Set 7: The Holy Scriptures
Monday, January 7, 2013, 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
LIMITED RESOURCES: A printed one-volume annotated Bible, a printed one-volume Concordance and a printed 1979 Book of Common Prayer.
NO electronic or Internet resources.
A reminder: This is not a liturgical question; it seeks, rather, a careful discussion and application to contemporary faith and culture of a biblical mandate for repentance.
A. In both Old and New Testament writings a call to God’s people for repentance is clear and undeniable. In an essay of 500 to 750 words, explore this call through exegesis of the following texts:
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 and Matthew 4:12-17
Your essay should address the literary, historical, and theological highlights of each text and set forth the biblical case for repentance as represented by these texts.
B. As an ordained person, you have just attended the monthly meeting of your Ecumenical Community Clergy Council. The topic discussed was “Preparing for Lent.” One member had suggested that the group consider sponsoring “Ashes to go.” She remembered some media coverage on Ash Wednesday 2012 showing clergy imposing ashes on street corners in the downtown business district and suburbs. She recalled that there was a great deal of positive reaction to this practice, stressing the theme that the churches were “meeting people where they are,” and commenting that with people’s busy lives, this was a visible way to reach out to the community. Another member was strongly opposed, asking, “What would be the biblical basis for this?” The group then had turned to you for your position on your colleague’s original suggestion.
In an essay of 500 to 750 words, address the following questions:
In what ways does such a contemporary practice (“Ashes to go”) respond faithfully to the call for repentance as articulated in Joel and Matthew?
In what ways does it not?
General Thoughts on the Holy Scriptures:
You are NOT writing for biblical scholars. I think the best audience to have in mind are advanced high school students and college students. In other words you should be presenting an exegesis that shows you are aware of basic critiques of the Bible if someone where to look up stuff but should say nothing that would prompt any one to look anything up. OVER THINKING this section is your biggest hurdle. Keep It Simple Stupid...
This question in specific:
You have two resources... use both of them...
First Section:
In both Old and New Testament writings a call to God’s people for repentance is clear and undeniable. In an essay of 500 to 750 words, explore this call through exegesis of the following texts:
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 and Matthew 4:12-17
Your essay should address the literary, historical, and theological highlights of each text and set forth the biblical case for repentance as represented by these texts.
This question looks daunting until you remember it is about absolute BASICS. Your immediate response might be panic at the idea of having to remember literary, historical, and theological exegesis... but the key word here is HIGHLIGHTS as in Highlights for Children! Also this is a place where reading the whole question first is really important. You are going to use one of these texts to argue for Ashes to Go and the other to argue against it... so keep that in mind. So here is the lay out...
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
(90 words) The literary nature of the text in HIGHLIGHTS
(90 words) The historical nature of the text in HIGHLIGHTS
(90 words) The theological nature of the text in HIGHLIGHTS
(90 words) The biblical case for repentance nature of the text.
Matthew 4:12-17
(90 words) The literary nature of the text in HIGHLIGHTS
(90 words) The historical nature of the text in HIGHLIGHTS
(90 words) The theological nature of the text in HIGHLIGHTS
(90 words) The biblical case for repentance nature of the text.
You should be using a good one volume annotated bible that gives you all the information you need.
Second Section.
As an ordained person, you have just attended the monthly meeting of your Ecumenical Community Clergy Council. The topic discussed was “Preparing for Lent.” One member had suggested that the group consider sponsoring “Ashes to go.” She remembered some media coverage on Ash Wednesday 2012 showing clergy imposing ashes on street corners in the downtown business district and suburbs. She recalled that there was a great deal of positive reaction to this practice, stressing the theme that the churches were “meeting people where they are,” and commenting that with people’s busy lives, this was a visible way to reach out to the community. Another member was strongly opposed, asking, “What would be the biblical basis for this?” The group then had turned to you for your position on your colleague’s original suggestion.
In an essay of 500 to 750 words, address the following questions:
In what ways does such a contemporary practice (“Ashes to go”) respond faithfully to the call for repentance as articulated in Joel and Matthew?
In what ways does it not?
So the first paragraph is really all fluff. Ignore it.
Next realize that NO ONE cares whether or not you like Ashes To Go. The question here is can you put aside whatever opinions you personally have and show the basic arguments for both sides.
You need to look at your exegesis and decide which text supports Ashes to Go and which one does not then you will right a 375 word essay detailing the pro argument based on that exegesis and marking important sections of the BCP. Then you will do the opposite.
As always grammar and spelling matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment