Discussion: The Americas

Compare the rise of civilizations in Mesoamerica and Andean South America. How are they similar to the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus River Valley, and the Yellow River Valley? Why do you think civilizations which developed halfway across the world exhibit similarities? How are they different? Are there specific reasons why differences exist? When responding to your classmates, include new, additional research to support or disprove their position. Make sure to use proper APA format for all citations provided and include a reference list for the citations you use.

Discussion: Course Reflection

After having the opportunity to complete the course, what would you change and why? What topic particularly caught your interest and what do you want to know more about? Last, but not least, if you could share with the next class one piece of advice about this class, what would it be? Please note that this pertains to the class, the materials, flow/organization, etc.

Your comments may be shared with incoming students with no identifying information. Thank you and good luck on your educational journey!

Should there be a limit on the musical artist's ability to express themselves through explicit "lyrics" or content of a violent or hateful nature? What are some possible answers to this societal dilemma?

Initial post due by Wednesday at midnight and follow-up posts are due by Saturday, midnight.

Discussion: The Reformation

1. Dana Tucker

Martin Luther firmly believed that salvation and religion was obtainable but it would come at the cost of original practice. You could not buy your way to heaven or pay for sins in form of payments. The reform was not ready to begin when it did to begin with. The church was sacred and the holy answer to every thing. A lot of people were usually killed or proscectued for defying the rule and ways of the church. Calvin and the Anabaptists were very retro in their way of thinking as apart of the church being paid for. You were able to buy your way into heaven and pay to have your stay in hell reduced.

2. Anthony Cedeno

Class,
I can see Martin Luther King Junior being a conservative leader only because he's very cautious with the type of sheen she was doing in society. Being an Anabaptists or following Calvinism is just following 1 Christian Way and theology. Anabaptist only believe in confessing and willing to be baptized and same thing goes for Calvinism. Following that Christian theology in society are people who are not willing to change but just to follow one same religious routine. Martin Luther King Jr. was very different from that in many ways. He was very straightforward with his people and when he wanted his point across he always made it a visual to all of the Americans supporting him. He was never unsure of himself and what he wanted to protest. He like to follow the old ways and being conservative that way. He protested to every religion and every culture which made him very conservative in many ways. No matter if you were black white religious or not he made sure everyone heard what he wanted to Tell the public. But for Anabaptists and people following Calvinism, they mostly preach and reform just to Christians in one religion.

I feel that the reform could have been done a century prior. Many people were still following Catholics and the church during that time period during the 16th century when the reform was taking a fact many people are following this religious aspect for years to come. It was only a matter of time into something like this was going to happen in The authority ties the government. Even if it was way later in the past, it still would've been a large scalable reform in society.
Anthony Cedeno

3. Devin Farmer
Unit 7 DB The Reformation
"Luther's conservatism in social, economic, and political matters was by no means inconsistent with his fundamental spiritual position. To Luther, if the visible external world was really wholly subordinate to the invisible spiritual world, the most one could hope for in the world of politics was the visible, external world be kept in as good order as possible, so that the spiritua; could thrive. Authority, custom, law, and existing institutions combined to provide this orderliness" (Anderson, 2008, para. 11). "Martin Luther claimed that what distinguished him from previous reformers was that while they attacked corruption in the life of the church; he went to the theological root of the problem--the perversion of the church's doctrine of redemption and grace...In his Ninety-five Theses, he attacked the indulgence system, insisting that the pope had no authority over purgatory and that the doctrine of the merits of the saints had no foundation in the gospel. Here lay the key to Luther's concerns for the ethical and theological reform of the church: Scripture alone is authoritative (sola sciptura) and justification is by faith (sola fide), not by works" (The Reformation and Counter Reformation, n.d., para. 3). "His 95 theses, which attacked the practice of selling indulgences, produced a firestorm which ignited the Protestant Reformation...Indulgences were a time-honored component of the Catholic Penitenial system...Luther produced three hugely influential tracts during the 1520 that further amplified his thinking and set his agenda for ecclesiastical reform;" To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Babylonian Captivity of the Church, The Freedom of a Christian (Martin Luther, 2015, para. 10-18). "Luther's political legacy is entwined with the formation of modern democracy. The teaching that an individual is ultimately accountable to God, and responsible for his or her fate, created a basis for moral self-direction that set the tone for the entire reformation" (Martin Luther, 2015, para. 55).
Honestly, I believe the reform would not have started a century prior on the sole reasoning of fear, fear to speak on one's own beliefs and not being persuaded otherwise. I feel that a century prior, others were given no position to act out their beliefs (depending on their religion and even so suffered repercussions) if it differed from the Church. If you were not adhering to the mandated religion of say the Church's choice or even the king, then you were shunned, killed, or beaten.

1. Sametria Whitfield
unit 7 20th Century Music
Hello everyone! I think the people just wanted to hear new music. I think every composer wanted their own music to be heard in their own style and presentation.I think some of the reasons for forming compositional shifts was to get the attention of the people and to add more things such as more instruments in the composers sounds.As the times change, it seemed as though the people wanted more than just plain and ordinary music from the composers. One thing that took place in the modern time was the forming of operan music. www.theguardian.com. Again for this change people wanted more , they wanted to be introduce to more instruments and sound from the composers.
References
Interactive Lecture Pdf.
www.theguardian.com

2. Latoya Pyron

Discussion Unit 7

Hello Everyone,
In the 20th century composers were given a lot more freedom in order to become more creative. They were open to experiment with different forms of music and become innovative creatures when it came time to play different instruments with different sounds. The resources grew regarding the technology that was available to them. The percussion instruments were prominent and the combining chords built structures like never before. There were many different composers that came out of their shell during this time in order to bring a different feel to music. Giacomo Puccini tried to convey a drama, with arias, duets and ensembles (www.ipl.org). Edgard Varese was another composer that experimented with his music by using electronic music and organization of rhythm rejecting traditional melody and harmony but building blocks of sounds, relying on tone color, texture and rhythm. All the various changes that happened to music from the middle Ages to the Romantic period contributed to the music of the 20th century (thoughtco.com). The United States and non-Western cultures became influential. Composers also found inspiration from other music genres such as pop music as well as other continents. There was also a revival of interest in the music and composer of the past and there was also women composers that were on a rise during this time as well(thoughtco.com).