2,500-3,200 words (8-10 pages)
Your paper must have a thesis statement printed in italics. A thesis is an argument or a claim, which you will then back up with evidence in your paper.
Audience: aim toward a critical audience.
Perspective/Focus: historical-literary, not theological. The genre you are writing in is the historical genre. You are approaching the material as a historian. That means you are setting aside completely what the text might mean for us today. Your only interest is what the material might have meant to ancient people who heard it for the first time, using the tools you will learn in class. Your ability to demonstrate accomplished writing as a historian, leaving out theological or devotional claims, will strongly affect your grade. Keep your historical distance. In order to keep historical distance, avoid phrases such as “we should;” “we must.” Take on the persona of a “Sherlock Holmes”-type” detective relaying information that you observe. Cultivate a persona of objectivity.
Sources include at least one source representing a diverse (non-Western and/or female) author’s perspective.
Faith Reflection: At the end of each paper, and included in the overall word count, include a 160-word, self-reflective, critical faith reflection. Here is where you are asked to discuss how the text that you have analyzed has significance for you in your own spiritual/faith/ethical life.
Logic and Comprehension:
a. comprehension:
1) is your thesis stated as a claim?
2) is it a contested thesis?
3) are all your major arguments stated as claims?
4) do they support the thesis?
b. logical flow:
1) do you have clearly stated claims?
2) do your arguments support those claims?
3) do you back up your arguments with clear evidence?
4) are your arguments pertinent to your conclusion?
5) do your conclusions follow from your claims?
FOOTNOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY:
8. Accepted Sources:
a. You must use a minimum of eight sources in addition to the Bible and/or textbooks, at least one of which represents a diverse (non-Western and/or female) author’s perspective.
b. sources must be academic sources (see below for details)
9. No sources older than 1985 (including the first edition).
10. Internet sources:
a. No internet sources allowed unless they are accessed through:
1) Proquest Religion
2) ATLA
3) Academic Search Premier
4) JSTOR
5) Proquest Research Library
b. Within those databases, you may only use the following journals:
1) Bible Review (BR)
2) Biblical Archaeology Review
3) Biblical Interpretation
4) Catholic Biblical Quarterly
5) Currents in Biblical Research
6) Evangelical Quarterly
7) Harvard Theological Review
8) Interpretation
9) Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus
10) Journal for the Study of the New Testament
11) New Testament Studies
12) Novum Testamentum
13) Revue de Qumran
14) Semeia
11. When you quote the Bible, use only the New Revised Standard Version (the one that our NOAB Bible uses). No other version will be allowed unless you are comparing and contrasting.
STYLE, FORMAT, AND GRAMMAR
12. Font: Times New Roman 12 for body of text, page numbers, heading and footers; Times New Roman 10 for footnotes.
13. Margins: 1″ on all sides.
14. Use footnotes, not Endnotes.
15. Spacing:
a. Double-spaced, except for Name, Course Number, and Date [Heading], which are single-spaced
b. No extra line breaks between paragraphs.
16. Page numbers must be included.
17. Style Manual: Use Turabian or Chicago Manual of Style.
Use the 7 sources from the annotated bibliography pasted below, excluding this one source *Barton, Stephen C. 2018. “Jesus on Justice and Mercy in Constitutional Perspective.” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 16 (2–3): 213–42. doi:10.1163/17455197-01602008.*
Find one source that meets the criteria mentioned above.
