Abstract
The paper shows how "The Rule of St. Benedict" is key in understanding some of the main values in the very Christian medieval European scene, including obedience, silence and humility. The paper describes the Middle Ages' values of extreme asceticism and bodily denial in contrast to our obsession with self-worth and succumbing to the body's every desire. The paper maintains that the Middle Ages may seem nothing short of archaic and fanatical to us today, however, a compromise is necessary between our two extremes to balance a basic sense of worth with a healthy lifestyle and attention span.

From the Paper
"In order to appreciate the method of training the self presented in The Rule of St. Benedict we must also understand the historical context. Medieval culture at this time concerned itself with the soul above all else. This meant that society aspired to master the body, as if scouring the body so that the soul can shine. Christianity at this time was emerging and had just stopped being persecuted, so this was the era in which the religion began to negotiate its definition. Since Jesus was the centre of the religion, he was the exemplary Christian hero whom his followers sought to resemble. His teachings about abolishing sin resonated with Medieval society and gave them the sense that the real human being was Adam before the fall: innocent and without sin. This mind frame of returning to the glory of Adam led to the development of asceticism, a life of trying to still and quiet the body."

Tags:asceticism, obedience, silence, humility, Christianity, desire, obesity, selfishness

Abstract
The paper describes Ruth Benedict's background, her search for fulfillment and meaning and her attraction to the field of anthropology. The paper discusses her relationship with Margaret Mead and outlines her exploration of various tribes, her interest in religion and life after death and her strong defense of civil liberties.

From the Paper
"She was born Ruth Fulton in New York in 1887 into an upper middle-class Protestant family of Anglo-Saxon descent. As such, the child avoided troubling discrimination common in those times against southern or eastern European immigrants and Jews. Yet, she still felt like "an outsider and observer of American life rather than a participant" (Caffrey 1989 pg 15). Ruth's father died unexpectedly when she was a toddler, a traumatic event which took a significant emotional toll on her mother. Afterward, she was raised in a religious home on her maternal grandfather's farm and, as a child, possessed a vivid imagination which often "put her in conflict with the family emphasis on common sense" (Caffrey 1989 pg 23)."

Tags:Mead, Boas, tribes, religion, death, civil, liberties, culture, field, work

Abstract
The author gives a detailed account on the life of Benedict Arnold, from the beginning of his career in 1775 to his sad and lonely death in 1801. The paper also explains how Arnold became one of America's most famous traitors and one of Britain's greatest heroes, while also examining how the colonial loyalists, also known as the Tories, and the British loyalists, felt about Arnold before and after his switch. The paper also hones in on those involved in aiding him in selling out his country, including John Andre and Beverly Robinson.

From the Paper
"So how did he end up or how was it found out that he was a traitor? Well, he changed sides mainly for financial reasons. He married a Peggy Shippen, who was in dept, and stayed in dept. He also didn't help matters any with the social parties he had. So he decided he would profit from the ruin of America. He contacted Sir Henry Clinton and promised to give him West Point and its defenders for 20,000 sterling, which is the same thing as $1 million today. However his British contact, Major John Andre, was captured, and with him there was incriminating documents in Arnold's handwriting, including routes of access to the fort.
After this incident he became a hero for the other side, fighting as hard as he did for America. Again he was awarded brigadier general. Again he led many victories, but this time it was for the British."

Tags:history, U.S., Britain, biography

Abstract
Arnold, a young firebrand, clashed with the stolid, traditional Gates, even though the men were friends. Arnold's "rash, thoughtless" actions may have won the battle whose victory is often attributed wholly to Gates' maneuvers. The contrast between the two tactical styles points up a transition in American military culture from old European formalism to new guerrilla-style tactics, a result of both the character of America's forces, and the generals like Benedict Arnold who commanded them.

From the Paper
The purpose of this research is to examine the life of Benedict Arnold with emphasis on his reasons for betraying the revolution.

Arnold is remembered as America's most infamous traitor. One of the Revolutionary War's greatest military heroes and field commanders, Arnold defected to the British side and offered to surrender West Point for money in 1780. The plot was discovered, and Arnold escaped, fought with the British Army and eventually went to England to live.

The reasons for Arnold's defection and betrayal of trust are complex and manifold.

The man who today is remembered in history only as a traitor was born on January 14, 1741, in Norwich, Connecticut. He and his sister Hannah were the only two of their parents' six .. "

Abstract
Both the Rule of St. Francis and the Rule of St. Benedict pertain to how to live a life in chastity and how to live a life with God. The major rules of both focus on the foundations of a life in being a God?s servant, particularly the apostolic way of life and that of belonging in a monastery. This paper explores these two rules and compares their major points.

From the Paper
"Though both rules focuses on the same principles of putting God in everything and that everything must be subservient to God, they however generally differ in the characteristics that they were implemented. St. Francis's rules were highly set in terms of practice. Their implementation were more of severity in character especially on matters regarding appropriating temporal things to one's self."

Tags:servant, chastity, piety, god

From the Paper
" In 1962, the United States Supreme Court invalidated prayer in public schools. In that case, the Court held that a state-composed prayer, read by teachers at the start of the school day, violated the First Amendment's prohibition against the government making any law ?respecting an establishment of religion.? The Court has revisited the issue, in some form or another, several times in the intervening years, most recently in Lee v. Weisman.

In Lee, a middle school principal in Providence, Rhode Island, invited a rabbi to offer a nonsectarian invocation and benediction at graduation. The principal acted according to the policy of the Providence School Committee. Deborah Weisman, a 14-year-old student, objected, but the District Court denied her request for a temporary restraining order. Weisman attended graduation, and the rabbi conducted the observance. Afterwards.."

From the Paper
"Benedict Anderson in his book Imagined Communities examines the issue of nationalism and how it developed, as well as how it operates in international relations to this day. This is a revision of an earlier edition, and the author notes how he has changed his approach and what he wants to accomplish with this book in the light of certain international events as well as after the application of certain new and developing ideas from historical, literary, anthropological, sociological, feminist, and other studies linking the objects of these fields of inquiry to nationalism and nation. He finds that it is beyond his means to adapt the work to these changes, so what he has tried to do instead is correct errors of fact and interpretation from the earlier edition.


Anderson is trained as a specialist on Southeast Asia, which..."

From the Paper
"This study will provide a summary of two books on Japanese culture, Ruth Benedict's The Chrysanthemum and the Sword and Robert C. Christopher's The Japanese Mind. Benedict's work is the more anthropological work, focusing on the development of Japanese culture from the seventh century to the end of World war II. Christopher has written the more anecdotal work, focusing on Japanese culture after World War II, primarily on the decades of the 1970s and 1980s.
Christopher writes to educate Americans about Japanese culture in the late 20th century and to improve relations between the two countries, presenting "a psychic and institutional guidebook to today's Japan" (Christopher 7). Aiming at the lay reader, Christopher's book is deliberately non-scholarly, but his intentions are serious. The urgency of his book is rooted in his.."

From the Paper
"The conventional picture of nationalism is that it is an ideology which grew up in Europe in the aftermath of the French Revolution, and became normative there in the course of the 19th century, finding expression on the one hand in the unifications of Germany and Italy, and on the other hand in the internal fissures which grew up within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, leading eventually to its dissolution after the First World War. Subsequently, in this conventional view, nationalism as an idea and ideology was spread to the rest of the world as a consequence of and reaction to European imperialism, leading in turn to the general dismantling of European empires, and the formation of new nations out of their former territories, in the decades after the Second World War.

In his book Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson.."

Tags:BOOK, REVIEWS, (NON-FICTION)