In this assignment you will write either in-role to express persuasive bias on a choice of topics or out of role in a more graphic format.

Tips for In-Role Writing

SAMPLE

Here’s a sample of the in-role writing boasting (on another topic). This one is for the title of MR. CHANGE (not Mr. Stability).

I, Martin Luther, should be voted Mr. Change because I introduced a new religion, Protestantism, to western Europe, that gave people an individual relationship with God – something they sadly never had under the iron grip of the corrupt Roman Catholic Church. I was also far more willing to adapt than some of the other so-called changers such as Desiderius Erasmus and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch).

By writing my 95 Theses, my complaints against the Catholic Church, in 1517 and posting them on the church door in Wittenburg, Germany, I made it clear that the Catholic Church’s practice of using indulgences to let people into heaven was corrupt. You see, the Catholic Church had been allowing people to pay a fee for a certificate that allowed their sins to be burned off in purgatory so that they could get to heaven – the destination we all desire. This absolutely proves that I am Mr. Change because I wanted to put a stop to a practice that the Church had been corruptly engaging in ever since the printing press sped up the process of creating those infernal certificates. Others like the scholar Erasmus and the linguist Petrarch cannot compare to the advances made for the benefit of our spiritual selves. Certainly Petrarch’s 14th century humanist views provided a basis for some of my intellectual thoughts, as did Erasmus’ advent of Christian Humanism, the study of being a better person through classical awareness. To be sure, I owe a debt to both of these learned men for their enriching views. But they cannot compete with me for their mere ideas, whereas I bravely established an entirely new sect within our beloved home of Christianity.

My next proof of why I should win Mr. Change relates to being excommunicated from (kicked out of) the Catholic Church by the free-spending Pope Leo X in 1521. He said I was a heretic, and that by not recanting (taking back what I said in my 95 complaints – especially the part about the Pope having no power), I showed that I cared more about religion than officialdom of the Church. I say that is exactly right – I am Mr. Change because I stood up to this corrupt and entrenched bureaucracy and was willing to take a huge punishment for it. In  fact, I am so much an agent of change that I don’t even care about being excommunicated. My courageous stance against power is most crucial here. What about Erasmus and Petrarch? Did they put their lives on the line for their supposed love of advancement? No! My contemporary Erasmus would not even agree with me on breaking from the Catholic Church; he was far too interested in maintaining peaceful cooperation than standing up for what God demanded. Similarly, Petrarch was far too interested in secular matters for me, a change down the wrong avenue if you ask me!

Lastly, I argue that by translating the Bible into German, the language of people in our German states, I enabled people to understand Christianity for themselves, without having to rely on the Catholic Church officials to translate for them. This is a massive advance for the ordinary people who up until now have been left out of understanding God’s true message because it has been written in Latin – an unreachable language for most. This modification enables ordinary people to avoid having to go through the Catholic Church in search of God. Now people can find God in the pages of the Bible themselves. This entirely new practice once again confirms me as the absolute best candidate for Mr. Change. Erasmus and Petrarch cannot compete, though they both created a vast literature of no small value. Petrarch even adopted the scholarly – as opposed to activist – lifestyle of his main subject, Cicero. He gave up trying to change the world and just wrote. Erasmus, who had written one of the best critiques of the corruption of the Catholic Church, Praise of Folly, refused to break with the old and tired institution! No guts, I say.

I alone am worthy of the title Mr. Change.

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