Due 10/ 16/2017 Biblical Worldview Essay Instructions
The purpose of the assignment is to
demonstrate your understanding of the unified and coherent nature of the Bible
and the theological doctrines.In order to build a biblical-theological framework for understanding
man and man’s relationship to God, including God’s purposes and continuing
work, you must first understand the unified biblical narrative, including its
four major plot movements: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.
After viewing the presentation, Understanding Biblical Narrative, and
completing your textbook readings, you will be equipped to demonstrate the
coherence of Scripture and share some of the implications of the unified
message of the Bible.
For this assignment, you must write a
600–1,000-word essay addressing the following prompt:
The Bible has many human authors, but 1 divine
Author, and God never contradicts Himself. The study of theology uncovers and
articulates the unity of all the biblical texts taken together. With this
understanding, demonstrate the unified nature of the Bible and share the
implications of this for mankind.
Assignment
Requirements:
- Explain how the Bible is unified in
nature and what this unity accomplishes. - Provide 2–3 specific theological beliefs
that are presented in Biblical doctrine with attention to how these
beliefs unfold through the narrative of Scripture, demonstrating the unity
and coherence of Scripture.
One
point of clarification that may be helpful:The word belief in this assignment is essentially
synonymous with the word doctrine.
- Using your theological examples, share
what implications these examples provide man in relationship to God. - Incorporate at least 2 theological
references in your paper using course resources. - Incorporate at least 2 relevant biblical
references.
Write a clear introductory paragraph
including the thesis statement. A summative, concluding paragraph must also be
included
Example:
The Bible
describes God as love in 1 John 4:8. The way to interpret “God is love” is to
look at the biblical story that reveals God’s character through his
actions. When looking at the entire
Biblical narrative, we see this part of God’s nature exercised in his creation
of man and his desire to redeem man from the fall.
(This example
would be substantiated and demonstrated with biblical support, and be
elaborated on within the essay.)
Biblical Worldview Essay Template
- Introduction (approximately 100 words)
- Example 1 (approximately 250–350 words)
- Example 2 (approximately 250–350 words)
- (Optional) Example 3 (approximately
250–350 words) - Conclusion (approximately 150–200 words)
DUE 10/21/2017 Reflection Essay Instructions
We started this course by considering that
everyone is a theologian because everyone has thoughts about God. You
considered how you form your thoughts of who God is and what God does.In Module/Week 1, you reflected on your experience with theology and
your study of theology in the past. For this module/week, you will write a
600-word essay answering the following 3 prompts that will allow you to reflect
on how you’ve grown in your understanding and study of theology.
- How has your view of theology changed overthe duration of this course? (approximately 200 words)
- How have you been able topractice the principles you learned from the course in your own
life? (approximately 200 words) - How will you pass on the information you
have learned in this course to those within your circle of influence?
(approximately 200 words)
Philosophy201 response paper
Response Paper Instructions
Having completed the unit of
philosophy of religion, you are now ready to respond to an article written by
an actual atheist. This article titled “On Being an Atheist,” was written by H.
J. McCloskey in 1968 for the journal Question.
McCloskey is an Australian philosopher who wrote a number of atheistic works in
the 1960s and 70s including the book God
and Evil (Nijhoff, 1974). In this article, McCloskey is both critical of
the classical arguments for God’s existence and offers the problem of evil as a
reason why one should not believe in God. Please note the following parameters
for this paper:
1. Your
assignment is to read McCloskey’s short article found in the Reading &
Study folder in Module/Week 7 and respond to each of the questions below. Your
instructor is looking for a detailed response to each question.
2. The
response paper is to be a minimum of 1,500 words (not including quotes) and
must be written as a single essay and not just a list of answers to questions.
3. The
basis for your answers must primarily come from the resources provided in the
lessons covering the philosophy of religion unit of the course (Evans and
Manis, Craig, and the presentation) and these sources must be mentioned in your
paper. You are not merely to quote these sources as an answer to the
question—answer them in your own words.
4. You
may use other outside sources as well, as long as you properly document them.
