1. www.PACESinfo.org
Upper and Lower Rhetoric English Literature Study Guide
1
The
Fourteen Ideas
Virtue Equity
Truth Honor
Beauty Wisdom
Justice Freedom
Glory Goodness
Hope Immortality
Grace Becoming
In his historic work, The Great Ideas, Mortimer
Adler discusses the importance of relating
themes of literature to the great ideas and
philosophies of Western culture. In order for
a reader to comprehend cultural progression
and the progression of history, the reader must
understand the great ideas behind the stories of
literature as well as the motivation for events of
history. By supplying a reader with a universal
idea such as beauty, truth, or goodness, the
writer of a study guide facilitates the reader’s
understanding of the author’s purpose in
writing.
In Creation, God’s declaration of “It is good” is
more than a conclusion for His completion of
the work of the day. This declaration educates
man in the terms of goodness and completion.
Man with this plumb line in mind was expected
to judge his own creations by the judgment God
pronounced on His own creation. For a man to
declare his own work to be good, it must follow
the criterion and standards of the Creator in the
beginning. Likewise, the reader is asked to find
the plumb line standards by each author in each
work that is read.
One advantage of a Great Book reading program
is to train the mind of the reader to conform not
only to the mind of the writer, but also to the
mind of God by comparing the Great Ideas and
themes of western literature to the Great Ideas
and themes of the Creator of the Universe and
Author of the Bible.
For the sake of brevity we have selected 14 ideas
in which to focus our study.
The Case for Israel: Democracy’s Outpost
Cast: Alan Dershowitz, Genre: Political Documentaries
2009, NR, 77 minutes
Y2Q2-0006 (rev. 1110)
About the
Documentary
“Ground Zero Shoot a Jew” began long
before the time of Crazy Christopher
Marlowe’s sociopathic, Barabas.
Though the play Jew of Malta displayed
exceptional anti-Semitism to English
audiences eager for it after converted
Jew Roderigo Lopez, Queen Elizabeth’s
personal physician, suffered execution
at the hands of her court for trying
to poison her, William Shakespeare’s
deeply-flawed, deeply-human Shylock,
asked 353 years prior, “...if you prick us
[Jews] do we not bleed?”1
The Israeli land scuffle commenced
in the ancient city of Ur, when Abram
heard God say “Go from your country,
your people and your father’s household
to the land I will show you.” (Gen. 12:1
NIV) From then till now this people
group journeyed under Moses from
captivity in Egypt, unified under their
first king, against God’s will, Saul,
followed under a “man after God’s own
heart” (Acts 13:22 NIV) David, built the
domicile of God on the Temple Mount
under King Solomon, split into two
kingdoms at Solomon’s death: two under
Rehoboam, Solomon’s successor, and
ten of the twelve Tribes of Israel aligned
under Jeroboam. Yet they would not keep
their land.
Conquered by the Assyrians in
722 B.C.E., almost two hundred years
later, the Israelites experienced exile
to Babylon in 597 B.C.E. Judah’s
sovereignty ended--along with the
400-year rule of the House of David.
Deportation of the cultural and political
elite to Babylon, i.e. Daniel and his
1 Shmoop Editorial Team, “The Jew of Malta
Genre,” Shmoop University, Inc., 11 November
2008.
friends, and the loss of the Temple,
God’s dwelling place, deeply affected the
Israelites’ spiritual identity. In addition,
with the destruction of the northern
kingdom, ten of the twelve Tribes of
Israel vanished without a trace, an
ominous foreshadowing of the diaspora.
Spat upon, kicked, and railed against
for being different, the Israelites, or
modern day Jews, recorded their story
of crisis, their people’s grief and despair
over the Temple’s destruction and the
devastation across their homeland
through the songs of Lamentations in
the Old Testament and in some of the
Psalms. The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah
and Ezekiel describe the destruction of
the Temple and the following period of
exile.2
When the Persian king Cyrus
conquered Babylon in 539 B.C.E., he
allowed the displaced Jewish people to
return home. During this time, 445/444
B.C.E., Nehemiah, a high Jewish official
under the Persian king traveled from
Babylon to Jerusalem to teach the people
about God’s laws. Enter prophets Haggai
and Zechariah.
When Alexander the Great ushered
in the Hellenistic age with his military
campaigns, Persian rule ceased in 323
B.C.E. and for the next two centuries,
Egyptian Ptolemies and Syrian Seleucids
grappled for the bone of contention:
Palestine. Religious tolerance of the
Ptolemies provided substantial autonomy
for the Temple in Jerusalem until its’
plunder by Seleucid Antiochus IV in
168 B.C.E. His reign saw heathen rituals
desecrate the Holy Mount and the
celebration of all things Jewish become
punishable by death. This pattern would
repeat throughout history.
2 Essential Visual History of the Bible by National
Geographic, p. 264.
3. www.PACESinfo.org
Upper and Lower Dialectic English Literature Study Guide
3
Week Two
Homework
Vocabulary
Listen for the following words in the documentary this week
and know their definition in context of the film.
peripatetic
pogroms
dint
palliate
Grand Mufti
Quassam rocket
Listening/watching
Listen and take notes on the main ideas for the second thirty
minutes of the documentary film, The Case for Democracy
starring Alan Dershowitz.
Parent Discussion
Discuss the following with your students after they have
completed the listening/watching for this week but prior to
having them begin the writing assignments.
1. When will the Israeli checkpoints disappear?
2. How does a country most effectively stop a Quassam
rocket?
3. Why doesn’t Israel attack Palestine with air force?
4. How do Israeli civilians protect themselves from Quassam
rockets launched from Palestine?
5. How much time do Israeli civilians have to find shelter
from a Quassam rocket?
6. How many years have Israeli citizens endured the trauma of
hiding themselves from unexpected Quassam rockets?
7. What character trait of the Israeli people does Hamas take
the most advantage of?
8. Who operated the school from which Hamas fired a
Quassam rocket at the Israeli people?
Comprehension
Using your parent discussion notes following the documentary,
answer the Parent Discussion questions thoroughly with
complete sentences on paper and submit in your red, English
folder.
Class Discussion
Review and be prepared to discuss the following in class.
1. If you were a Jewish citizen living in Israel, what method of
defense would you propose to protect your country?
2. As Christians living in Israel, what method of defense
would you propose to protect your country?
3. Choose sides and begin preparation for an in-class debate
next week:
Should the nation of Israel experience repercussions for
civilian death casualties incurred while defending their
nation? Or not?
4. Why do you think this PACES assignment occurred in
English class instead of Culturative History class?
WeekTwo
![www.PACESinfo.org
Upper and Lower Rhetoric English Literature Study Guide
1
The
Fourteen Ideas
Virtue Equity
Truth Honor
Beauty Wisdom
Justice Freedom
Glory Goodness
Hope Immortality
Grace Becoming
In his historic work, The Great Ideas, Mortimer
Adler discusses the importance of relating
themes of literature to the great ideas and
philosophies of Western culture. In order for
a reader to comprehend cultural progression
and the progression of history, the reader must
understand the great ideas behind the stories of
literature as well as the motivation for events of
history. By supplying a reader with a universal
idea such as beauty, truth, or goodness, the
writer of a study guide facilitates the reader’s
understanding of the author’s purpose in
writing.
In Creation, God’s declaration of “It is good” is
more than a conclusion for His completion of
the work of the day. This declaration educates
man in the terms of goodness and completion.
Man with this plumb line in mind was expected
to judge his own creations by the judgment God
pronounced on His own creation. For a man to
declare his own work to be good, it must follow
the criterion and standards of the Creator in the
beginning. Likewise, the reader is asked to find
the plumb line standards by each author in each
work that is read.
One advantage of a Great Book reading program
is to train the mind of the reader to conform not
only to the mind of the writer, but also to the
mind of God by comparing the Great Ideas and
themes of western literature to the Great Ideas
and themes of the Creator of the Universe and
Author of the Bible.
For the sake of brevity we have selected 14 ideas
in which to focus our study.
The Case for Israel: Democracy’s Outpost
Cast: Alan Dershowitz, Genre: Political Documentaries
2009, NR, 77 minutes
Y2Q2-0006 (rev. 1110)
About the
Documentary
“Ground Zero Shoot a Jew” began long
before the time of Crazy Christopher
Marlowe’s sociopathic, Barabas.
Though the play Jew of Malta displayed
exceptional anti-Semitism to English
audiences eager for it after converted
Jew Roderigo Lopez, Queen Elizabeth’s
personal physician, suffered execution
at the hands of her court for trying
to poison her, William Shakespeare’s
deeply-flawed, deeply-human Shylock,
asked 353 years prior, “...if you prick us
[Jews] do we not bleed?”1
The Israeli land scuffle commenced
in the ancient city of Ur, when Abram
heard God say “Go from your country,
your people and your father’s household
to the land I will show you.” (Gen. 12:1
NIV) From then till now this people
group journeyed under Moses from
captivity in Egypt, unified under their
first king, against God’s will, Saul,
followed under a “man after God’s own
heart” (Acts 13:22 NIV) David, built the
domicile of God on the Temple Mount
under King Solomon, split into two
kingdoms at Solomon’s death: two under
Rehoboam, Solomon’s successor, and
ten of the twelve Tribes of Israel aligned
under Jeroboam. Yet they would not keep
their land.
Conquered by the Assyrians in
722 B.C.E., almost two hundred years
later, the Israelites experienced exile
to Babylon in 597 B.C.E. Judah’s
sovereignty ended--along with the
400-year rule of the House of David.
Deportation of the cultural and political
elite to Babylon, i.e. Daniel and his
1 Shmoop Editorial Team, “The Jew of Malta
Genre,” Shmoop University, Inc., 11 November
2008.
friends, and the loss of the Temple,
God’s dwelling place, deeply affected the
Israelites’ spiritual identity. In addition,
with the destruction of the northern
kingdom, ten of the twelve Tribes of
Israel vanished without a trace, an
ominous foreshadowing of the diaspora.
Spat upon, kicked, and railed against
for being different, the Israelites, or
modern day Jews, recorded their story
of crisis, their people’s grief and despair
over the Temple’s destruction and the
devastation across their homeland
through the songs of Lamentations in
the Old Testament and in some of the
Psalms. The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah
and Ezekiel describe the destruction of
the Temple and the following period of
exile.2
When the Persian king Cyrus
conquered Babylon in 539 B.C.E., he
allowed the displaced Jewish people to
return home. During this time, 445/444
B.C.E., Nehemiah, a high Jewish official
under the Persian king traveled from
Babylon to Jerusalem to teach the people
about God’s laws. Enter prophets Haggai
and Zechariah.
When Alexander the Great ushered
in the Hellenistic age with his military
campaigns, Persian rule ceased in 323
B.C.E. and for the next two centuries,
Egyptian Ptolemies and Syrian Seleucids
grappled for the bone of contention:
Palestine. Religious tolerance of the
Ptolemies provided substantial autonomy
for the Temple in Jerusalem until its’
plunder by Seleucid Antiochus IV in
168 B.C.E. His reign saw heathen rituals
desecrate the Holy Mount and the
celebration of all things Jewish become
punishable by death. This pattern would
repeat throughout history.
2 Essential Visual History of the Bible by National
Geographic, p. 264.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/5f411764-c7b2-48fc-ae25-9c60aac0243e-150722055623-lva1-app6891/85/israelcase-for-democracy-1-320.jpg)
