Participation

Participation in discussions and attendance in class will count for a total of 15 points towards the final grade. Attendance will be taken regularly, with each lecture counting for 1/3 of a point towards the final grade, up to a total of 5 points. For each discussion class, 1 point will be given for attendance and 1 point for contributing substantively to the discussion, up to a total of 10 points.

Quizzes

Each of the five quizzes will include multiple choice and identification questions. The multiple choice questions will test material covered in the readings and also in lecture. For each lecture, there will be 3-5 starred terms; the identification questions will be drawn from these terms.

For each term you should be prepared to write a brief paragraph or three or more bullet points, giving three points of identification and showing that you understand clearly why this term is significant in the context of the material covered in this course as a whole. Draw upon information presented in the lectures and in the reading. Good identification questions usually answer at least some of the following questions (as relevant): what? who? where? when?

Each student may make up one quiz without a written excuse and one more quiz with a written excuse documenting an emergency (serious illness, etc.).

Quiz make-up assignment

To make up a quiz you missed, submit a 5 page paper in which you summarize, in one paragraph per reading assignment, the main issues covered by the readings tested in that quiz, by the first class meeting after the quiz. Your paper should make clear that you have done the reading carefully. You may submit only one make-up paper without written documentation of an emergency that prevented you from taking the quiz.

Terms for the quizzes

Quiz 1 (Lectures 1-4)

Mesopotamia
Levant
olive line
Hellenistic kingdoms
Augustus
amphitheater
curiales
Ptolemaic cosmology
Second Temple
Herod

Quiz 2 (Lectures 5-8)

messiah
Pharisee
Undisputed Paulines
Pastoral Epistles
apocalypse
Synoptic Problem
Two-Source Hypothesis
Q
realized eschatology

Quiz 3 (Lectures 9-12)

logos theology
Gospel of Thomas
Marcion
Valentinus
Irenaeus
gnosis
heresy
apostolic tradition
catacombs
house church
Thecla
Tertullian

Quiz 4 (Lectures 13-15)

pax deorum
damnatio ad bestia
Clement of Alexandria
allegorical exegesis
Origen
asceticism
Decius
Diocletian
lapsi
Edict of Milan
Donatists
Arius

Quiz 5 (Lectures 16-19)

basilica
homoousios
homoiousios
Athanasius
eremite
coenobite
Antony
Pachomius
Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nyssa
Basil of Caesarea
Julian

Research Paper

This assignment will have three graded components: an abstract, a research proposal, and the paper itself.

Abstract (5% of final grade; due 10/16)

One-paragraph description (250-400 words) of the topic and approach of your paper. The abstract should include a statement of the specific question your paper will adress. Download detailed instructions here.

Research proposal and bibliography (15% of final grade; due 11/15)

Five-page paper (1200-1400 words) which (1) describes the extant primary source material relevant to your topic, identifying specific sources that you will use in your paper; (2) gives an overview of the secondary scholarship you have found, identifying the most important books and articles and describing major issues in the area; (3) states in a paragraph what precise aspect of the topic your paper will investigate and why. This final section should expand upon the thesis question stated in the abstract. The paper should be accompanied by a bibliography, in correct Chicago Style, listing the primary and secondary sources you will use in writing your paper. You should have at least 5 of each at an absolute minimum.

Research paper (40% of final grade; due 12/13)

10-15 page paper (2500-3200 words), using footnotes and a bibliography in correct Chicago style (this will be gone over in class). Must draw upon primary evidence in support of all major arguments, while taking into account the most important previous scholarship in English relevant to the topic. More detail regarding format and approach will be given in class.

Assignments for graduate students

Graduate students will be required to complete the same assignments as undergraduate students, except that the research paper should be 20-30 pages with a bibliography including 10-15 secondary sources and a commensurately larger collection of primary sources.