Vanderbilt University Department of  Religious Studies, College of Arts and Science

RLST 210 Interpreting the Gospels: Mark
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REQUIREMENTS:

*  (20% of semester grade)  Active participation in discussion:  including presentation every other week of your contextual interpretation of a section of the Gospel Mark and discerning the differences between your contextual  interpretation and that of other members of the class and of the scholarly readings (these differences should be written down before class and in front of you in class – as everyone should be ready to express them in the discussion) and (during discussion) of that of the presenter.

*   Three Contextual Interpretation Reports (each time focused on a given theme of a particular passage of Mark) (using the form below) 3 x 5% = 15% of semester grade.

*   Two Seminar presentations: 1) one as the Leader of a group (with handout) or as a Scribe (with handout the next session); 2) the other as presenter of a part of your paper in the making or as formal respondent:  2 x 7.5%  = 15%  of semester grade.

*   Proposal for your Paper due Friday October 12^th   10% of semester grade.

*   A paper prepared over the second part of the semester:  40% of semester grade.

Grades:  A  = Excellent, exceptional = correctly addressing all the questions of the topic, and demonstrating special creativity, insightfulness in analysis;   B  = Good and solid.   = correctly addressing all the questions of the topic, but without special creativity or insightfulness;   C  = Fairly Good = most questions of the topic addressed correctly, but some questions of the topic have not been addressed correctly;   D = Poor = Many questions addressed incorrectly, or not addressed at all.

HONOR CODE: 

Throughout the semester, you are under the Honor Code of Vanderbilt University.  All your quizzes, reports and your paper should represent YOUR OWN work.  Identify your sources, so as to avoid plagiarism.  Sign you work (or, on e-mail submission, type your Social Security Number) as a pledge of compliance with the Honor Code (i.e., you wrote it without receiving aid from--or giving aid to--any other person, except as specified).

PROCEDURE:   “Reading the Bible Is Not a Spectator Sport!”   You need to get involved.

Each class meeting we will have three segments. During the first part of the semester:

a) Methods for Reading the Gospel of Mark: Preparing for Roundtable # 2 - General Introduction to the class.

b) A Discussion of Your Own Reading: (Preparing/Performing Roundtable # 1). How do other readings differ from yours?

(What do you learn from others?)

Exercise on Matt 5:3-12: Theme: discipleship. What is ACCORDING TO YOU the teaching of Matt. 5:3-12 ABOUT DISCIPLESHIP for Christian believers today in a particular context of your choice? (Use form on The Gospel of Matthew: A Contextual Introduction pp 29-32.

(Reading: The Gospel of Matthew: A Contextual Introduction pp. 19-42)

c) Comparison of your own readings with the scholarly interpretations (Performing Roundtable # 2) Reports: Different teachings about discipleship