Take Home One - Early Christianity - Spring 2010
Due February 17 in class. If your take home will be late, please send via email attachment. Be sure to copy yourself to make sure the file went through. Then open your file to make sure it is the correct file. If via email, must be in Word 2007 or below, WordPerfect X3 or below, or a pdf file readable by Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Requirements:
1. Your essays should be word-processed, double-spaced, one-inch to one and one-half inch margins. They should be spell-checked and grammar checked. Pages Numbered. Font no smaller than 12 point.
2. You should staple each essay separately with a cover
page (your name, date, Phil/RelS 303, prompt
pasted from assignment for each.
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 title page or Works Consulted page).
5. You must include a Works Consulted/Cited Page for EACH essay. 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 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.
Choose TWO of the following questions - 50 Points Each - Total 100 Points
2. Pick one of the key elements in the Pauline letter form (such as the salutation/opening, the thanksgiving, the ethical instructions (exhortation/parenesis) section, etc.). Describe its function and show the role it plays in two of the letters we read. (You should consult Barr, (4th ed., p. 82 and helpful outline by Just at http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/NT_Letters.htm )
2. Paul uses an Adam/Christ typology in Romans 5:
12-21 and I Corinthians 15. Explain how the uses of the typology in Romans and I
Corinthians differ and how they are similar. Be sure to note the context in each
letter in which the typology is used.
3. Pick
one of the areas of controversy Roetzel discusses in "Currents and
Crosscurrents." Describe the issue, the opposing views, and Roetzel’s own
response to the debate. Which of the positions do you find more convincing? Why? Cite key
Pauline passages to support your view.
4. Pick one of the Pauline letters we read or the
Thecla sections of the Acts of Paul and Thecla. Explain
how understanding some aspect of the world behind the text (the historical/
social/cultural environment ) covered in Barr or in class helps us to understand the
meaning of that text for a first or second century audience.
Be sure to refer to specific passages from the letter or Acts of Paul and Thecla.
6. Show how I Timothy and the Thecla sections of the Acts of Paul and Thecla we read represent different trajectories emerging from the earlier letters of Paul. How do the two trajectories differ? What do they share in common? Be sure to discuss specific passages to support your interpretation.
7.
*Wild Card. Write your own question, but have it approved by the instructor. Be sure the topic is narrow enough to cover in
about three pages.