read Genesis 2-3 as teaching the idea of original sin. T/F? 1. Explain why suffering is a problem for our three religions, given their belief in the three equations. 2. For a C: Explain Augustine’s understanding of “degrees of goodness.” For a B: Explain how this understanding of goodness relates to sin. For an A: Analyze Augustine’s understanding of degrees of goodness as a technology of ordering chaos. 3. Explain how the Christian practice of confession (as exemplified by Augustine) is a technology for creating order out of chaos. 4. Compare and contrast confession as a technology for order with EITHER salat OR orthodox Jewish prayer. 5. Compare & contrast the Christian notion of gratitude (for God’s grace) with the Muslim notion of gratitude. 6. Do you think the view of the created world in Genesis 1 is the same, or different, from that of a) Augustine? b) Plato? Pick one—and then argue for your answer. 7. Argue for Plato’s Theory of Forms as a way to create order from chaos. 8. Argue that Plato’s Theory of Forms creates disorder and chaos, not order. 9. What ideas, motivations, and moods are communicated by the Quran’s reading of Genesis 2-3? What ideas, motivations, and moods are communicated by Augustine’s reading of the Genesis 2-3? What ideas, motivations, and moods are communicated by Plato’s Fall narrative? (Note: this is one big compare/contrast). 10. Analyze the Phaedo as an act of ritual communication that tries to inspire its readers/listeners not to give up living their life according to Socrates’ motto: the unexamined life is not worth living. 11. Use at least two texts to analyze Socrates’ view of the body. Study Guide # 3 – The Chaos of Suffering: Job 1. From what social location did wisdom literature arise? 2. Who were “the wise” in ancient Israel? List 3 things they did. 3. Explain the traditional idea of wisdom in the Hebrew Bible. Be sure to explain how this traditional idea of wisdom related to the creation order. 4. Cite 2 quotes from Proverbs 8 to prove your answer in the question above. 5. Cite two quotes from the book of Job to prove how this biblical book questions the traditional understanding of wisdom in the ANE. 6. Relate this questioning to the historical situation of ancient Israel. 7. What does it mean to say that wisdom literature is a “genre”? 8. Why does Beal say that suffering is chaotic? (He gives two reasons). 9. According to Levinas, the horror of Job is that the divine Panopticon which so delights the author of the Psalms becomes for Job a prison and place of no rest. Explain why the Pslamist sees the Panopticon as delightful. Then explain why Job sees the Panopticon as unbearable. 10. What arguments does Beal use to prove that Job identifies with chaos? 11. What arguments does Beal give to prove that God in the divine speeches identifies with the chaos monster? 12. What does Beal mean when he reads that the Leviathan as an example of category-jamming? 13. Why do scholars argue that ha-satan is not the same as Satan? Give me one textual reason, and one historical reason. 14. Explain what ideas Beal finds in the theories of Otto that help him read Job? 15. Why does Beal (following Otto) read the divine speeches as “the negation of purposiveness”? (By why I mean both what Beal means by this term and where he gets this idea in the text itself). 16. Scholars have argued that the Job of the prose differs somewhat from the Job of the poetry. One way that scholars explain that difference is by suggesting that the text was written at different times. Explain their theory. 17. Describe the 3 elements required for “building a reading.” There will also be a quote section where I cite key passages from the texts we read and ask you to identify either WHO said them or WHAT is so important about them.