SPECIFIC ASSIGNMENTS

1. Journals (due weekly) (20%).

Each week, on Thursday (except when there is a paper due), I will ask you to submit 1-2 pages of reflective writing (“journals”) on the reading & class discussion for the week. Sometimes you may choose to use questions posed on the syllabus to guide your reflection. At other times, you may want to reflect on one or more of the readings – their connections, the problems/ confusions/ interesting insights they bring for you. It is up to you This is reflective writing, not a formal essay or argument I won’t grade for spelling and grammar, though I expect you to express yourself clearly and will note errors if I see them. I will look for insight, honesty, exploration, good questions. My expectation is that you will spend about an hour writing this reflection: it is not a larger assignment than that, and I will not be pleased with significantly longer journals than 2 pages (2 1/2 is fine if you must). You are welcome, in fact, to set a timer and simply write for 45-60 minutes, stopping in mid-sentence if you choose, give me what you’ve finished in that time. Or you may want to write for 15-30 minutes after each class meeting, and hand in the results of those reflections. I am looking for evidence that you have done the assigned reading and thought about it. I’m not looking for a summary of what you’ve read but for reflection and critical thinking: what speaks to you in the reading? What challenges or inspires you? What questions does the reading raise?

You do not have to journal on all the readings. Choose what most appeals to you.

Grading of journals: Journals are due weekly after the first class meeting, and you are allowed 1 “grace day, “ when you may choose not to hand in a journal for whatever reason, no excuse necessary. Journals that do come in should be handed in on time. This means that each student will turn in a total of 10 journal/reflection papers in the course of the semester and may turn in as many as 11. I record a minimum of 8 points for each journal turned in, with a “9” or “10” recorded to recognize particular insight and quality. I average the top 10. Journal average plus a subjective grade based on class participation makes up this part of your total grade.

2. Paper #1 (20%) summarizing the theology of a major monotheistic tradition not your own.

Choose one of the three major monotheistic traditions (Judaism, Christianity or Islam) making sure that you choose a tradition that is NOT your own. . Read the relevant chapters on this religion in Huston Smith, The World’s Religions and in Karen Armstrong, A History of God: Write a brief (4-6 page) paper in which you:

Summarize main features of this religious tradition

Define in your own words what ideas of “God” seem most important in this tradition

Illustrate some aspect of this religious tradition’s theology by using one of the passages from the psalms, Qu’ran or The Most Beautiful Names already read for class.

Reflect, in conclusion, on the theological ideas you have encountered: what appeals to you about this idea of God, what seems new to you? How is this like or unlike ways that you have been accustomed to think about God? (It is fine to say “I” here: you are reflecting on your own encounter with this religious tradition and one of its sacred texts.

Your goal here is to give an objective description of this religious tradition and some of its chief theological ideas, and then to present seriously and honestly your own response to it. You are not arguing for one view over another, but rather reflecting on the contrasts between two religious ideas : your own and the one you are reading about. Your own position may be unformed or changing – that is OK. Talk about this tradition in terms of the questions that are most important to you.

Length: Your essay should be 4-6 pages long.

Sources and Style: Be sure to cite sources, using the MLA citation format as described in Diana Hacker’s A Pocket Style Manual. Pay close attention to organization, illustrating your argument, style and grammar.

3. Paper #2 (20%) a midrash, or creative interpretation of a passage from scripture. Due October 25 Write your own brief midrash on a story from Scripture. You can approximate the method of traditional interpreters or literary authors by either: rewriting the story in the voice of one of the characters; telling the story from another angle, from the point of view of a minor characer; inserting another character ; telling the story from God's point of view, in the voice of God; or trying the method that begins "this seems to say. . . but really it says. . . . Since the rabbinic tradition thought of Scripture as speaking to its own present time, feel free to recast the story in time and to draw from it an insight relevant to our own time. Be sure, however, that you stay close to the Biblical text in whatever interpretation and elaboration you produce. Papers will be evaluated by their close adherence to what is in the text and by the consistency and creativity of the interpretation presented, and by the following criteria (which also apply, loosely to presentations in other verbal art media, including poetry and drama). Follow this link to see the criteria I’ll be using in grading this assignment.

4. Paper #3 (4-6 pages) (20%):

Literary analysis

This assignment is to give you a chance to offer a close reading of another aspect of a text we’ve discussed in class. Your purpose is to offer an argument about the idea of God, or of the human-divine relationship, in the text, using passages from the reading to illustrate your argument. I provide a few suggestions for secondary sources in case you want a little background, but my main interest is in what you do with the text.

This is analysis, not reflection, so your task is to use the text to illustrate an argument about this work of lilterature’s overall view of the divine-human relationship. Do not give your own opinion, but show your reader what is in the text. What is God like for the human beings in the text? (For the purposes of this paper, it does not matter whether you agree or not; just talk about what is in the text). What are the implications of this for what this work is saying about human life and experience? Illustrate with specific quotations from the text. Follow this Link for some further general advice about writing a literary analysis paper

Choose ONE of the following questions.

1, In Book VIII of Paradise Lost Adam is talking with the angel Raphael about his experience with the Almighty as his creator, and the creation of Eve. What does Adam’s dialogue with the Almighty (beginning at line 358) add to the character of the Almighty as we first met Him in Book III? Discuss the various facets of the divine-human relationship in the poem as they are developed in this part of Book VIII. What seems to be the divine view of human knowledge and of human sexuality? Pay attention both the the speeches of the Almighty and to Raphael’s warning to Adam at the end of the poem.

(If you feel you need background information, a good resource is C.S.. Lewis, A Preface to Paradise Lost. Also you may find useful the supplementary material in the Norton Critical Edition of Paradise Lost) I will put both books on 2-hour reserve at McKeldin.

2.Choose a character in ElieWiesel’s The Trial of God and discuss that character’s situation in relationship to some part of the story and/or dialogue in the Book of Job. In what ways does Wiesel’s play seem to echo or explicitly contrast with the experience of Job and his neighbors? Compare Wiesel’s view of God, and of the “Satan-figure”, with the view in Job. You may want to return to Marcus Borg’s chapter on Job as well as commentary on Job in the Oxford Study Bible to refresh your memory about context there. There’s a good interview with Wiesel on the website of the Academy of Achievement

3.Choose 3-5 of the poems of Rumi included in Bly’s The Soul is Here for its own Joy and examine the varied nature of the divine-human relationship as Rumi portrays it. You have the Coleman Barks interview on Rumi available on electronic reserve if you need additional background, and you might also like to look at the website for the Rumi Society .

4. Read carefully Lucille Clifton’s poetic sequence Brothers (available on electronic reserve), which she describeds as “a dialogue between Lucifer and God, though only Lucifer speaks”. In what ways does Clifton’s Lucifer echo and/or differ from Milton’s? What is the view of God that comes through this poem and what are its implications for the divine-human relationship? You can find a good overview of Clifton and her poetic voice in an interview interview in Bill Moyers, The Language of Life:A Festival of Poets, available on electronic reserve.

5. Final Exam: (20%) Written during exam period. Essay question drawing on a passage from Endo and incorporating material from the whole semester.