Assignment:
Pick one essay to write from the following four topics/prompts. Make sure that you put on your essay sheet the correct number of the topic to which you are responding.
Put your name, date, etc. and the essay number on a separate sheet of paper. Begin your essay at the top of the first page of the essay. The essay should be double-spaced, 12 point font (no larger), 1 inch margins. The essay should be 2 and ½ to 3 pages long.
This exam is an open book exam. So do your work carefully. Don't plunge in right away to write the essay. Do some investigation about the text(s) beforehand. Then study the language and themes of each text itself (read the text out loud for the best comprehension). If sources are available, use academic ones (i.e., university or professional society internet sites like JSTOR).
If you quote or refer to sources in the essay, you should acknowledge that in footnotes. Put any footnotes on a separate sheet at the end of the essay. Proofread your finished essay before submitting it!!!!!
Submit your final essay to me by email ([email protected]). All essays should be in by Wednesday, December 16th, 10:00 am EST. They can be submitted beforehand, of course (and that would be helpful!).
1. Compare/contrast two of these three texts: Isaiah 6, Jeremiah 1 and Ezekiel 3:1-21. Pick out what you think are the most significant ideas in each and why. Then ask yourself: how are the two texts you have chosen similar; in what ways are they different? Can you give a job description for a prophet based on these texts?
2. Both 2 Samuel 7:1-17 and Jeremiah 7 mention the Temple (in Jerusalem), somewhat indirectly in 2 Samuel and more clearly in Jeremiah 7. What is the attitude of each text toward the Temple? Has there been a change of attitude from 2 Samuel 7 to Jeremiah 7 and if so, what is it?
3. Study the texts of Jeremiah's prayer/complaint in Jer 20:7-13 and God's `complaint' in Hosea 11:1-11. What do the texts tell us about God and about our human relationship with God? Do the texts complement one another or are they opposites of each other? Do they tell us something about what our prayer should be like?
4. Compare Isaiah 11:1-5, 42:1-4, and 61:1-3 (one text each from each section of the book of Isaiah: I, II, and III Isaiah). These texts describe the servant of God, an important theme in the book. What is similar about them; how do they differ one from the other? Is there any progression in the understanding of the servant from one text to the next?