Information on all written assignments (including examinations) can be found on this page. Please be sure to read the "General Writing Guidelines" before you do anything. Written work that does not conform to these guidelines may be graded down, or returned without a grade.

 

Late assignments will only be accepted under the most extraordinary circumstances.

 

 

All written assignments for this course (response papers and essay paper) must follow the following format:

 

Typed (or printed from a computer), double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman (or similar-sized font). Margins of no more than 1.25" inches all around. Clean, white paper.

 

Citation of the Bible should follow this format: Book chapter:beginning verse-ending verse. For example, if you are citing the first through third verses of the first chapter of Matthew, you write: Matthew 1:1-3 (you may abbreviate the biblical books, e.g.: Matt 1:1-3).

 

Please use spell-check, and use it carefully: do not set it to replace words automatically.

 

The only sources you should be using for any papers in this class (response papers or the final essay paper) are: 1) the Bible; and (if you absolutely feel the need) 2) the textbook (Ehrman, New Testament) or your notes from lecture. Any source you cite (the Bible, the textbook, class discussion) must be fully acknowledged either by parenthetical citation or by a footnote.

 

Any information that is not "common knowledge" drawn from an outside source must be cited, or else your paper will be considered plagiarized, and you will receive a 0.

 

Do not search the internet for ideas on how to write your paper, or suggestions for themes, theses, or other "guides." The papers for this course are designed to be completed using only your own intellect as applied to the Biblical sources. These are not research papers: these are analytical papers, using your own analytical skills.

 

 

 

 

Due Date: See below for the four due dates; all response papers are due at the beginning of class on the date they are due

Length: 2-4 pages each

 

You must write two papers responding to specific selections from the New Testament in the course of this quarter; you have a choice of four response paper topics (listed below). Each response is due on a specific date, at the beginning of that class session: if you choose to do a particular response paper, you must turn it in on the date it is due, in class. Late papers will not be accepted.

 

Response Paper #1, due in class on Wednesday, January 18, 2006

 

Topic: "History and Truth"

Bart Ehrman states, "Even though we as twenty-first-century persons tend to think that something cannot be true unless it happened, ancient Christians, along with a lot of other ancient people, did not think this way. For them, something could be true whether or not it happened. What mattered more than historical fact was what we might call religious or moral truth" (New Testament: A Historical Introduction, p. 53).

 

Consider the nativity (birth) account in Matthew 1-2: what are the different kinds of "truths" than an ancient reader (looking for moral truth) and a modern reader (looking for historical truth) might find in this account? Are these two "truths" incompatible? Do you think an ancient reader would encounter the details of the life of Jesus (birth, deeds, death) in a fundamentally different way from a modern reader?

 

Response Paper #2, due in class on Monday, January 30, 2006

 

Topic: "Matrix: Redacted"

In discussing the three Synoptic Gospels, Ehrman states: "[A] redactional analysis provides a kind of shortcut to seeing what matters to an author" (New Testament: A Historical Introduction, p. 90).

 

Compare the following accounts of Jesus' rejection in Nazareth: Mark 6:1-6, Matthew 13:54-58, and Luke 4:14-30. Assuming that Matthew and Luke have based their version of this story on Mark's earlier account, do their alterations to Mark's version (if there are any alterations) give us insight into what "matters" to each author? Are the differences merely incidental, or do they change the message of this story? That is, do the same issues "matter" to each of the authors, or can we discern differences even in such a short passage?

 

Response Paper #3, due in class on Friday, March 3, 2006

 

Topic: "Paul's Women"

Ehrman writes: "When the dispute over the role of women in the church later came to a head, both sides could appeal to the apostle's [Paul's] authority to support their views" (New Testament: A Historical Introduction, p. 401).

 

How might different New Testament texts attributed to Paul (especially: Galatians 3, 1 Corinthians 7, Romans 16, and 1 Timothy 2 and 4) be used to support both sides of the debate on women's leadership (in antiquity or today)? Present both sides, and describe both the support for and arguments against each position found in the Pauline epistles (you may include issues of authorship or tradition for either side).

 

Response Paper #4, due in class on Monday, March 13, 2006

 

Topic: "Tragic Effects"

In speaking of the historical development of the Christian church after its legalization in the fourth century CE, Ehrman writes: "In an effort to define themselves in the world, Christians came to deny their ties to the history, religion, and people of the Jews. The tragic effects of that denial remain with us even today" (New Testament: A Historical Introduction, p. 425).

 

Is such a posture of denial and opposition inevitable based on the New Testament writings themselves, or is it a result of later interpretation of these texts? Could Christians (in antiquity or today) craft a religious identity, based on the New Testament writings, that does not deny connections to Judaism, and is not constructed in opposition to Judaism? Consider any or all of the following New Testament texts: Paul's letter to the Romans; the passion accounts (especially in Matthew and John); Hebrews; Revelation.

 

 

 

More information on the midterm can be found here.

 

 

 

Due date: March 17 (in class; you may also turn the paper in early if you prefer [no, seriously!])

Length: 5-7 pages

 

The goal of this assignment is to compose an essay paper that engages more fully in the comparative analysis of several passages or documents from the New Testament. For this essay, you must construct a coherent argument related to your understanding of these passages or documents, based on the historical and literary information learned in this course. You should not write a sermon or other faith-oriented paper, but rather an academically informed analysis of texts, ideas, and religious communities.

 

You have three options for this paper:

 

1. Expand one of your response papers into a full-fledged essay paper (or, alternately, use a topic prompt from a response paper you did not choose to write).

 

If you choose to expand a response paper topic, you must do the following:

  1. Make sure you are dealing with several different New Testament passages or documents: for instance, if you chose to expand Response Paper #1 on "Historical vs. Moral Truth," you would need to introduce other New Testament passages alongside Matthew 1-2, preferably from another New Testament book altogether

  2. Make sure you construct a coherent argument: for instance, if you chose to expand Response Paper # 3 on "Women's Leadership," you would need to move beyond the simple comparison of "sides" into a distinctive and original argument of your own (not necessarily one of the "sides," but a more definitive analytical statement)

 

2. Combine readings from your two response papers into a single, coherent essay comparing different documents or themes from the New Testament.

 

If you choose to combine your two response papers, you must do the following:

  1. Make sure you come up with a single, overarching theme and argument that effectively incorporates both essays (i.e., do not just print them out together, staple them, and turn them in); for instance, if you combined Response #1, "Historical vs. Moral Truth," and Response #2, "A Prophet Rejected," you might frame them both into a single essay about "Interpretation of the Gospels," structured by an argument about redaction criticism and historical interpretation; or, if you combined Response #3, "Women's Leadership" with Response #4, "Anti-Judaism," you might frame them both into a single essay about "Christian Self-Definition," structured by an argument about Greco-Roman ideology and Christian identity

  2. Make sure you create a coherent organizational scheme that incorporates both essays effectively: you should no longer be able to tell that these were two response papers, but your organization should combine them together seamlessly

 

3. Choose another comparative topic from among the following (more topics may be added throughout the quarter):

  1. How does the New Testament describe the spread of Christianity from the ministry of Jesus to the city of Rome, and do the different accounts agree with each other? Which account seems more persuasive: original unity, or original diversity?

  2. How do different New Testament texts (e.g., Acts of the Apostles, Revelation, Romans, 1 Peter, 1 Timothy) portray the relationship between Christian identity and "the world outside"? Is Christianity compatible with, opposed to, or otherwise constructed in relationship to mainstream Greco-Roman society?

  3. How do different New Testament texts (the Gospels, Paul, Revelation) deal with the apocalyptic end of the world? Is it imminent, or far-off? Would you read these New Testament documents differently if you thought the world was going to end tomorrow, or millions of years from now?

  4. How is the divinity of Jesus construed in different New Testament sources (the Gospels, Paul, Revelation, Hebrews), and how does it related to notions of Godhood in the ancient world ("pagan," Jewish, etc.)? Do these images of divinity agree with each other? With modern concepts of God and divinity?

You may also come up with your own final essay topic, in consultation with the professor (that is, I must approve any final essay topic you come up with).

 

Any final essay top you devise must meet the following criteria:

  1. The essay must be comparative: more than one New Testament document must be treated in the course of the paper (preferably something from both halves of the quarter).

  2. The essay must be thematic: one overarching theme must connect the choice of New Testament documents (i.e., do not do "close readings" of two unrelated texts, and assume this qualifies as a coherent essay).

  3. The essay must be academic: do not simply provide your own personal "opinion" of various documents (either from a believer's or nonbeliever's standpoint), but rather analyze the documents from the posture of critical academic objectivity.

 

 

The final examination is cumulative (it covers the entire quarter, including material covered on the midterm).

 

More information will be posted later in the quarter.