Jonathan R.
1. Approximately when and where did the Renaissance occur? The Renaissance took place around the 1300s, and continued until the 1600s. It began in Florence, Italy, and spread across Europe. Renaissance in French means “rebirth”.
- Correct.
2. Martin Luther: who was he, what did he do, and when did he do it? Martin Luther was a monk and a theologian, but before he became a monk, he was greeted with a terrifying experience: a lightning bolt struck the ground near him, and for protection, he called out to St. Anne and promised to become a monk if he survived the storm. Of course, he did survive the storm, and he left his law school and joined an Augustinian monastery. The answer to what he did: he saw many flaws in the Catholic Church, and nailed "The 95 Theses" to the door of the Wittenberg Church to notify them of all the corrupted things it was doing like selling indulgences to fund the Church.
- Excellent summary.
3. What was the Baroque style, and what was its motivation? Baroque is an art style that includes stuff like dramatic and large-scale type paintings. Some of its popular artists were Rembrandt and Rubens. The time period that this style occupied was about 1600 – 1700. This style was introduced at the tail end of the Renaissance, and was succeeded by an art style called Rococo (1700 – 1800), which included a light playful subject matter.
- Superb, may use as a model.
4. Summarize the history of the English language. The English language basically went through three phases to get close to where it is today: Old English (Anglo-Saxon), which is a very hard-to-understand language. Then came Middle English, which is readable, but sketchy in some areas. Then there is Modern English, which is what was used in Shakespeare’s days, but there has been much improvement since then.
- Correct, could add some time periods to your answer.
H1. What are the particular strengths and advantages of the English language? The first advantage is its compact alphabet, which is an issue for the Chinese language. Could you imagine typing or even texting with it? You would need a phone keypad with at least a square foot of just buttons! The second advantage is that it’s phonetic: you can spell a word by sounding it out in letters most of the time.
- Superb, could use this as a model.
6. Why did the Renaissance occur in Europe, and not in other areas of the world, such as Asia? Well, let’s define Renaissance first. It was a renewed interest in classical Greek and Roman civilization, in learning, in culture, and in art. And even its name means “rebirth”. In Asia, they were already interested in advancing themselves, and they didn’t have a “classical Greek and Roman civilization” to return to, so there was almost no way there could have been any spark of that in Asia.
- Excellent.
7. Current events: Who would you describe as "Machiavellian" today, and why? This was probably expected, but I think Obama fits the category quite well. I’ve noted that he has been quoted many times talking about “the future of America” as being something great (and saying it as if it was only something that could be accomplished with him in office); that it is his goal for America now, and it would seem that he will mess up just about anything to do so: claiming he is a Christian supposedly to get more Christians to vote for him, support of abortion which is abhorrent murder (no matter what your view of it is), using race-baiting, so that if you were thinking about not voting for him, you’d feel like a racist.
- Fantastic answer, could use this as a model!
- Absolutely terrific homework, with several potential model answers! 70/70. Congratulations!--Andy Schlafly 10:04, 22 March 2009 (EDT)