Compare Alexander Pope's views about human nature in Essay on Man and Jean Jacques Rousseau views in Emile?

Question

What are the simularities and differences and what do they say about human nature and the role of society?

Answer 1

You ask a lot for 2 points. You ask a lot for 10 points.

Ironically, there is a book containing an essay discussing Alexander Pope--written by G. S. Rousseau! Crowell does a good discussion that includes, among others, the ideas of both in his discussion. Thomas and Ingrassia do it too with their compendium of comparative texts.

Good luck.

Answer 2

More to the point, is Atonement a universal experience, or a way of understanding the process of salvation that some undergo? The earliest Christian converts responded to the preaching of the disciples after the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. Some time later Paul had his conversion experience on the Damascus road. This would seem at first sight to be quite different; but perhaps it came about as he reflected inwardly on all that he had heard and seen of the Early Church. The Doctrine of the Atonement as we hear it today certainly stems from his reflections on his own experience: "This is how I understand what happened to me." Paul was the one who began to express a faith that grew out of the Jewish experience in terms that non-Jewish people who had Greek philosophy as part of their education could more readily understand. This is very different from saying that Christianity has more to do with Paul than with Jesus, which is nonsense.