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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 does Chesterton see in the sophisticated use of language in the Gospels?

2. According to Chesterton, how was the purity of the Church preserved?

3. What does the intellectual distinction that Chesterton sees in Christ suggest to him?

4. Which of the following is imagery that Chesterton says is important from the Christmas story?

5. What does Chesterton call the death of Socrates?

Short Essay Questions

1. How much have historical events aided or been obstacles to the continuation of the Church?

2. What comprises the last chapter of the book "The Everlasting Man"? Summarize what it says.

3. What significance does Chesterton assign to the Christmas story happening in a cave?

4. According to Chesterton what is the difference between the "Christ of the Church" and the "Christ of the Gospels"?

5. What importance does Chesterton assign to the "Merry Peasant"?

6. What was the religious state of Rome when Christ appeared?

7. Why does Chesterton attempt to look at the Gospels as one who had never seen them before?

8. How does Chesterton prove that you can determine the beliefs of the church by what it rejected?

9. Explain how Chesterton refutes the popular argument that Christ's teachings are dated because he was "a man of his time".

10. How does Chesterton connect Christ's intellectual ability to his claim of divinity?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

In the chapter titled "War of Gods and Demons", Chesterton states that the struggle for Christianity would have been very different if the Carthaginians had won the Punic wars. In the next chapter he creates a psychological profile of what Rome was like when Christianity arrived. Set the psychological stage for the coming of Christ, as Chesterton did for Rome, for the arrival of Christ if Rome had lost the Punic wars. Write an essay about what might have been different.

Part 1. Describe the civilizations of Carthage and Rome.

Part 2. Summarize the war and the major players and events in it.

Part 3. What if Rome had fallen and became a colony of Carthage? What would have changed in society?

Part 4. How do you think these changes might have affected the arrival of Christianity? What would have been different?

Essay Topic 3

Chesterton's arguments that Buddhism is not a religion and does not have ethics, and that the church is unique in its ability to endure social change is thrown into question by Buddhism itself. Write an essay on Buddhism.

Part 1. Write about the historical spread of Buddhism - when and where it was founded, its subsequent existence and spread throughout history, and its various different types.

Part 2. Who was Buddha? Describe the founder of Buddhism and his teachings.

Part 3. Describe the five precepts, or the code of ethics, in Buddhism.

Part 4. Analyze Chesterton's position on Buddhism in light of your research.

(see the answer keys)

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