Essay Three - Mark and Matthew Essay - 100 points
Requirements:
1. Your essay should be word-processed, double-spaced, one-inch to one and one-half inch margins. It should be spell-checked and grammar checked. Pages Numbered. Font no smaller than 12 point.
2. Your essay should have a cover page with your name, date, Phil/RelS 303, and prompt pasted from assignment.
3. Number each paragraph. Bold your thesis. After the end of the essay, attach an OUTLINE of the essay with the thesis clearly stated and at minimum a line for each paragraph.
4. Each essay should be approximately three to five pages long (not including the cover page, outline, and Works Consulted page).
5. You must include a Works Consulted/Cited Page. Any sources you consult must be included in your Works Consulted/Bibliography and cited in-text or in footnotes/endnotes. CAREFUL AND CORRECT CITATION IS REQUIRED. WHEN IN DOUBT, CITE. Remember that simply paraphrasing or changing every third word is not OK. Quote and cite or radically summarize and cite. Use quotation marks when quoting or indent if quote is five lines or longer. Guessing at where your information comes from is not OK. Use page numbers in your in-text citations, footnotes or endnotes. Book or journal titles are italicized or underlined. You may consult Citation for Biblical Studies for information related to citing biblical studies sources. I prefer Turabian (Chicago), MLA, or SBL(Society of Biblical Literature) citation styles.
6. I will grade the essays for both form and content. Click here for the Grading Rubric. This is a checklist I will use in grading the essay. Defining key terms, using examples to illustrate, referring to relevant biblical passages, pointing out alternative points of view and responding to objections often improve essays. Remember that evaluation includes both strengths and weaknesses.
Note: Information on setting the grammar checker in WordPerfect and MS Word is HERE Information on Roadmaps and Transitions for Essays
Topics: Choose one of the following prompts/questions:
1.
Compare and contrast the portraits of Jesus painted by Matthew and Mark on three
main points. In developing your essay, be sure to examine the words,
actions, and functions of Jesus as well as the use of Christological titles in
each. Cite specific texts and examples to illustrate your answer. In addition to
the gospels you should consult Barr as a resource, especially
discussing Mark - “The
Characterization of Jesus” and the ending of the gospel on pages 295-98
3. Assuming that Mark originally ended at 16:8 as it does in the oldest manuscripts, why? How does this fit into the overall development of the narrative? What are one or more ways this ending might function for readers? How would reading Mark with either of the other three endings change your overall interpretation of Mark?
4. Discuss how the Matthean genealogy and birth story at the beginning and The Great Commission at the end form bookends around the rest of the gospel. How does the birth story set the stage for the reader and foreshadow key themes? How does the Great Commission recall previous themes?
5. Matthew and Anti-Judaism.
As Barr says, Matthew is viewed both as the most Jewish and the most anti-Jewish of the gospels. Historically, people have sometimes used Matthew to justify anti-Semitism or anti-Judaism. Read Matthew Chapter 6, Chapter 23, Chapter 27:25, and Chapter 28:11-15. Matthew paints a particularly harsh picture of certain Jewish leaders and perhaps even of the Jewish people as a whole in 27:25. How should modern interpreters treat these passages? Are there ethical obligations for interpreters which arise because the historical context has changed from a situation in which Christians were deviant Jews to one in which Christians are members of a separate religion, far greater in numbers, and have knowledge of the Holocaust ? For background on Matthew and Judaism and Barr's take on this, see Barr 325-33.6. Wildcard. Pick a topic of your own and have the instructor approve it.