Take Home Two - Early Christianity - Spring 2010
Due March 29 in class. If your take home will be late or your printer isn't working, 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. I strongly recommend setting and using your grammar checker in your word-processing program. Instructions are at http://www.class.uidaho.edu/jcanders/Philosophy%20Tools/grammarreadingease.htm 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.
Remember: The introductions and annotations in the New Oxford Annotated, Barr, Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, and any other assigned readings are helpful secondary sources that should be consulted along with the primary texts.
Two
Essays - 50 points each (Required Question plus Second Question) 100 Points Total
A.
Required Question:
1.
Compare and contrast the portraits of Jesus painted by two of the five gospels we have
studied. Be sure to examine the words, actions (Thomas won’t have actions per se),
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 the pages noted in the syllabus under comparing the
gospels for Mar 22 (and the assigned reading on Thomas if you use that
Gospel). The Meeks reading and Aland's Synopsis of the Four Gospels or Marshall's The
Five Gospels Parallel on-line (which has Thomas parallels) may very
likely be helpful as well.
B.
Select a second question from the following:
2.
Compare and contrast the portrait of the disciples and the concept of discipleship in two
of the gospels (except not Matthew and Mark as a comparison because a similar question was
on the Matthew essay) we have studied. Cite at least three specific texts and examples to
illustrate your answer. Be sure to include a discussion of the functions the disciples
fulfill in the narrative. In addition to the gospels you should consult Barr as a
resource (and the assigned reading on Thomas if you use that Gospel). Aland's Synopsis
of the Four Gospels or Marshall's The Five Gospels Parallel on-line (which has
Thomas parallels) may very likely be helpful as well.
3.
Discuss the historical and social situation of one of the gospels. Explain how it is
reconstructed and how the reconstruction affects the interpretation of that gospel.
Be sure to point to key gospel passages scholars use in recontruction.
Use Barr, the Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, and the introduction and
annotations from the New Oxford Annotated as resources.
4.
Select one of the articles or book chapters I list below. Write an analysis of the
argument/interpretive position and discuss at least one key strength and one key weakness.
These are available through the UI library's article databases, on the web, or in
the case of Reinhartz on e-reserve:
Haber,
Susan, “A Woman’s Touch: Feminist Encounters with the Hemorrhaging Woman in Mark
5.24-34” JSNT
26.2 (2003) 171-192 available via the Religion and Philosophy Database at the UI
Library at http://ida.lib.uidaho.edu:6138/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rlh&AN=11454015&site=ehost-live
Jerome
Neyrey, "Despising the Shame of the Cross": Honor and Shame in the Johannine
Passion Narrative” Semeia 69
(1996):113-37.available online at http://www.nd.edu/~jneyrey1/shame.html He begins the article online with an abstract, so
you can see what it is about before reading the whole article. This is an example of a social-scientific
approach.
Powell, Mark Allan, "The Magi as Kings: An Adventure in Reader-Response Criticism," Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Jul2000, Vol. 62 Issue 3, 459-80 Available through the library's Religion and Philosophy Database. at http://ida.lib.uidaho.edu:6138/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rlh&AN=3745910&site=ehost-live
Adele Reinhartz, "Caiphas on Camera" in Images of the Word: Hollywood's Bible and Beyond. Ed. David Shepherd. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2008, 169-93. on ereserve.
5.
Outline the main argument that Meeks makes in "The Moral of the Story."
from The Origins of Christian Morality: The First Two Centuries on e-reserve.
Based on the readings we have done so far this semester, evaluate the argument.
Be sure to refer to examples from the chapter and to discuss at least one key
strength and one key weakness.
*6.
Wild Card. Write your own question, but have it approved by
the instructor.