You are responsible for three (3) response papers, due on October 13, November 3, and November 12.

Format: Each response paper should be 2-4 pages long, double-spaced, printed in a reasonably-sized font (I suggest Times New Roman, 12-point). Margins should be no more than 1.25" all around, with pages numbered.

As these are responses to materials read (or viewed) for class, you should be citing no outside material.

When you do cite the fiction, please cite page numbers (for Response Papers #1 and #2) or references to scenes ("In the scene in which Moses and Ramses are riding their chariots...").

Content: In these very brief essays you will respond to the ways in which the assigned biblical fiction day has interacted with, altered, or otherwise manipulated its biblical prototype. The biblical fictions you will write about are:

October 13: Oscar Wilde, Salomé

November 3: Anita Diamant, The Red Tent

Novemb er 12: Dreamworks Productions, The Prince of Egypt

The biblical source text for each of these fictions can be found on the course syllabus under the appropriate day.

You do not need to develop a thesis for these response papers: your goal is to evaluate how the author moved from point A (the biblical text) to point B (the biblical fiction), and perhaps explore some of the potential reasons for this move, and potential reactions among readers. Since these are full-length fictional works, you will have to be brief in your descriptions of the ways the biblical text and fiction relate to each other, and perhaps choose just a few important examples.

Click here for a "sample" response paper.

The culmination of the quarter will be your final project, in which you explore in greater depth the biblical fiction you presented to the class. Your final project should comprise a close reading of both the biblical source text and the biblical fiction, as well as analysis of the ways in which the two texts interact with each other (how the fiction has adapted, altered, changed, or departed from its biblical source text). You may also conduct outside research--using biblical interpretation, mass media criticism, reviews or other analysis of the biblical fiction (for research guides, see the page containing further links & resources)--in order to accomplish your project.

If you are interested in making a creative project for your final project, click here and make an appointment with Prof. Jacobs to discuss the possibilities.

You will complete the final project in stages, throughout the quarter. Each phase of the project will emphasize different skills: creativity and research; preparendess and oral skills; analysis and written skills.

Suggestions for final project topics can be found here.

By October 27, you must turn in a final project proposal. This proposal should be only 1-2 pages long and should provide the following information in short essay format:

• The biblical fiction you intend to research for your final project. Please give as much information on your chosen fiction as possible. If it is a book, do not just give bibliographic information (title, author, publisher, date), but also (if possible) something about the author, publisher, context for the writing of this book. Likewise, for movies, try to give information about who produced the film, its stars, and so forth.

• The source text upon which your biblical fiction is based. Again, do not simply give citations of Biblical verses, but spend a bit of time summarizing the biblical text and pointing out any interesting points that you might expect the biblical fiction to address.

• Expectations and suppositions. In at least a few sentences, give some idea of how you think the biblical fiction you have chosen will interact with its source text: do you think it will be strictly faithful? Change things around? What issues do you foresee the biblical fiction will have to address?

You do not have to read the biblical fiction in order to produce this proposal: you just need to do some very preliminary research and investigation.

You may be asked in class to say a word or two about your proposal.

In the final weeks of class (on Nov. 26 and on Dec. 1 and Dec. 3), every student will give a very short, give minute oral presentation about their biblical fiction.

You will be strictly timed. The professor will cut you off if you go over time.

In this presentation, you should do the following:

• Briefly describe your biblical fiction and its source text. You should do this in no more than two or three sentences.

for example: "I have been examining the 1970s British musical Ahab!, which was produced by Joseph Fatone, Sr., and starred Joan Collins as Jezebel, Ahab's wife. It is based on 1 Kings."

• Equally briefly give a summary of some of the main observations you have made concerning how this biblical fiction has engaged with its source text (altered it, adapted it, and so forth). Again, this should be only a few sentences.

for example: "Because it is a musical, Ahab! presents about a dozen scenes from the life of King Ahab; about half of these are found in the Hebrew Bible, but the rest are either invented or extreme expansions of sketchy biblical verses. Although generally faithful to the story, the musical adds a love story and makes Ahab and Jezebel much more sympathetic characters."

