Response Paper

Choose ONE (!) of the topics below and write a response, using 500-700 words, about 2 pages (unless you doublespace your paper and use a 24 font, or something like it). I don’t actually handcount words, so you don’t need to, either. If you use literature to back up your argument (and I recommend that you do), be sure to reference it either in footnotes or, if you have several entries, in a bibliography attached to the end of the paper. Still, mind that you are not writing a term paper – use the limited space and try to give an answer to one of the questions as precise as possible. For some of the questions, you might have to refer back to texts we have been reading in class.

The deadline to meet is June 13 – no exceptions. I would suggest you hand in the thing on that date, in class, and I’ll return it to you a week later.

1) Apocalyptic Voice

As we have seen at the beginning of the class, John the apocalyptist is extremely touchy on the issue of authority. He makes it very clear that his text is to be read verbatim, and no mistakes here:

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Revelation of St. John 22.19)

First of all, try to explain and paraphrase the final sentence (“And if anyone takes words…”) in your own words! Then try to find three apocalyptic thinkers or apocalyptic communities in history and explain/compare how seriously, how verbatim they took the word of John and what they made of it in their lives! You might think of part-time apocalyptists like Isaac Newton and Christopher Columbus here, but also of apocalyptic communities like the medieval Joachimites, the 19^th-century-USA Millerites, or, of course, the Puritans (you can easily find comprehensive information on all these groups, and on various others, online, of course!).

2) Puritan Apocalypse

Go back to John Winthrop’s sermon on The City upon a Hill (1630) (online here - http://history.hanover.edu/texts/winthmod.html - among other places). Explain in your own words what the city upon a hill stands for. Then go into the first few decades of Puritan history in America – how did the city upon a hill fare? Did it prosper? Did it fail? Try to give evidence: you might think of the Puritan war against the Pequod nation here, or of the witch trials, or of…you name it!

3) Reagan’s Shining City

In his farewell address, delivered on January 11, 1989, then US-president Ronald Reagan famously used the image of the city on a hill –

And that's about all I have to say tonight. Except for one thing. The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the "shining city upon a hill." The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free.

I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still. (the full text of the speech is here - http://www.localvoter.com/speech_rr6.asp - go ahead and read it, it’s not too long).

Explain in your own words how Reagan was using the image of the city on a hill! What does it mean to him? Then go ahead and compare the historical circumstances – 1630 (when Winthrop held his sermon) and 1989 (when Reagan held his) – are there differences, are there similarities?

4) Wigglesworth and The Day of Doom

We read parts of Michael Wigglesworth’s The Day of Doom (on your handout! Also, the complete text is online here - http://www.puritansermons.com/poetry/wiggindx.htm). Go back to the poem, read it or parts of it and find out about the following:

• formal qualities: what meter is he using? Give examples from the text!
• What images and metaphors is he using? Find three and describe how he uses them!
• Reception: how was The Day of Doom being received in 17^th century New England? Why did people react the way they did? Do you think it is a convincing, maybe even a strong poem? Give reasons!