Course Description: This course is designed to help
you know, value and enjoy the Christian Scriptures. There will be exams, papers, projects, quizzes, journaling and
discussion. There will also be social,
service, leisure and prayer experiences.
Instructor: Otto
R. Piechowski; 859-277-7183(w), 224-9514 (h)
(email)opiechowski@lexingtoncatholic.com
(or)o.piechowski@insightbb.com
Texts: Bible,
Encountering Jesus in the New Testament
Grade Determination: Sacred
Rest 10%
Generous
and Caring Service 10%
Quizzes
(ten-1% each) 10%
Notebook
Checks (ten-1% each)) 10%
Final
Exam 15%
Tests
(four-5% each) 20%
Paper
(three drafts-5%,10%,10%) 25%
Sacred Rest: This
is an opportunity to become aware of and appreciative for God’s gift of
leisure, recreation and rest.
Your sacred rest is taken on a Sabbath. A Sabbath, for the sake of this
exercise,
consists of the period of time from
sunset on a Saturday to sunset on a Sunday.
[An alternate “sabbath” will be allowed for persons of other religious
traditions, but this needs to be cleared with Otto beforehand.] Choose a Sabbath before Thursday, April 27th
on which to take your Sacred Rest.
What is not to be done: No work is to be done during your Sacred
Rest. This
includes homework, jobs for pay,
service projects or family chores. You
may need to make arrangements well beforehand; i.e. getting homework done ahead
of time, scheduling a day off from work, asking parental permission to be free
from chores. This sacred rest may not
be part of a trip away from home nor a retreat.
What is to be done: Get extra sleep, spend recreational time
with family members and with friends, and spend extra time in prayer during your
sacred rest Sabbath.
An “A” is earned for this Sacred
Rest project, by following the instructions above
and turning in a paper (no more
than one page, typed) describing what you did, when you did it, what you
learned from it, what your feelings are about doing it. The paper is due by class time on Thursday,
April 27th
.
Caring & Generous Service: This is an opportunity
to do a caring and generous service to other persons following
the example of Jesus the Christ.
Options are:
1.
Spend one hour, each week (or portion of a week) school
is in session, in the chapel at Lexington Catholic High praying with the Holy
Father (Pope John Paul II) for the Papal Prayer Intention of the Month. For the monthly intention, see
(web)http://www.ewtn.com/faith/popePrayer.htm
2.
Become informed about the socio-political situation of
the Asmat of Irian Jaya (New Guinea) and of the ministry of the Crosier Fathers
and Brothers among the Asmat. Plan,
prepare and perform some act of service to the Asmat. Contact: Crosier Fathers and Brothers
Province; 3510 Vivian Avenue; Shoreview, MN; 55126-3852; 651-486-7456,
651-486-7589 (fax), (email)asmat@crosier.org
3.
Become informed of the socio-political situation of the
Lakota (Sioux) children and the work of the St. Joseph’s Indian School,
Chamberlain, South Dakota. Plan,
prepare and perform some act of service to the Lakota children and/or the
school. Contact: Brother David Nagel, SCJ,
director; St. Joseph’s Indian School; Chamberlain, S.D. 57326.
4.
Become informed
of the socio-political situation of the Lakota (Sioux) children and of the work
of Our Lady of Lourdes School on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Plan, prepare and perform some act of
service to the Lakota children and/or in support of the school. Contact: 605-867-5491,
redcloudpr@redcloudschool.org
(web)http://redcloudschool.org/ourladyoflourdes/default.htm
5.
Become informed of the ministry of the Christian
Appalachian Project. Plan, prepare and
perform some service in support of C.A.P.
Contact: Christian Appalachian Project; PO Box 511; Lancaster, KY
40444-0511. 866-270-4227, 859-792-3051,
859-792-6560 (fax); (webstite)www.chrisapp.org (email)capinfo@chisapp.org
(email)volunteer@chrisapp.org.
6.
Become informed of the ministry to Catholics in far
east Russia. Plan, prepare and perform
some act of service to/with Most Holy Mother of God Parish. Contact:
(email)myron@catholic.vladivostok.ru; Most Holy Mother of God Parish; Volodarskovo
22; 69001 Vladivostok Russia.
(website)http://www.vladmission.org
7.
Become informed of the work of Food For the Poor. Plan, prepare and perform some act of
generous and caring service in conjunction with Food for the Poor. 954-427-2222, (website)www.foodforthepoor.org
8.
