Why was it so important for Origen to articulate the distinction between the literal and spiritual meaning of scripture.
Author/ John W. Coakley & Andrea Sterk
Why was it so important for Origen to articulate the distinction between the literal and spiritual meaning of scripture.
Length: 2500 – 3000 words
Format: Double spacing, 12-point font, Times New Roman, 1″ margins, works cited, 1⁄2″ indented paragraphs, single-spaced footnotes in 10-point font, citations and works cited must follow either Chicago/Turabian or MLA guidelines. See library staff for formatting assistance.
The purpose of this assignment is to develop your research skills, your theological communication skills (i.e. theological writing), and allow you to do a deep dive into an area of theology and Christian history that interests you. While some of the assignments in this class are designed to enhance your ability to summarize and synthesize big ideas, this assignment asks you to use academic methods to closely investigate one specific element of the material relevant to this course.
Your paper must have a clearly articulated thesis, supported by a cogent argument that relies on at least three academic sources. Your paper must include a close reading of at least one primary text (i.e. historical theological document from the years 0 – 1450), and your central primary text cannot be a text from the Bible. Your paper must also include engagement with at least two secondary sources that are authoritative with respect to your research topic. In other words, among the academic sources that you use in your paper, at least one must be a primary source and at least two must be secondary sources. The primary source must be engaged in your paper through a close reading.
Note that this is a paper in which you are expected to make an argument in support of your thesis. Final papers will be evaluated on the overall quality, clarity, and relevance of their argumentation. While there are countless ways to make a strong argument in writing, there are even more ways to create a weak, unclear, or unhelpful argument. The library staff are available to help you strengthen your writing. However, in a nutshell, some of the clearest features of strong argumentation are:
[1] articulating a clear research problem and question,
[2] offering a connected and valid response to this question that analyzes and/or responds to the problem,
[3] deploying clear evidence and warrant (i.e. – justification) to support one’s claims,
[4] using a sufficient number of scholarly sources,
[5] reading and using sources in a responsible way,
[6] applying clear writing structure to organize one’s claims, and
[7] exhibiting clear prose to make one’s argument as accessible as possible.
Additionally, it will be important to remain in conversation with the course topic, even as there is great flexibility on how you can engage it.
I encourage you to be in conversation with me by email or in office hours to discuss your thesis and argument outline as they develop.
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