Discuss where you feel the aspirations of the sermon were actually met, and discuss where you think Winthrop failed to meet those aspirations.

Reflection or Response papers should be between 1,000 and 1,500 words long. They are designed to 1) demonstrate that you have read the assigned text, 2) encourage you to think critically about it, 3) practice the techniques of literary analysis, quotation and paraphrasing that you should use regularly in academic writing.

A response should reflect your careful reading of a text and try to connect that text with the outside worldits implications for real life. The paper needs to be in first person because it is about how you are understanding the text and how it connects with both the material and your own life. What do we learn from the text that we can attach to today somehow? If we can’t do that, then literature remains a lifeless thing.

Choose from ONE of the following three paper topics.

John vs John: What Went Wrong? What Went Right? For this paper, compare and contrast John Winthrops A Model of Christian Charity and John Winthrops Journal. That’s hard enough. It might also be difficult to see where those works collide with our modern life, but they do. Discuss where you feel the aspirations of the sermon were actually met, and discuss where you think Winthrop failed to meet those aspirations. Do Winthrop and the Puritans seem to really keep the covenant they made with God as expressed in the Arabella Covenant? Do we today, similarly, live up to our better angels? How is Winthrop relevant today? You must, of course, cite meaningfully from both Winthrops sermon and from the journal to prove your point.

For the Love of Money: A Model of Christian Charity vs American Gospel. Lets consider the love and aspirations of A Model of Christian Charity. It is a highly aspirational document, and you should, by now, be able to articulate what those aspirations were. Using A Model of Christian Charity and the Netflix documentary American Gospel, construct an essay that meaningfully discusses what you think Winthrop would have felt about the ideas expressed in American Gospel. You must, of course, quote and cite meaningfully from both Winthrops sermon and from the documentary to prove your point.

Anne vs Anne: Lets Get Ready to Humble. Using Winthrops journal and Anne Bradstreets poetry, discuss the nature and power Anne Hutchinsons and Anne Bradstreets thinking. What messages were they trying to send? What things were they trying to teach us? How does their thinking (or their lives, for that matter) still resonate with us today? You must, of course, cite meaningfully from Bradstreets poetry, from Winthrops journal, and from The Trial of Anne Hutchinson (Links to an external site.) to prove your point.

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