Spiritual Work of Mercy: Instructing the Ignorant. The work of understanding one’s faith, why it
teaches what it teaches and developing the skills needed to articulate clearly
that faith to others is considered an act of service by the Church. A dedicated effort to learn what is taught
in your scripture class is an act of service.
For this project, your grade will be the average of all of the grades
you earn on papers, quizzes and exams.
In addition, you are to turn in on the due date, a written report of a
serious attempt you made to communicate your faith to another(s) clearly
describing with whom you spoke, when and where it happened and what you said
and did.
9.
You may request another project of your choice. But, this must be presented to and approved
by the teacher before spring break.
This must be presented to him in written form stating the nature of the
project, the project’s date and the student(s) involved.
An “A” grade will be earned for doing any one of the options
listed above as instructed, and by turning in a paper (no more than one page,
typed, with your name) stating what you learned, what you did, whom you
contacted, when you did it, in what way/sense your act was generous, how the
act was caring and how you felt about it.
This is to be turned in by class time on Thursday, April 27th.
Quizzes and Notebook Checks:
Quizzes:
Each quiz will be given,
Thursdays, on books of the Christian Scriptures:
January
12: Luke 1:1-9:50 March 9: 1 Corinthians 1-6
January
19: Luke 9:51-19:27 March
16: 1 Corinth. 7-end February 2: Luke 19:28-end April
13: Revelations 1-5
February
16: Romans 1-8 April 20: Revelations
6-16
March
2: Romans 9-end May 11: Revelations 17-22
These are reading quizzes. They are not to prove you understand the
text assigned for the quiz; only that you read it. Each quiz will consist of 3 questions: 3 questions answered
correctly will equal a grade of 100% (A), 2 answered correctly will equal a
grade of 70% (D), 1 answered correctly will equal a grade of 50%(F), 0
questions answered correctly equal 0%(F).
In case of an
excused absence, the student will make up the quiz. If the absence is un-excused, a grade of 0% will be figured into
the overall grade for the quiz missed.
Should class not meet on the day indicated below for the quiz, the quiz
will be given at the next meeting of the class.
Notebook
Checks:
These may occur on the same days as listed above
for Bible Book Quizzes. Three items
will be checked; (1) neat orderly appearance, (2) correct use of the Cornell
Note Taking Method, and (3) all class notes included. As judged by the instructor, for all three items done correctly,
a grade of 100% (A) will be earned. For
two items done, a grade of 70%(D) will be earned. For one item, a grade of 50%(F) will be earned. For no items, a grade of 0%(F) will be earned.
Tests on Chapters and Notes: These will test your
knowledge of the textbook and of class lectures and notes. Each test will have an extra-credit section
made up of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, French and Aramaic words learned in
class. Tests will be held on
Thursdays. If, for any reason school is
not held on the assigned date, the test will be held on the next day school is
in session. The dates for these tests
are:
-
February 9: Test
on Textbook Introduction, Notes and Syllabus
-
March 23: Test
on Chapters 1, 2 and 3, and notes
-
May 4: Test on Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7 and
notes
-
May 18: Test
on Chapters 8, 9 and notes
Final Exam: This will comprehensively test your
knowledge of all ten chapters of the textbook, and of all lectures and notes
for the semester. It would be wise to
read your book a number of times, to compare your notebook with those of other
students to make sure you correctly have all information given, to read your
corrected notebook through many times, and correct and study the four chapters
tests given throughout the semester.
Pericope Paper:
A pericope is any self-contained/complete text in the bible. A pericope may be only a few verses
long. One example is The Parable of the
Mustard Seed, Or a pericope may be many chapters long. One example is the Infancy Narrative in
Matthew.
You are to perform scholarly research on your assigned pericope. This research is called contextual-historical biblical criticism. Second, you are to write a well crafted paper. This paper is to present a clear
understanding of what the author intended to say to his audience. This understanding is called biblical exegesis. Second, you are to apply the understanding gained to the
spiritual and religious lives of people today.
This application is called biblical hermeneutics.
Dynamics: All three drafts of your pericope paper are to follow these rules:
-
Be typed on white
paper.
-
Be 2 to 3 pages
(500 to 750 words) in length.
-
Be double spaced
and have one inch margins.
-
Have a font size
and style similar to what appears here.
-
Be stapled (do not
use acetate covers or plastic binders).
-
The color of the
print must be black.
-
All spellings
correct, all sentences complete and clear.
-
On first sheet of
paper, on the top left corner, you are to include your name, draft # (1, 2 or
3), pericope designation (book and chapter) and due date.
