HRS_100

HRS 100-B: Honors Foundational Sequence I:
Beginnings of the Christian Intellectual Tradition

Fall 2011 Mon. Wed. Fri. 10:30–11:20 am Prof. Stephens Eppley COBA 309

office hours: M W F 1:30 to 3:15 pm and by appointment

office: DHHC 209 phone (with voicemail): 280-2632 email: stphns AT creighton DOT edu

Course Description

This course is a study of the beginnings of the Christian intellectual tradition through careful study of selected philosophical texts. Students will acquire an ability to situate the Christian intellectual tradition within the complex cultural context of the ancient Mediterranean world and the Near East. Primary themes will be the nature of the human soul, the divine (the gods, Zeus, God), the nature of the world, and ideals of the good life.

Course Requirements and Grade Percentages*

Class participation (including quizlets & presentation on Hopkins)	14 %
Exam #1	14 %
Exam #2	14 %
Exam #3	14 %
Final Exam	14 %
Essay on Why This Course is Vital to an A&S College Education at Creighton University (due Nov. 28)	5 %
Thesis Defense Paper (topic approved by Nov. 14; due Dec. 5)	25 %

Required Texts

Celsus. On True Doctrine: A Discourse Against the Christians, translated by R. J. Hoffmann (Oxford, 1987) ISBN 0-19-504151-8.
Den Boer, W. “A Pagan Historian and His Enemies: Porphyry Against the Christians,” Classical Philology 69 (1974): 198–208 (on BlueLine under “Lessons”).
Epictetus. Discourses and Selected Writings, trans. & edited by Robert Dobbin (Penguin, 2008) ISBN 978-0-140-44946-4.
Hesiod, Theogony, trans. by A. N. Athanassakis (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004) on BlueLine under “Lessons”.
Hopkins, Keith. A World Full of Gods: The Strange Triumph of Christianity (Penguin, 2001). ISBN 0-452-28261-6.
Justin Martyr. The First and Second Apologies, trans. by L. W. Barnard (Paulist Press, 1997). ISBN 0-8091-0472-5.
Plato. Five Dialogues, 2nd ed. trans. by G. M. A. Grube, revised by J. M. Cooper (Hackett, 2002) ISBN 0-87220-633-5.
Plato. Timaeus, trans. by D. J. Zeyl (Hackett, 2000). ISBN 978-0-87220-446-1.

Recommended Texts

Gregory J. Riley, One Jesus, Many Christs: How Jesus Inspired Not One True Christianity, But Many (HarperCollins, 1997). ISBN 0-06-066799-0.
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition (2008) ISBN 0877798095.
William O. Stephens, How to Write Philosophy Papers ($4 at Philosophy Dept.).

Optional Text (also on reserve at Reinert Alumni Library)

Thorsteinsson, Runar. Roman Christianity and Roman Stoicism: A Comparative Study of Ancient Morality (Oxford, 2010) ISBN 978-0-19-957864-1.

Websites

Timeline of our period. http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/wphil/lectures/wphil_theme04.htm#Timeline
Alexander the Great. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Alexander_the_Great
Celsus the Platonist. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03490a.htm
Celsus. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Celsus
Epictetus. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epictetus/
Gnosticism. http://www.iep.utm.edu/gnostic/
Gnosticism. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06592a.htm
Saint Justin Martyr. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08580c.htm
Justin Martyr. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Justin_Martyr
Marcion. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Marcion
Marcionites. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09645c.htm
Marcus Aurelius. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/marcus-aurelius/
Middle Platonism. http://www.iep.utm.edu/midplato/
Plato. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato/
Porphyry. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/porphyry/
Socrates. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socrates/
Stoicism. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/

Book Reviews

Standards of Evaluation for Letter Grades

F “Failure – no credit” (<60% average)

Extreme lack of clarity or lack of coherence of argument or expression of thought.
Disregard for the requirements of the assignment.
Irrelevant use or failure to use relevant course readings.
Submission of another’s words or thoughts as if they were your own, whether in the form of plagiarism or failure to acknowledge the source of an idea.
Very poor class attendance with no participation in discussions and zero posts to the BlueLine Discussion Forum.

D “Work of inferior quality, but passing” (60 to <70% average)

Unclarity or incoherence of argument or expression of thought.
Failure to satisfy the requirements of the assignment.
Poor or inadequate understanding or use of relevant course readings.
Improper acknowledgment or citation of the sources of your ideas.
Poor class attendance with little or no participation in discussions OR one or zero posts to the BlueLine Discussion Forum.

