Brief Essay Four- 20 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. Pages Numbered. Font no smaller than 12 point.

2. You should have a cover page with title, date, topic/prompt, and your name. (You can simply cut and paste the topic/prompt from the list below onto your cover page.)

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. The essay should be approximately three pages long (not including the title page or Works Consulted page).

5. You must include a Works Consulted/Cited Page.  You need not consult any other sources than what we have read for class. Those sources and any other sources you consult must be included in your Works Consulted/Cited 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.

6.  Click here for the Grading Rubric for the essay.  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. Here is a link to Roadmap and Transition advice.

Topics: Choose one of the following prompts/questions:

1. Describe what you see as two key issues for anyone making a film about the life of Jesus.  These might relate to the medium (visuals, sound, perspective, etc.), the plot, characterization (depiction of Jesus, his family, his disciples, the Romans, the Jewish leaders, the little people), setting, tone, symbolism, degree of realism, choice of gospel or gospels as sources for the film, where to begin and end,  which episodes to include or omit,  which gaps to fill, etc.

2.  Adele Reinhartz suggests in "Introduction:  From Holy Scripture to Silver Screen" that "The Jesus movies draw upon and speak directly to our own cultural experiences. . . ." (7).  Further, they speak to the filmmakers' own time.   What does she mean by these claims?  What are her examples?   Can you think of other examples?  Is she persuasive in making her case?

3.  Describe what you found most interesting or striking in Book 11 of Apuleis' Metamorphoses (Golden Ass).  Why?

4.  What do you think is one connection between Book 11 of Apuleis' Metamorphoses (Golden Ass) and a passage or theme from the New Testament?  Explain the connection, using at least one example.

5.  Wild Card.  Topic of your choice. Must be approved by the instructor ahead of time.