-
All quotes are to
be cited with an endnote. All
paraphrases (summarization of material from books/magazines etc.) are to be
cited with endnotes. If you put an idea
in your paper that came from any source you read, that idea must be cited
within the paper by means of an endnote and in the bibliography. Examples of endnote citations include
“Bethlehem is south of Jerusalem.” (Golden Bible Atlas, p. 62) and “She
watered the camels,” (Genesis
24:36).
-
Have a bibliography
attached (not included in word count).
The bibliography must follow the MLA format. (Note: a bibliography is not to be included with the first
draft).
Resources: Drafts 2 and 3 must incorporate the
use of all of the following:
1. bible
(footnotes, cross references, the text assigned) (book, not website)
2.
bible atlas (book,
not website)
3.
bible concordance
(book, not website)
4.
bible commentary
(book, not website)
5.
bible dictionary
(book, not website)
6.
gospel parallels
(book, not website)
7.
exegetical
periodicals (magazines found at Lexington Theological
Seminary or Asbury College or website articles using the EBSCO and GOOGLE
procedures that follow on the next sheet.)
EBSCO-procedure:
-
Obtain a Lexington Public Library Card
-
On computer, go to the website-www.lexpublib.org
-
Click on Database Collection in the green column on
left side
-
Log in by typing library card number
-
Type in your pin number (this is the last four numbers of
library card number)
-
On the left side of the next page, find and click on EBSCO
-
Click on the last link EBSCOhost Text Only
-
Unclick Academic Search Premier
-
Click on Religion and Philosophy Collection
-
After the word Find type in the name of your biblical book
and chapter (e.g. Mark 7). Do not type
in the verse(s).
A
list of biblical periodical articles and biblical book reviews will be
given. Use only biblical periodical
articles. You will need to skim each
article to see if it has information relevant to your particular pericope (the
verses of your chapter)
GOOGLE
procedure:
There are some biblical
periodicals (or articles) on the internet not included in EBSCO. Go to google.com. Type in the name of the periodical and follow their directions.
Citation
Procedures: Endnotes and Bibliogaphy
If you choose
to make use of an article, you will need to cite the article with an endnote in
your text and with an entry in the bibliography in your pericope paper.
- If your article is a PDF file, you do
the endnote by citing the last name of the author/editor and page number (e.g.
Smith, 128). For the bibliography
entry of your PDF article, use the MLA format.
- If the article is in HTML format, you
do the endnote by citing author/editor last name and the (only) page number
given at the end of the article (e.g.
Smith, 122). For the bibliography
entry, use the MLA format.
Periodicals you may use (clear
the use of others with Otto):
Bible Today Biblica
Elenchus bibliographicus
biblicus Journal
for the study of the N.T.
Journal for the study of the Old
Testament Journal of
Biblical Literature
New Testament Abstracts Novum Testamentum
Old Testament Abstracts Revue Biblique
Semeia Vetus Testamentum
Zeithschrift for die
alttestamentliche wissenschaft
Zeithscrift fur die
neutestamentliche wissenschaft
Your Assigned Pericope From the Gospel of Luke is:
1:46-56________________ 1:67-79________________ 2:39-40_________________
2:41-52_______________ 3:1-20_________________ 3:21-38_________________
4:1-13________________ 4:14-30________________ 4:31-37_________________
4:38-41_______________ 4:42-44________________ 5:1-11__________________
5:12-16_______________ 5:17-26________________ 5:27-32_________________
5:33-39_______________ 6:1-11_________________ 6:12-16_________________
6:17-26_______________ 6:27-36________________ 6:37-42_________________
6:43-49_______________ 7:1-10_________________ 7:11-17_________________
7:18-23_______________ 7:24-34________________ 7:35-50_________________
8:1-3_________________ 8:4-15_________________ 8:16-18_________________
8:19-21_______________ 8:22-25________________ 8:26-39_________________
8:40-56_______________ 9:1-10_________________ 9:11-17_________________
9:18-21_______________ 9:23-27________________ 9:28-36_________________
9:37-43_______________ 9:46-48________________ 9:49-50_________________
9:51-56_______________ 9:57-62________________ 10:1-20_________________
10:21-24______________ 10:25-28_______________ 10-:29-37_______________
10:38-42______________ 11:1-4_________________ 11:5-13_________________
11:14-23______________ 11:24-26_______________ 11:29-32________________
11:33-36______________ 11:37-12:1______________ 12:2-9__________________
12:10-12______________ 12:13-15________________ 12:16-21________________
12:22-34______________ 12:35-48________________ 12:49-53________________
12:54-56______________ 12:57-59________________ 13:1-5__________________
13:6-9________________ 13:10-17________________ 13:18-19________________
