A guide to understanding the causes of the Protestant Reformation and the creation of different denominations of Christianity.

What caused the Protestant Reformation?

New world discovery and exploration

How do you explain the discovery of the new world by Europeans? Was it an accident, good luck, or the result of a more complex set of circumstances?

Questions about Sparta

In my book on Western Civilization they only give a small portion of information on Sparta and they focus mainly on Athens. I also watched the movie Troy with Brad Pitt last night and was not quite sure what exactly is true. In what ways was Sparta different from Athens? I know that the ground troups and military with strong. What advatages did sparta offer to it's citizens? My book says that 'Sparta elite women had more sexual freedom than other Greeks. This I don't get, on how the geograpy of Laconia and the Peloponnesus affected Spartas expansion, unless they are talking about mountains. How exactly did the Spartans organize the Hoplites and Phalanxes. I think Hoplites where w... click for more

More questions on Sparta

I have heard the the Spartans literally through babies off clifts and elders decided which children where to live or die. Which has peaked my interest of this brutallity. How were the children raised in Sparta? Who was Lyeurgus? and Who was Leonidas? I think Lyeurgus might be some mythical philosopher. How would you describe "Classical Sparta"? My first thought is burtality, but was Sparta really different than any other society in Europe at that time. However in the movie Troy they show the king of Troy as a peaceful man who loved his country and family, which they depict Spartans of lacking those feelings.

The rise of Christianity in regards to the Apostle Paul

I am trying to come up with an argument and I am getting a little "tongue tied" on how to say my point. My thoughts; Jesus was a preacher and healer and began his 'movement' after John's execution. Overall Jesus was not special, but he did focus on the poor and weak to spread his message of 'love, worshiping only on God'. And eventually he became a nusiance to the Romans and to the Jewish priest, and he was executed. What makes Jesus special is that his messages didn't die when he was executed, like most preachers, his message was spread through out the empire by Saul of Tarsus, aka: Apostle Paul. Now, my set up, Paul was the only Apostle who never met Jesus. Paul felt that anyone... click for more