Final Examination
Respond to two of the following questions. Answers must be submitted via Canvas as typed text-entry documents or uploaded as Microsoft Word files. In preparing responses, you may review course lectures and transcripts, your notes on the same, the vocabulary sheets, and the textbook. Use of sources beyond those indicated above will result in charges of plagiarism filed with the Office of Student Conduct. To receive full credit, essays must be submitted in one of the stipulated compatible formats before 11:59 P.M.
Analyze state and society during the Han dynasty, focusing on the “Han Synthesis” of Legalism and Confucianism. Why did the Han founders choose the bureaucratic-centralization model of government and administration? How did Confucianism legitimize that model? What role did the civil-service examination play in the genesis of a new class, the scholar-gentry?
Analyze the basic principles of Legalism and discuss their historical impact during the Warring States’ and Qin dynastic periods. Why was Legalism attractive to the rulers of the Qin state? What role did Legalist policies play in the unification of China by that state? How were Legalist theories manifested in the resulting imperial structure? Why was the Qin dynasty so short-lived?
Consider the causes, course, and consequences of the Reformation. What was the nature of the Catholic Church’s crisis? Why did Martin Luther’s theology comprise a threat to the Church’s monopolization of spiritual life? What were the political ramifications of the religious turmoil?