CVSP 202 Final, Spring 2003

MEH WN UNIVERS! LIBRARY OF BEIRUT FINAL EXAM CVSP 202: Sections 4 & 5 Prof. Pinto Time 2hrs Student Name & AUB ID. No.: PART I: ESSAY QUESTIONS (50% EACH) Write two in depth essays on ANY 2 of the following questions. Each essay should be at least 5 pages. Feel free to draw upon other readings and your own perspective where necessary. 1) "In class we discussed Dante's Purgatorio from a number of perspectives: political; visual; Roman mythology (specifically Virgil's Aeneid and Ovid's Metamorphoses); Christian theology; Islam; Aviary symbolism; and Dante's inventions. Pick one or two of these perspectives and discuss it as fully as possible. 2) “Luther decried "works" and thus brought about the Protestant split from the Roman Catholic Church. Explain the basis of his actions. Discuss the pro's and con's of his interpretation of "works." How and why did his attacks on "works" result in the Protestant Reformation? 3) "Employing different approaches Ibn Tufayl and Aquinas communicated the same message. Present the conclusions that these two reached and explain the method each one of them used to arrive at the same "truth." 4) "...where contemporaneous historians tended to see power largely in terms of powerful individuals leading powerful armies and only rarely to speculate about the other constituents of power, Ibn Khaldun painted his picture on a larger screen. Hence, when states rose or fell much more was involved than the rise or fall of rulers or dynasties. Certain things change rapidly; others change very little and can be measured only in generations or centuries.” (Tarif Khalidi, Arabic historical thought in the classical period, p. 226.) aehn UNIVERSIT LIBKARY OF BEIRUT Discuss this quotation in light of our readings from Ibn Khaldun's Mugaddimah. ****NOTE THAT YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT OF June 16, 2003 TO COMPLETE YOUR WEB-CT POSTINGS!!!