1.

Puritans in American colonies: history, theology, organization of Puritan

colonies.
2. How did the Puritan religion evolve during the Reformation?
3. How were the Puritans depicted in The Crucible and Scarlet Letter?
Everyday life in Puritan colonies: prayers, rules, role of women.
4. The story behind Salem witch trials fiction vs. reality possible
explanations.
5. What is a deeper meaning/allegory behind the witch trials story?
6. Why did Arthur Miller write about Salem in the 1950s?
7. Type of religiosity depicted in Elmer Gantry. Characteristics.
8. American Great Awakenings: reasons, characteristics, implications.
9. The role of revival preachers. Why were they popular?
10.What is revival movement? Characteristics.
11.When and why did the camp meetings take place? How were they
organized? Who took part in them?
12.What does it mean to be a born-again Christian?
13.How were prayers depicted in Elmer Gantry?
14.Popularity of Evangelicalism within different social groups.
15.Controversies around Evangelical forms of religiosity.
16.Prototypes of the main characters in Elmer Gantry. Fiction vs. reality.
17.Life and mission of the most famous woman-preacher in the USA.
18.What did Sinclair Lewis criticize in Elmer Gantry?
19.What event was depicted in Inherit the wind? Why was it important?
20.Characteristics and history of American Christian fundamentalism.
21.How and why did C. Darrow defend John Scopes and how did he manage to
defeat W. Jennings Bryan in court? Arguments of both sides.
22.Fundamentalist movement today (Jesus Camp).
23.Children preachers the reasons behind organizing Jesus camps. (Jesus
Camp).
24.The image of Catholics and Catholicism in Lilies of the Field.
25.What was the reason of filming stories like Lilies of the Field?
26.History of Catholicism in the US.
27.Problems within the American Catholic Church depicted in Doubt (moral,
organizational, structural).
28.What did two main characters of Doubt symbolize? Their attitude to
tradition, Church structure, modernity, Vatican II, the role of laity, problem-
solving process and the role of women in the Church.
29.Ethnic, national, racial and religious stereotypes in Lilies of the Field.
30.Catholic parochial school and its role. Advantages and disadvantages of
parochial education.
31.How was the main characters attitude towards Jewish religion depicted in
A Serious Man?
32.A possible interpretation of the difficult relation with God in Judaism
depicted in A Serious Man and in The Believer.
33.Jewish minority in the USA: social and economic position, stereotypes,
conflicts with other groups, attitude towards religion.
34.The role of religion and tradition for the Jewish ethnic group.
35.Anti-Semitism in the US and reasons of Dannys behavior depicted in The
Believer.
36.Self-hatred definition, examples, reasons. Sources of Dannys self-hatred
in The Believer.