In order to understand why colonists from Western Europe were willing to leave their homes and travel for up to three months on cramped, dangerous ships to travel to an unknown land, it is necessary to have a solid grounding in the development of European society from the fall of the Roman Empire up to the Renaissance. Europe at the time of colonization was desperately torn by violence and poverty, with religious conflict on every side. How did this environment give birth to our nation, with a history of religious tolerance, democratic representation, and economic opportunity?
To start us off, we can learn about the very beginning...our goal as we read the following text is to ask questions at each stage, and compare these questions with what we already know. We can move on from there. What follows is a brief survey of the beginnings of modern western society, starting with the birth of the Christian Religion.
To start us off, we can learn about the very beginning...our goal as we read the following text is to ask questions at each stage, and compare these questions with what we already know. We can move on from there. What follows is a brief survey of the beginnings of modern western society, starting with the birth of the Christian Religion.
social_lesson_european_history_introduction.docx | |
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the_foundation_of_america_religion.docx | |
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To assist us in investigating the history of the United States, we will use a model of five themes to analyze historical records. In particular, we will examine:
As an introduction, we will start by looking at how these five themes are present in Medieval Europe, following the fall of the Roman Empire, but before the Age of Exploration.
The first example will look at the three basic branches of medieval society, with an eye on examining how social injustice is related to economic conditions. To assess understanding, the students will be required to respond to the questions at the end of the text using the CARs format.
- Economic Security versus Economic opportunity, and competition for resources leading to inequality: how economic conditions drive social injustice, political decisions, interact with religious beliefs, and specifically how societies choose to distribute wealth and power.
- Religious freedom versus a virtuous society: how a sense of religious destiny in religious societies drives political, social and economic change, and specifically the conflict between people's desire to follow their own faith and the desire of dominant groups to force others to conform to their ideal of virtuous behavior in a good society.
- Security versus personal freedom: How fear of internal enemies and conspiracies influence political and social events, and specifically the conflict between people's desire for security provided by a government and their desire for freedom from an overly powerful and oppressive government.
- Rule of law versus personal freedom: how conflicts over personal security and personal rights influence political, social and religious events. How does a society value and balance between laws that restrict harm but also limit actions?
- Distrust of government power: how do people perceive government power, how do they contribute to maintaining it, or how do they resist? What types of governments have evolved to fulfill specific needs?
As an introduction, we will start by looking at how these five themes are present in Medieval Europe, following the fall of the Roman Empire, but before the Age of Exploration.
The first example will look at the three basic branches of medieval society, with an eye on examining how social injustice is related to economic conditions. To assess understanding, the students will be required to respond to the questions at the end of the text using the CARs format.
social_lesson_medieval_european_society.docx | |
File Size: | 17 kb |
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medieval_european_society.docx | |
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Our next example will examine the birth and growth of the Christian Churches, in order to investigate how an idea of religious destiny affects and creates a religious society. The file and audio file are attached below. For those that are interested in some of the alternate Gospels discussed in the text, you can find several of them at this website.
social_lesson_from_the_birth_of_christianity.docx | |
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from_the_birth_of_christianity.docx | |
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Now that we've reviewed the growth of early Christianity and the issues that the Church faced, we need to explore how internal and external problems caused Roman Catholicism to fragment and cause the Protestant Reformation. Like most social upheavals, this disruption actually has economic roots, oddly found in a public health disaster. For now, we need to discuss the Black Death.
from_the_black_death_to_reformation.docx | |
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social_lesson_from_the_black_death_to_reformation.docx | |
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In the aftermath of the economic earthquake following the Bubonic Pandemic, the decisive shift in the modern history of Christianity and the West occurred when the Catholic Church underwent yet another schism...this time breaking into multiple shards that would compete in a battle both literal and philosophical for the minds and lands of Europe. The end result would be a group of religious fanatics seeking to leave to go to any place on Earth...even a New World entire, if possible.
the_reformation.docx | |
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social_lesson_reformation.docx | |
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So, at this point, it becomes time to tie all of these shifting ideas and concepts together. Religiously, economically, and politically, Europe had undergone a seismic shift that left it poised to leap into a position of world dominance that would last for centuries. In this summative assessment, the goal is to discuss how the 5 themes of history manifest during this turbulent period.
medieval_society_and_the_reformation_summative.docx | |
File Size: | 16 kb |
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