C “Satisfactory work”

Basic clarity and coherence of argument and expression of thought.
Satisfaction of the assignment’s basic requirements.
Fair or adequate understanding of the major views and theories in the relevant course readings and the arguments presented in support of those views and theories.
Minimally clear and coherent evaluation of the views and arguments in the relevant course readings.
Minimally proper acknowledgment and citation of the sources of your ideas.
Generally consistent class attendance with infrequent participation in discussions OR infrequent, skimpy (about twice per four weeks) substantive posts to the BlueLine Discussion Forum.
77 to <80% average for a C+; 70 to <77% average for a C.

B “Noteworthy level of performance” Demonstrates all of the qualities of satisfactory work plus:

Good, above average clarity and coherence of argument and expression of thought.
Clear, logical organization of the essay’s introduction, body, and conclusion.
Clear, detailed, and accurate understanding of the major views and theories in the relevant course readings and of the arguments presented in support of those views and theories.
Good attempt to provide argumentative support for your evaluation of the views, theories, and arguments presented in the relevant course readings.
Regular, consistent class attendance with regular, good participation in discussions OR regular (at least weekly) good, substantive posts to the BlueLine Discussion Forum.
87 to <90% average for a B+; 80 to <87% average for a B.

A “Outstanding achievement and an unusual degree of intellectual initiative” Demonstrates all of the qualities of noteworthy performance plus:

Excellent, superior clarity and coherence of argument and expression of thought.
Clear, rigorous, and cogent argumentative support for your evaluation of the views, theories, and arguments presented in the relevant course readings.
Originality and creativity of interpretation, explanation, argumentation, or criticism.
Superior class attendance with consistent, excellent, and thoughtful participation in class discussions OR frequent, excellent, substantive posts to the BlueLine Discussion Forum.
90% average or above.

Class Participation and Attendance Policies

Punctuality is a virtue. Prof. Stephens strives to attend every class on time. He expects all of his students to attend every class, on time, every week, all semester long. Regular and punctual class attendance is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a good class participation grade. Eight (8) or more absences (the equivalent of two and a half weeks) will result in an AF (failure due to excessive absence) for this course. Each absence fewer than eight will incrementally lower your class participation grade. You are responsible for all material discussed and all announcements made in every class. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed. Being tardy twice counts as one absence. There are two kinds of activities that count as “participation”: inside of class and outside of class. Inside of class participation is raising your hand to be called on and making comments about the reading or the discussion, or asking questions about the reading or my lecture, or responding to questions I raise or comments made by other students. Outside of class participation includes (a) intellectually substantive conversations with Prof. Stephens outside the classroom, and (b) intellectually substantive electronic messages, including emails to Prof. Stephens or posts in the BlueLine Discussion Forum for the course. You cannot really learn how to think critically by merely listening. You also need to actively think out loud orally inside class and outside of class in written electronic messages. Making thoughtful posts to the BlueLine Discussion Forum every week is an excellent practice. Both quality and quantity of oral and electronic remarks count—I record both. Since we will be closely attending to the readings in our class discussions, it is important that everyday you bring to class your book (or a hard copy of the pdf article) containing that day’s reading assignment.

A necessary condition for a class absence being counted as excused due to illness or emergency is email or telephone notification to Prof. Stephens BEFORE class begins (at 10:30 am) the day of the absence. Ordinarily, such email or telephone notification given prior to class is also sufficient for that absence to count as excused. But this is ultimately up to the discretion of Prof. Stephens.

Electronic Devices

Our class is a community of thinkers cooperating in both face to face inquiry inside the classroom and electronic inquiry outside the classroom on BlueLine. Consequently, the three-fold purpose of being in class is (1) to listen to and think about what Prof. Stephens and your classmates say, (2) to orally participate in the discussion, and (3) to take notes. Taking notes during class is so strongly recommended that it is virtually obligatory. Use of electronic devices in class is PROHIBITED. These devices include laptop computers, handheld computers, iPods, Blackberries, cameras, audio recorders, cell phones, and similar devices. If you choose to bring such devices to the classroom, they must be stored away and kept off during class. If you believe that it would promote your learning to use a laptop to take notes in class, then you may print out, complete, and submit to Prof. Stephens the pledge of laptop use form to petition for a limited exception to this policy. Using any electronic device in class for an illicit purpose (e.g. email, browsing the Internet, playing games) will result in a reduction in the Class Participation grade.

Quizlets and a Good Dictionary

To encourage you to do the assigned reading faithfully before each and every class, Prof. Stephens will sometimes, without prior announcement, at the beginning of class, give a small “pop” quiz on the reading assignment. These quizlets are usually about ten true/false items. If you are late to class or absent, then you miss the quizlet, get a zero for it, and cannot retake it. To compensate for a missed quizlet you can boost your participation in class or in the discussion forum, since quizlets count in the class participation component of the course grade. Sometimes Prof. Stephens rewards students for bringing their books to class by giving an open-book quizlet. Get into the habit of using a dictionary to look up every word you are not 100% certain you understand the exact meaning of, in each and every sentence you read, in every single reading assignment. Prof. Stephens has been known to put vocabulary questions on quizlets. Every college student ought to own a good dictionary, so I have ordered one for our course. If you want to do well in this course, use your dictionary every day you read in order to expand your vocabulary. You cannot understand what an author writes unless you understand each and every word in every sentence of that author’s essay.