• Give an example from your biblical fiction that you feel clearly illustrates the way it interacts with its source text. Because your time is limited, it is not a good idea to try to employ media in your presentation (you could spend your entire 5 minutes just cuing up a DVD or CD). But you can quote from your biblical fiction, or even partially act out or sing part of it.

for example: "One of the clearest illustrations of how Ahab! alters 1 Kings is the scene where Ahab and Jezebel get married, and the whole cast sing "The Wedding Song." One verse in particular shows Ahab and Jezebel falling in love, while a disapproving Elijah lurks in the background. The lyrics they sing are..." etc.

Those students who volunteer to do their presentations before Thanskgiving, on November 26, will receive some extra credit. This offer is open only to the first 5 students who sign up for a presentation on this day.

If time permits, the class may ask one question of each presenter (this question and answer will not count in their 5 minute time limit).

Format: The final paper should be 10-15 pages long (not including any figures, images, charts, or tables you might choose to include), double-spaced, printed in a reasonably-sized font (I suggest 12-point Times New Roman), with no more than 1.25" margins all around. Do not include multiline headers in each page, but do number your pages.

Content: The final project should build on the factual summary of your chosen biblical fiction as presented in your in-class presentation. It should contain both information and analysis about the style and format of this biblical fiction.

In giving information about this biblical fiction, you should attempt to address the following questions:

• What is the biblical "source text" for this fiction (i.e., on what story/stories of the Bible did the author[s] derive inspiration to create this fiction?)

• What elements of the biblical text are incorporated without (noticeable) change?

• What elements of the biblical text have been altered, deleted, inserted, or otherwise manipulated?

You should then incorporate more explicit analysis of the biblical fiction, addressing such questions as:

• In your opinion, how do the alterations change the messages or themes of the story?  Or do they?

• Why do you think the author(s) chose this story from the Bible?

• What sort of audience would find this retelling interesting?  compelling?  bold?  offensive?

Framing both your information and analysis should be an overarching argument or thesis about this biblical fiction that is original and insightful. This overarching thesis should structure your paper, tie together your various insights into the original biblical "source text" and the creative, interpretive endeavor of the author(s) of your fiction. The thesis may address any aspect of the biblical fiction that you find particularly compelling, as useful as a framing device for your paper: it may deal with composition, with genre, with social, cultural, or political context of the work, with audience reception (reviews) or material production. Whatever "angle" you use for your thesis, be sure it allows you to address the relation between the biblical fiction and the biblical "source" text on which it draws.

Here's an example of the opening paragraph of a completely made-up paper analyzing a completely invented biblical fiction. Here, the author has chosen to write a paper more from the social-cultural-political angle (although he draws in genre and audience reception, as well):

"I don't want your Temple, your oxen, your incense! Just give me your love and be kind to us all!" So sings the title character in Anthony Floyd Graber's 1984, Tony-award winning musical "O, Zechariah!" at the climax of the second act, before the half-built walls of the Temple in Jerusalem. In this smash-musical (which was recently revived on Broadway in 2002, and still tours throughout Europe and North America [Flinsky 2003: 107]), Graber attempted to use the biblical book of Zechariah in order to critique the consumer culture of Thatcher-era Great Britain.  Although the general outline of the story of the prophet Zechariah adheres relatively closely to the original biblical source text, Graber makes several alterations that clue the audience in to his political aims: he transforms Zechariah into a female politician; he creates a cast of "secondary" characters who do not appear in the original book of Zechariah; and he composes a musical score that replicates the doom-and-gloom of Zechariah's apocalyptic final chapters as well as the industrial malaise of 1980s Great Britain. Audiences and reviewers, from the 1980s until the present, have found the musical compelling, I suggest, not only because of its biblical resonance, but because of its contemporary political undertones.

The writer of this paper does several things in this introductory paragraph:

1.  She introduces both the fiction (by title, date, and author) as well as the source text from which she says it is drawn (the book of Zechariah).

