English 354--The Bible as Literature--Fall 2004

Final Exam Preparation

The final exam will take place in our classroom on Tuesday December 7 from 10:10 to 11:30 a.m. It will consist of a one-hour, five-hundred word essay on one of three topics selected from this list:

1. The Bible tells the story of the past, present and future of the world. Discuss the purposes of history (recording the past) and prophecy (predicting the future) as they shape biblical narratives. If possible consider the relation between history and prophecy.
2. "Perhaps, then, there is no such entity as "the Bible," and what is called "the Bible" may be only a confused and inconsistent jumble of badly established texts. However, ..."the Bible" has traditionally been read as a unity, and has influenced Western imagination as a unity...Those who do succeed in reading the Bible from beginning to end will discover that at least it has a beginning and an end, and some traces of a total structure. ...There is also a body of concrete images: city, mountain, river, garden, tree, oil, fountain, bread, wine, bride, sheep and many others, which recur so often that they clearly indciate some kind of unifying principle." Northrop Frye, The Great Code: The Bible and Literature, xii-xiii" Elaborate and discuss both sides of the issue presented in this quotation.
3. The representation of great leaders--in terms of heroic characteristics, growth and development, and in relation to other human beings and to God.
4. Representations of suffering and sacrifice
5. The practise of interpretation of signs, symbols, visions, dreams and texts by characters in and readers of the Bible.
6. Midrash has been defined as "creative exegesis"-- the interpretation of a biblical text by means of an imaginative rendering or variation of it. Discuss ways that paintings, sculptures, literary works, musical works and films have illuminated specific elements of biblical texts studied this quarter.
7. "To trust the God of the Bible is to trust an irascible, vindictive, fierce and ever fickle and changeful master..." Mark Twain [Mark Twain Handbook, ed. E. Hudson Long, New York, 1957, p. 360]
   Assess this comment in light of orthodox and unorthodox readings of both the Hebrew and Christian Bible. Support your position with arguments that state and address opposing arguments.

The essay should refer to specific passages or incidents in at least four out of the following books or groups of books. Two or more should fall within the range of 5 through 10.

1. Genesis

2. Exodus

3. Joshua, Judges and Ruth

4. Samuel and Kings

5. Psalms and the Song of Songs

6. Ecclesiastes and Job

7. The Prophets

8. The Gospels and Acts

9. The letters of Paul

10. Revelation

The essay also will serve as the GWR exam for those who haven't yet passed it.