- Cite the selected passage at the very beginning of your paper and use proper bibliographic citation (MLA format preferred) throughout. You may want (but don’t necessarily need) to offer, immediately after your cited text, a brief contextualizing synopsis of the chapter or episode in which your selection appears.
- Try to “unpack” one line – or even one word – of your passage at a time. Discuss significant words appearing in the selection. Say everything worthwhile that you can about one line before proceeding to the next one. At some point, however, be sure to discuss the significance of the passage as a whole. (Your conclusion —not just a sentence but a whole concluding paragraph -would be a good place.) You are invited to offer a brief gloss or summary of the selected passage before engaging in the close reading of each line, key words, etc. You are required (see guideline #4 below) to write a concluding analytical commentary.
- Use the footnotes in (y)our edition of the Bible to check word meanings, variations, etymologies, and puns. This will help you to draw out the meaning of the passage through its wordplay. Another very valuable resource is www.blueletterbible.org
- Look for typological, thematic, or contextual connections to other passages in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh/OT) to enhance your reading of the selected passage. For example, one might discuss the relation between the plagues against Pharaoh in the Exodus account and those occurring in the wife-sister scene of Genesis 12. (What do they have in common? What is different? How is the single passage on which you are focusing illuminated or informed by comparison to other similar passages?) Once again, however, please do not use the New Testament for this first exegesis assignment, which should focus on original contexts
- Refer to your Harris text (or other secondary sources), if you wish, for socio-historical background, but do so sparingly; this should be YOUR reading. Nevertheless, an informed reading is welcomed. CITE any such secondary sources used! (Avoid dubious/unsigned/unvetted sources: e.g., personal blogs, idiosyncratic “spirituality” sites engaging in unusual or colorful [i.e., “kooky,” impressionistic] readings of Scripture, etc.)
Above all, be clear, concise, and precise in your writing. Elucidate the “plain” meaning of the text if it is at all obscure, note ambiguities, avoid jargon, support your assertions, and pay attention to textual details.
(4) Conclusion/Commentary: As stated above, you should — in addition to performing a close reading- address the significance of the passage as a whole. You may want to utilize your passage to illustrate or argue that the text makes a particular moral, philosophical, or religious (theological) point. (E.g., the world is violent, deception is bad, greed corrupts, God is Love, YHWH appears to be cruel, God is beyond good and evil, the Bible offers a critique of consumerism, etc.)
The most pressing question, however, is: What do we get out of this passage?
While the answer to “what we get out of the passage” may be a straightforward exercise in textual “close reading,” this
assignment, ultimately, might also force you to think and reflect upon your own lived experiences and to make sense of the passage accordingly. (Does the passage “ring true” or resonate with basic human experiences such as love or grief, joy or despair, anger or pity, guilt and evasion, etc.? Does such fidelity to lived human experience in the text aid one’s understanding of it and/or make it relevant to a 21st-century reader? If so, how?) Your conclusion may be that you disagree with the viewpoint expressed in the passage. Or, just perhaps, you might read the brief biblical passage and find it full of existential meaning for life here and now, despite the long passage of time since its composition. Though you should avoid making your approach too personal or merely impressionistic, the question of such deeper meaning(s)-i.e., how the passage relates to lived human experience- need not be excluded. If the passage has resonances and relevancy beyond its immediate context, such observations can certainly be drawn out.
Cite all sources, including Internet resources, used for any background or critical material. The format may be that of a “normal” written essay, with a thesis statement, argument with supporting evidence, and a conclusion, but you are strongly encouraged to consider adopting the exegetical format of a series of textual notes followed by
commentary.
Text used: The New Oxford Annotated Bible (with the Apocrypha), 5th Edition, New Revised Standard
Version (NRSV). Michael D. Coogan, ed., New York: Oxford UP, 2018.
Lastly, please provide a turnit.in scan on the piece please