However, outside sources are not necessary. Each of the questions can be
answered from the sources provided in the lessons.
5. While
the use of the Bible is not restricted, its use is not necessary and is
discouraged unless you intend to explain the context of the passage and how
that context applies to the issue at hand in accordance with the guidelines
provided earlier in the course. You are not to merely quote scripture passages
as answers to the questions. Remember this is a philosophical essay not a
biblical or theological essay.
6. While
you may quote from sources, all quotations must be properly cited and quotes
from sources will not count towards the 1,500 word count of the paper.
7. You
may be critical of McCloskey, but must remain respectful. Any disparaging
comment(s) about McCloskey will result in a significant reduction in grade.
8. Please
note that this paper will be submitted through SafeAssign, which is a
plagiarism detection program. The program is a database of previously submitted
papers including copies of papers that have been located on the Internet. Once
submitted, your paper will become part of the database as well. The program
detects not only exact wording but similar wording. This means that if you
plagiarize, it is very likely that it will be discovered. Plagiarism will
result in a 0 for the paper and the likelihood of you being dropped from the
course.
Specifically, you must address
the following questions in your paper:
1. McCloskey
refers to the arguments as “proofs” and often implies that they can’t
definitively establish the case for God, so therefore they should be abandoned.
What would you say about this in light of Foreman’s comments in his
“Approaching the Question of God’s Existence” presentation?
2. On
the Cosmological Argument:
a. McCloskey
claims that the “mere existence of the world constitutes no reason for
believing in such a being [i.e., a necessarily existing being].” Using Evans
and Manis’ discussion of the non-temporal form of the argument (on pp. 69–77),
explain why the cause of the universe must be necessary (and therefore
uncaused).
b. McCloskey
also claims that the cosmological argument “does not entitle us to postulate an
all-powerful, all-perfect, uncaused cause.” In light of Evans and Manis’ final
paragraph on the cosmological argument (p. 77), how might you respond to
McCloskey?
3. On
the Teleological Argument:
a. McCloskey
claims that “to get the proof going, genuine indisputable examples of design
and purpose are needed.” Discuss this standard of “indisputability” which he
calls a “very conclusive objection.” Is it reasonable?
b. From
your reading in Evans and Manis, can you offer an example of design that, while
not necessarily “indisputable,” you believe provides strong evidence of a
designer of the universe?
c. McCloskey
implies that evolution has displaced the need for a designer. Assuming
evolution is true, for argument’s sake, how would you respond to McCloskey (see
Evans and Manis pp. 82–83)?
d. McCloskey
claims that the presence of imperfection and evil in the world argues against
“the perfection of the divine design or divine purpose in the world.”Remembering Evans’ comments about the limitations of the conclusion
of the cosmological argument, how might you respond to McCloskey’s charge about
the teleological argument?
4. On
the Problem of Evil:
a. McCloskey’s
main objection to theism is the presence of evil in the world and he raises it
several times: “No being who was perfect could have created a world in which
there was avoidable suffering or in which his creatures would (and in fact
could have been created so as not to) engage in morally evil acts, acts which
very often result in injury to innocent persons.” The language of this claim
seems to imply that it is an example of the logical form of the problem. Given
this implication and using Evans and Manis’ discussion of the logical problem
(pp. 159–168, noting especially his concluding paragraphs to this section), how
might you respond to McCloskey?
b. McCloskey
specifically discusses the free will argument, asking “might not God have very
easily so have arranged the world and biased man to virtue that men always
freely chose what is right?” From what you have already learned about free will
in the course, and what Evans and Manis says about the free will theodicy,
especially the section on Mackie and Plantinga’s response (pp. 163–166) and
what he says about the evidential problem (pp. 168–172), how would you respond
to McCloskey’s question?
5. On
Atheism as Comforting:
a.
In the final pages of
McCloskey’s article, he claims that atheism is more comforting than theism.
Using the argument presented by William Lane Craig in the article “The
Absurdity of Life without God,” (located in Reading & Study for Module/Week
6), respond to McCloskey’s claim.
Submit this assignment by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of
Module/Week 7.
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