Final Take-Home Spring 2011 - DueWednesday, May 11 by 5 PM in my box in the Philosophy Office on the 4th floor of Morrill Hall or via email attachment. If via email, please copy yourself to make sure the file goes through. If you don't have a return receipt function in your email program, ask me to email you I have received your file. If via email, must be in Word 2007 or below, WordPerfect X3 or below, or a pdf file readable by Adobe Acrobat Reader. I cannot read MS Works files.
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 HEREInformationRoadmaps and Transitions for Essays
Choose ONE Prompt - 100 Points
1. Describe in detail the one or two most important and/or surprising thing(s)–methods, concepts, content, skills, tools, etc.--you have learned in our study of Early Christianity this semester. Explain why these were important and/or surprising. Give examples to illustrate your description and explanation.
2. Pick three of the "positive" criteria Barr outlines used to determine the probability that a saying stems from the "historical Jesus". Describe each of the criteria and discuss at least one key strength and one key weakness each has in terms of establishing a more or less reliable portrait of the "historical" Jesus, the Jesus that historians might reconstruct.
3. Reread Barr's "Introduction - The Three Worlds of the Text", pp. 1-25. This is available in your textbook and also on e-reserve. Write an essay outlining the "worlds" he describes in relation to the text and explain why each is an important aspect of interpreting early Christian texts. Use examples from Early Christian texts we have read (other than Luke 2) to illustrate your answer.
4. Thiselton discusses pre-understanding and the hermeneutical circle. Based on Thiselton describe each of these. How do you see these playing a role in interpretation of a text? Use at least two examples from the Early Christian texts we read this semester to illustrate your essay.
5. Describe the characteristics of the three basic strategies for interpreting Revelation that Barr discusses on pp. 430-34 . Complete your survey with a description of Barr’s approach described on pp.433-434 . What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches now that you have read the entire book? Illustrate with at least one example of a key passage in Revelation beyond those Barr uses on 430-44.
6. Wild Card. Topic of your choice, but you must get the instructor's approval via e-mail.