Thesis Defense Paper Specifications

Students will choose their thesis defense paper topics in consultation with Prof. Stephens. Students are responsible for getting their paper topics approved by Prof. Stephens well before their papers are due and no later than Nov. 14. Students should get their hands on the How to Write Philosophy Papers manual. Read it closely and carefully follow all its guidelines in writing your paper. The finished, polished, carefully edited, and meticulously proofread paper should be 1600 to approximately 1900 words in length. (You are permitted to exceed 1900 words within reason, but please don’t abuse this latitude.) Papers of fewer than 1600 words will receive a zero (F).

This T. D. paper should have	(a) a cover page	Include your NAME, the COURSE number and name, the correctly spelled name of your PROFESSOR, a clever and apt TITLE, the WORD COUNT of the body, and the DATE submitted. (Note: This is NOT the date you began writing the paper or the date the paper was due. It is the date you put the paper into your professor’s hands.
	(b) a body	Number these pages. Only the words in the body count toward the paper’s word count printed on the cover page.
	(c) a Works Cited page

For help finding information specific to your paper topic, go to http://reinert.creighton.edu/services/instruction/rap/rap.htm and complete the form with details of your paper assignment. Our terrific librarians can assist you.

Essay on Why This Course is Vital to an Arts & Sciences College Education at Creighton University

This essay should be between 600 and 800 words. Conduct the necessary research in order to construct the strongest, most persuasive case you can. Argue for the thesis by explaining how the specific course content connects with Creighton’s mission as a Jesuit, Catholic university.

This essay should have	(a) a cover page	Include your NAME, the COURSE number and name, the correctly spelled name of your PROFESSOR, the title “Why HRS 100 is Vital to an Arts & Sciences College Education at Creighton University,” the WORD COUNT of the body, and the DATE submitted. (Note: This is NOT the date you began writing the paper or the date the paper was due. It is the date you put the paper into your professor’s hands.
	(b) a body	Number these pages. Only the words in the body count toward the essay’s word count printed on the cover page.
	(c) a Works Cited page

Submission Policy and Late Penalty

Either hand your paper to Prof. Stephens in person or deliver your paper to his office in the Classical & Near Eastern Studies Department suite, second floor west of the DHHC. “Your paper” means a hard copy, that is, thin, 8½ by 11" rectangular sheets made from wood pulp, stapled together in the upper left hand corner, with 12 point font, dark, easily legible print on them. An electronic file on a storage device or an email attachment is ordinarily not acceptable. Approval for submitting your paper electronically must be explicitly granted by Prof. Stephens. Late papers will be penalized ten (10) points (one full letter grade) per weekday late. Early submissions are very welcome!

Group Presentations on Hopkins

Students will be divided into four groups, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. Go to BlueLine and on the “Lessons” tab look for “Group Presentations List.” Each group will deliver a presentation on two chapters of Keith Hopkins, A World Full of Gods (see below). Members of each group will collaborate (outside of class) in order to prepare their presentation. The presentation should provide a good overview of the two chapters. Each student must take a turn presenting a portion of that overview in class. Allow 5 to 7 minutes for discussion at the end of the class meeting. Groups are welcome to use whatever instructional materials (PowerPoints, pictures, handouts, and the like) they wish for their presentations. Work together. Help each other. Divide responsibilities fairly. Have fun collaborating on this project.

Academic Honesty Statement

If you plagiarize any part of your papers, then you will receive an F for the course. Students are required to produce their own original work, ideas, arguments, and sentences in their papers. Students may NOT work with others, and may NOT borrow from others, in writing their papers. Citations on the paper should follow the guidelines in How to Write Philosophy Papers. If you cheat on an exam, then you will receive at minimum an F (zero) on that exam; in cases judged to be flagrant by the instructor, the punishment is an F for the course. See the Creighton College of Arts & Sciences Academic Honesty Procedures.

Keep in Contact with your Professor throughout the Course

If anything hinders you from doing the assigned reading, attending class, participating in discussions, studying for quizzes, or writing your paper, please come see me or call me or email me or leave a note in my mailbox or under my office door. Whatever happens to you, please keep in contact with Prof. Stephens. Failure to do so can have unhappy consequences. Together we can work any problem out, but it is your responsibility to promptly read and reply to emails from me. I will notify students of revisions to the syllabus and make other announcements via email and/or BlueLine. Consequently, conscientiously check your email daily.