2.  She states what she thinks the author(s) is doing with this fiction.  Her thesis is rather specific (perhaps she is a modern history major), and yours need not be quite so politically specific.  For instance, you might say:  "... in order to transform the prophet's message from ancient religious conflict to modern cultural dilemmas about the importance of material things."  But in any case, you should find some thing, some idea you sense being generated out of the fictional rewriting of this biblical story or moment.

3. She relates her questions of alteration and transformation of the biblical narrative (changing the character's gender, adding secondary characters, adding musical numbers) directly to that overarching thesis.  In the next sections she would show how Zechariah's gender in Graber's musical relates to the critique of consumer culture; how the secondary characters relate to this critique, and so forth. That is, this introductory paragraph provides a roadmap to the rest of the paper.

4. She ties in genre as well as audience reception into the introduction, but only in order to support her overarching thesis: these bits of information are not extraneous, but contribute to the overall argument of her paper.

The structure of her paper would then follow the issues laid out in her introductory paragraph, and include a description of the biblical "source text."

example outline:

I.  Introduction:  O Zechariah and critique of Thatcher's consumer Great Britain

II.  Discussion of "source text"

A.  Zechariah and the minor prophets

B.  Apocalyptic and social justice prophecy in ancient Israel

III.  O Zechariah!

A.  Genre

1.  musical theater

2.  1980s British/American theater

3.  Types of songs

B.  Character of Zechariah

1.  gender

2.  class/ethnicity

3.  the "prophet"

C.  New secondary characters

1.  the queen of Israel

2.  Zechariah's children

3.  the men's chorus

IV.  Conclusion:  Biblical fictions and the critique of popular culture

Citation of sources: All works quoted or referred to in your paper must be cited. In the introductory paragraph above, our paper-writer cited a 2003 work by someone named Flinsky, using the social-scientific method of citation. You may use parenthetical notation (as above) or footnotes (but not endnotes!). Also be sure to include a bibliography of all works used in researching and writing your paper.

Citations of books, articles, essays, and other written documents in a bibliography should follow this format:

Books:  Author.  Title.  Place of Publication:  Publisher, Date.

Article:  Author.  "Title."  Journal/Encyclopedia Title volume # (date): pages.

Citations of on-line sources should follow this format:

"Page title."  URL (internet address).  Author (if available; or any figure or organization that takes responsibility for the web page). Date of e-publication (most recent update).

Citations of non-print media are (obviously) more complicated.  If you are treating a piece of theater (or musical theater), try to obtain a printed version of the script (or "book").  If you are treating a film or other visual/audio type of medium, cite "creatively," for example:  "Halfway through Act One, Zechariah announces..." or "In the scene near the end of the film in which Moses meets up with Pharaoh..." and so forth.

Any information you derive from an outside source that would not be considered "common knowledge" must be cited.  An example:  "Zechariah is one of the 'minor prophets' of the Hebrew Bible" = common knowledge.  "Most scholars believe that the book of Zechariah was written in mid-paleo-Hebrew some time in the last third of the fifth century" is not "common knowledge," and your source for such information should be cited.  Failure to cite your source will be considered plagiarism (very, very bad).  Any plagiarism will result in a 0 (not just an F:  but 0%) for the project grade.  If you have any doubt, please, please ask the professor.

Biblical passages should be cited by book (whole name or abbreviated) and chapter and verse(s) separated by a period (.) or a colon (:) (e.g., Genesis 1.1 or Genesis 1:1 or Gen 1:1 or Gen 1.1).  Do not cite by the page numbers of your Bible.

You may also, if you choose, look at outside sources (a good starting place will be the links page of this website) or cite some of the readings or discussions we have had in class.  Any outside materials you use should be cited fully (even if you only refer to an outside source, and do not quote that source, it still must be cited fully), and should relate to your overall discussion of the biblical fiction.  For instance:  if you are discussing the audience for a recent film, you might choose to look at movie reviews from different sorts of publications.

The main goal of this final project should be to produce an informed opinion as to why this piece of biblical fiction, this rewriting or "filling in" of a biblical story, was produced in this way, by this person, in this time and place.