Phase Two
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Simply fill in required answers in specified places.
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Due at the end of the week for Exam 2 (both regular and summer terms). Check your class Schedule page for exact dates. Covers the activities of weeks 5-10 below. Use document submitted for Translation Analysis assignment above; add the required items of this assignment to it. The format of the assignment is more in the style of notes accumulated from study. No final conclusions need to have been reached at this point on any of the items; the important issue is to have identified the interpretative issues present in the scripture text, and to project tentative conclusions reached from your study. Counts as 25% of the Analysis Paper grade. Remember: virtually no online commentaries qualify for use in this assignment, e.g., Matthew Henry's, People's Comentary, Geneva Bible etc. The required materials (one volume commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and commentary series) can be obtained from local libraries, nearby university libraries, and especially your minister's personal library. Let me encourage you to check with your pastor / priest and enlist his/her help in locating and using the commentaries, Bible dictionaries etc. This is basically a note-taking and reflection phase of the paper assignment.
Include the following items:
1. Identify the marginal readings of words, phrases, clauses and sentences from the translations.
Use the footnotes, that is, the superscripted letters in the text of the NRSV from the New Oxford Annotated Bible as the starting point to identify these alternative readings of the scripture text. These footnotes from the NRSV will be the grading standard for the assignment. The NOSB study notes at the very bottom of each page are not a part of the marginal readings; do not refer to these for item 1! For an explanation of the different types of marginal readings in the NRSV text go to item #4 Translator's Footnotes on page xvi and to #1 Variant Readings and Alternative Readings on page xvii. These are found under How to Use This Study Bible Profitably in the front of your NOSB. Also see the illustration in the marginal readings hyperlink. Check in the commentaries for your passage for explanations of the nature and background of these variant readings in the underlying Hebrew/Greek text of your passage. This material will be placed in content footnotes in the body of the final draft of your paper at the appropriate point in your outline of the passage.
Summarize your findings here:
2. Identify the literary genre of your biblical passage.
For a general definition of genre click here. For how this applies to biblical studies click here. First, identify the basic literary form in which your passage is located: gospel, history, letter, apocalypse. For the listing of the forms for the Hebrew Bible click here. For the listing of the forms for the New Testament click here. Describe the nature of this genre. Discuss the implications of this for interpreting your passage. Use Bible dictionaries etc. for background information. Next, identify the literary subgenera of your passage. Remember: not every scripture passage falls into an identifiable sub forms. The page NT-Genre will not list every possible sub-form. Use the commentaries for your passage to find the precise identification for your passage. Describe the nature of this literary sub form, using Bible dictionaries etc. for information. Discuss the implications of this for interpreting your passage. This material will be placed in the Introduction of the final draft of your paper.
Summarize your findings here:
Broad Genre:
Sub-Genre:
3. Analyze the internal thought structure of your biblical passage.
Compare the paragraph divisions of your passages starting with those translations used in the phase one assignment. Remember: neither the ancient Hebrew nor the Greek texts contained paragraphs. Paragraphs in modern translations are an editorial effort to break the understood thought structure in a scripture pericope down into smaller sub units of thought expression. Thus they can be helpful suggestions of the internal literary structure of a passage. The category one type translation will have the fewest number of paragraphs, if they are listed at all. The category three type translation will have the greatest number of paragraphs, because of their orientation to modern readers' comprehension of the meaning of the scripture text. Consult commentaries on your scripture passage for further suggestions. Draw your own conclusions about the internal thought structure of your passage. Develop a working outline of the passage. This will serve as the organizing structure for the Body section of the final draft of your paper. Include this outline in this phase two assignment. Elaborate on the rationale for your outline.
Summarize your findings here:
Outline:
Rationale:
4. Identify a possible key theme of the passage.
Check the scripture passage
headings for your passage listed in the translations used in the phase
one of the assignment. Consult commentaries
on your scripture passage for further suggestions. Write out a key theme
in phrase structure. This will serve as the heading for the above outline
of your scripture passage, thus it should have a clearly defined logical
relationship to the wording in the points of your outline. This statement
will serve as the heading for the Body
section of your paper. The heading, as well as the outline points, should
grow naturally out of the perceived meaning of the scripture text. The
reader of your paper should be able to read this key theme heading statement
and know immediately your basic understanding of the scripture text's meaning.
For an example, click .
Provide
an explanation for the phrasing of your key theme heading statement.
Summarize your findings here:
Heading:
Rationale:
5. Elaborate on the interpretative issues present in your biblical text.
These issues should have
been identified in the phase one assignment above [see item 4]. Consult
with commentaries
on your scripture passage to find answers as well as to identify additional
issues present in your scripture passage. Write out these perceived
issues as questions or statements. Insert your research notes underneath
these questions or statements. This should be the longest segment of
your phase two assignment. Be sure to provide referencing of your quotes
from commentaries etc. so that inserting footnotes in the final draft of
the paper will go more quickly. This material will serve as an important
source of information for 'fleshing out' the exegesis section in each point
of the outline of your scripture text in the final draft of the Body
section of your paper. For an example, click .
Summarize your findings here:
6. List the time and place references found inside (=Internal History)your biblical passage.
The time elements include temporal adverbs, phrases and clauses. They generally answer a reporter's 'when' question. These provide a sense of when this scripture narrative took place They suggest time movements (e.g., scenes) within a narrative. The place references include geographical names along with other spatial markers inside a scripture text. They generally answer a reporter's 'where' question. They provide clues regarding where this scripture narrative took place. Elaborate on the possible significance of these time/place markers for understanding the meaning of your scripture passage. This material will be inserted in appropriate places in the 'fleshing out' of the exegesis section in each point of the outline of your scripture text in the final draft of the Body section of your paper.
Summarize your findings here:
7. Identify the external history issues (i.e., the history of the composition of your text) related to your passage.
This has to do with identifying who wrote this scripture text; where was this scripture text written; for whom was this scripture text written; what occasion prompted the writing of this scripture text. Refer to sources discussing the scripture book in which your passage is located. Use Introductions, Bible dictionaries and commentaries as sources of information. Do not stop with describing just the 'traditional' view; include the full range of modern scholarly viewpoint. Include all your research notes in this phase two assignment, along with your tentative conclusions. This material will be summarized into one or two paragraphs in the historical section of the Introduction of the final draft of your paper.
Summarize your findings here:
8. Identify the literary setting of your passage in the biblical document in which it occurs.
This has to do with identifying where your passage fits into the literary scheme of the entire scripture book in which your passage is located. [For example, the Sermon on the Mount in Matt 5-7 is the first of five major speeches in the first gospel and serves to introduce the basic teachings of Jesus about the Kingdom of God in much the same fashion as Moses delivering the Torah to the children of Israel in the wilderness.] For sources of information, consult the introductions of commentaries -- both the one volume and series --, Bible dictionaries, etc. containing outlines and explanatory discussion in the scripture book where your passage is located. Some of my outlines of both OT and NT books are posted at Cranfordville. Elaborate on your tentative conclusions in this phase two assignment. Your final conclusions will be summarized as a part of the literary section of the Introduction in the final draft of your paper.
Summarize your findings here: