Essay Three Prompts - Christianity
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.
2. You should have a cover page with title, date, and your name.
3. Each paragraph should be numbered. Bold the 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 3 pages long (not including the Works Consulted or cover pages).
5. You must include a Works Consulted/Cited Page. I will assume that you have read and understood Harvey, Writing with Sources on when and how to cite sources. 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.
6. Your essay should define any key terms used, use examples to illustrate and support your argument where appropriate, and discuss likely alternatives or respond to objections.
Essays will be graded for both form and content as indicated in Points to Consider in Evaluating an Essay.
Choose One of the following questions/prompts:
1. Creation and incarnation are among the Christian concepts that several of the authors we read deployed. Pick two of the readings and discuss their analysis/use of one of these concepts.
2. Compare and contrast the view of stewardship in Bentley and Ehrenfeld with the concepts of stewardship described by Peterson (pp. 252-58).
3. Why does McFague adopt the subject-subject model? What role does it playing in answering her question, "Why should Christians love nature?"
4. Why has dualism played such an important role in Christian views of nature according to Peterson? Could this tension be productive for an environmental ethic?
5. Outline why Sideris believes a modified version of the Land Ethic and Gustafson's theological ethics should be preferred to other options. Should we be persuaded? Why or why not?
6. McFague talks about the importance of literature in the chapter we read. For example, she spends some time on Annie Dillard's example of Ellery the goldfish. Why does she do this? Do you see any similarities between her attention to nature literature and descriptions of her own nature observations (the flower, the park) and what Leopold does in Sand County Almanac?
7. Why is Darwinian evolutionary theory of such importance to Sideris? How does she use it in her criticisms of at least one other approach?
8. Can either Sideris or McFague be viewed as advocating a stewardship model? Why or why not--and, how are you defining stewardship?
9. To what extent do you think Sideris' criticisms of views like McFague's are well-taken?
10. What would "success" or "environmental health" look like for Sideris?
11. How are Peterson’s conclusions similar to Lynn White Jr.'s? How are they different? And, what do you make of the similarities and differences?
12. Argument analysis. Pick a main conclusion of any of the authors we read for the section of the course focusing on Christianity. Charitably, show how the author reached this conclusion (presuppositions, reasons, etc.) and offer an assessment of the argument.
13. To what extent do you find McFague and/or Sideris anthropocentric?
14. ***Wild Card. Topic of your choice, but get approval of instructor first.