DATE ASSIGNMENT

W Aug. 24	Introduction to course and some logic
F Aug. 26	Introduction (pp. 58–59) and Plato, Meno 70a–81e (pp. 59–71)
M Aug. 29	Plato, Meno 82a to 89c (pp. 72–81)
W Aug. 31	Plato, Meno 89d to end (pp. 81–92)
F Sept. 2	Plato, Meno
	Labor Day
W Sept. 7	Plato, finish Meno, Introduction and Euthyphro (pp. 1–20), Introduction and Apology 17a to 30b (pp. 21–34)
F Sept. 9	Plato, Apology 30c to end (pp. 34–44)
M Sept. 12	Plato, Apology continued
	Mass of the Holy Spirit
F Sept. 16	Plato, finish Apology

M Sept. 19	Plato, Introduction and Crito (pp. 45–57); Introduction and Phaedo 57a to 62c (pp. 93–99)
W Sept. 21	Plato, Phaedo 62d to 85b (pp. 99–123)
F Sept. 23	Plato, Phaedo 85c to end (pp. 123–154) Review Guide for Exam #1
M Sept. 26	Exam #1
W Sept. 28	Plato, Timaeus Introduction through Prologue to the Discourse (pp. xiii–xv, xx–xxxiii), 17a–29d6 (pp. 1–15), and
	A. The Craftsmanship of Intellect (pp. xxxiii–liv) and 29d7–41d3 (pp. 15–29), and Hesiod, Theogony
F Sept. 30	Plato, Timaeus Introduction, A. The Craftsmanship of Intellect continued, 41d4–47e2 (pp. 29–36), and
	B. The Effects of Necessity (pp. liv–lxxvii) and 47e3–69a5 (pp. 36–62)
M Oct. 3	Plato, Timaeus Introduction, C. The Cooperation of Intellect and Necessity (pp. lxxvii–lxxxix) and 69a6–92c9 (pp. 62–88)
W Oct. 5	Hopkins, A World Full of Gods, Introduction and Chapters 1–2 (pp. 1–75) Student Group Alpha presents (on Chs. 1–2)
F Oct. 7	Epictetus, Discourses, Introduction and Book I (pp. vii–xxiv, 3–39)
M Oct. 10	Epictetus, Book I (pp. 40–76)
W Oct. 12	Epictetus, Book II (pp. 77–111)
F Oct. 14	Epictetus, Book II (pp. 112–145)
	Fall Recess
M Oct. 24	Epictetus, Book III (pp. 146–173)
W Oct. 26	Epictetus, Book IV (pp. 174–206) Review Guide for Exam #2
F Oct. 28	Exam #2
M Oct. 31	Hopkins, Chapters 3–4 (pp. 76–176) Student Group Beta presents
W Nov. 2	Den Boer, “A Pagan Historian and His Enemies: Porphyry Against the Christians,”
	Classical Philology 69 (1974): 198–208 (on BlueLine under “Lessons”)
F Nov. 4	Hopkins, Chapters 5–6 (pp. 177–241) Student Group Gamma presents
M Nov. 7	Hopkins, Chapters 7–8 (pp. 242–332) Student Group Delta presents

W Nov. 9	Justin Martyr, Introduction (pp. 1–21) and Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2011.09.32: Ory Amitay, From Alexander to Jesus (Univ. of California, 2010)
F Nov. 11	Justin, The First Apology, through “The Irrationality of Paganism,” §§ 1–22 (pp. 23–39)
M Nov. 14	Justin, The First Apology, “Theological Exposition” through “Proofs of Prophecies Fulfilled,” §§ 23–45 (pp. 39–55)
	Thesis Defense Paper topics must be approved by Prof. S by TODAY
W Nov. 16	Justin, The First Apology, “Christians before Christ” through “Hadrian to Minicius Fundanus,” §§ 46–68 (pp. 55–72)
F Nov. 18	Justin, finish The First Apology Review Guide for Exam #3
M Nov. 21	Exam #3
	Thanksgiving Recess
M Nov. 28	Celsus, General Introduction (pp. 5–45) Essay on Why This Course is Vital for an A&S College Education at Creighton University DUE
W Nov. 30	Celsus, On the True Doctrine, §I through III (pp. 53–69)
F Dec. 2	Celsus, §IV through V (pp. 69–85)
M Dec. 5	Celsus, §VI through VIII (pp. 85–105) Thesis Defense Paper DUE
W Dec. 7	Celsus, §IX through X (pp. 106–126)
F Dec. 9	last class Review Guide for Final Exam

Friday, December 16, 8:00–9:40 am Final Exam ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

* The instructor reserves the right to make minor changes to this syllabus during the course including scheduling of due dates and assignments.