Choose one of the following questions, and write a complete essay of approximately 7 to 9 pages. You need not use secondary sources, but if you do, be sure to cite them using proper bibliographic form.

Your essay should be thoughtful, substantial, and considered. This essay is due Friday, March 2. Papers must be handed in on time. Papers handed in late will receive a one grade deduction for each class they are late. Since no one is writing a longer paper on Aquinas, it might be best that the first short essay have as its central focus Thomas Aquinas (general groaning).

1) In Question 70 Aquinas seems to argue for hell as a state of mind instead of as a place: "Since this vision is the immediate cause of their distress, as stated above, wherever they are, they suffer from hell-fire" (ST Suppl. 70.3 .8). Through a discussion of Aquinas' work as a whole, address the issue of hell as state of mind versus hell as place. Which does Aquinas seem to argue for? Provide ample evidence from the text.

2) Given what you have read of both, discuss the influence of Thomas Aquinas on Dante's Inferno. It might be best to choose one or two major issues to discuss in some detail. Consulting The Cambridge Companion to Dante and/or The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas might not be bad places to begin–after the primary texts, of course..

3) Select two or three questions (or "articles") from Thomas' work (use only the sections we have discussed). Can those questions be applied to a contemporary discussion of the same? In other words, remembering that Thomas was writing in the 1200s, how can you take the two or three questions you've chosen and adapt them for discussion of the same topics in the year 2001?

4) Consider the following from McDannell and Lang's Heaven: A History:
To be left in ignorance meant unhappiness; hell served as the place of ignorance and obscurity. To heaven belonged knowledge and light. (89)
Using both Aquinas and Dante, discuss the roles of "ignorance" and "knowledge." You will probably need good definitions for both terms before you begin; I suggest you consult either The Catholic Encyclopedia and/or The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (both in the BH Library).