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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What difference does Chesterton assert between the antiquity of Egypt and Babylon on one hand and the antiquity of China on the other?

2. To what popular religious practice of his time does Chesterton object?

3. What does Chesterton think physical anthropologists do to excess?

4. Chesterton's list of great influential philosophers includes which of the following?

5. According to Chesterton, what do mythologies have the power to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the significance that Chesterton gives the cave drawings regarding the nature of the cave man.

2. What parallel does Chesterton make between social structure and cannibalism? Explain.

3. Explain what Chesterton was trying to explain with his example of the horse and rider.

4. As a way to demonstrate the potential deficiencies in deductive reasoning, Chesterton uses an example of 20th Century initials being carved in a rock. Explain this example and what it is meant to convey.

5. Who, according to Chesterton, are some of the greatest philosophers?

6. What explanation does Chesterton give for the common themes running through world mythologies?

7. What concept regarding civilization and barbarism throughout history does Chesterton refute? What does he say?

8. What is Chesterton's analysis of symbols such as the circle, the swastika, and the cross?

9. How does Chesterton refute the idea that religion came from people's experiences with authority, dreams, and the cycles of life?

10. What does Chesterton mean when he refers to the "demons"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about G.K. Chesterton.

Part 1. Write a short biography of Chesterton. When and where did he live? What did he do professionally?

Part 2. What kind of material did Chesterton write? What are some of his better known works?

Part 3. What colleagues did Chesterton have who are also well known names? Did he influence them or did they influence him? How?

Essay Topic 2

In the chapter titled "God and Comparative Religion", Chesterton refers to the Book of Job as one of the cornerstones of the world. Write an essay about the Book of Job.

Part 1. What is the Book of Job? When was it written and by whom? Where does it remain as religious text?

Part 2. Summarize the Book of Job, including the content of the conversations.

Part 3. What primary and important topics or themes are discussed in the book? Why are they pivotal?

Part 4. What is your personal belief regarding some of these topics. Do you feel the Book of Job offers valuable and useful insight? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Chesterton describes the history of Asia as flat and uneventful, but a brief look into Asia's history shows a land of color and change. Write an essay about the history of Asia over the last two thousand years or so.

Part 1. What was Asia like at the beginning of Christendom? Which religions were most widespread?

Part 2. Write a history of Asia that includes the rise and fall of the major empires, the spread of religions, and the various occupations of different parts of Asia throughout history. Make sure to include the rise and spread of Buddhism.

Part 3. How does this history compare to Chesterton's portrayal of the history of Asia? How does it affect his arguments?

(see the answer keys)

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