13:20-21______________ 13:22-30________________ 14:1-6__________________
14:7-14_______________ 14:15-24________________ 14:25-35________________
15:1-7________________ 15:8-10_________________ 15:11-32________________
16:1-8________________ 16:8-13_________________ 16:14-15________________
16:16-17______________ 16:18__________________ 16:19-31________________
17:1-4________________ 17:5-10_________________ 17:11-19________________
17:20-37______________ 18:1-8__________________ 18:9-14_________________
18:15-17______________ 18:18-23________________ 18:24-30________________
18:35-43_______________ 19:1-10________________ 19:11-27________________
19:28-40_______________ 19:45-48_______________ 20:1-8__________________
20:9-19________________ 20:20-26_______________ 20:7-40_________________
20:41-44_______________ 20:45-47_______________ 21:1-4__________________
First Draft: Due by class
time on Thursday, January 26. The
purpose of the first draft is to become familiar with your pericope. Do the following:
-
read your assigned
pericope several times
-
read some of the
text preceding and following your pericope
-
read similar
pericopes in other texts (use cross-references)
-
think and pray
about your pericope
-
write what you
think you understand about your pericope
-
write about what
you find confusing
-
write what
questions you have about your pericope
Second Draft: Due by class
time on Thursday, February 23. The purpose
of the second draft is for you to do scholarly research on your pericope.
1.
Using all the items
listed above under Resources, do “exegesis” on your pericope. Use the resource exegetical tools to come
to a deeper understanding of the events, persons and places written of in your
assigned pericope, and to discover what your pericope means. All Resources must be used and cited in the
draft paper.
2.
Write about what
you have discovered through your pericope research.
3.
Having completed
your exegesis (coming to a correct understanding of what the pericope was
intended to say by its author by doing
#s 1 and 2 above), now perform hermeneutics on your pericope. Hermeneutics is the effort of (a) writing
what one thinks about what the pericope’s author intended to say, and (b)
suggesting what applications the message of this pericope might have for
persons today.
Third Draft: Due by class
time on Thursday, March 30. The purpose
of this third and final draft is to turn your research into a well crafted
manuscript, which clearly says what you want to say in a manner that others can
understand. To this end, in this draft,
you are to incorporate/carry out suggestions Otto offered on your second draft. As in the second draft, all Resources are to
be used and cited in this draft.
Due Dates: The drafts are
due at class time on the days stated below.
Should the paper be turned in after the assigned due date and time
without substantial reason as judged by the instructor, the grade for that
draft will be a 0%. Similarly, if more
than two of any of the directions listed under Dynamics, Resources or below
under First Draft, Second Draft or Third Draft are not followed, that draft of
the paper will receive a grade of 0%.
Extra Credit: 10% will be added to your grade for the
final draft of your paper if (1) all of your drafts have been turned in on
time, (2) all directions have been followed, and (3) a 12-slide Power-Point
Presentation of your paper is included (Imagine being asked to present the
final draft of your pericope paper to the class. Make 12 slides to facilitate a presentation of your 3rd Draft to
the rest of the class. This
Presentation is to be copied on diskette or CD. Your Power Point program must
be compatible with that used on Lexington Catholic computers. Write your name
on the diskette/CD) and (4) the drafts of the paper and Power-Point
Presentation are of “A” quality.
Dialogical Courtesy: Dialogical Courtesy includes:
Prayer: Each
student will lead the class in prayer a number of times during the
semester. Students will be informed of
their prayer dates two class days prior o the assigned prayer date. Each student is to do the following:
1.
Call to Prayer: the student will come to the front of class and call the class to
prayer, either by beginning with the sign of the cross reverently done (if the
student is Catholic) or by saying “Let us pray” (or something similar if the
student in not Catholic).
2.
Reading: the student will read a small portion (of his/her choice) from his/her
assigned pericope-paper passage.
3.
Homily:
the student will briefly say what she/he thinks the passage means and how it
applies to adolescent life today.
4.
Prayer:
the student will close by offering to God (addressed to God) a prayer of
gratitude, contrition, petition or praise of God.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I have read and understood the syllabus for my New
Testament Class.
(If signed named is not legible, print your name
here_____________________________)