This blog post serves as a “make up” for the 9/21 class we should have had in person. Doing this assignment counts as your being “present” for that class day, and it counts as your participation credit for that day (in other words, if you don’t do it it counts as an absence; once you do all steps, you have full participation credit for the day). See the three parts below.
Part 1 and 2: Post your blog by Friday (5pm), so that there are enough posts for people to comment on for the second part of the assignment.
Part 3: Post your comments on other classmates’ blogs by Sunday (5pm).
- Write a blog post of about 350-500 words about one of the Creation Stories you read for 9/21, or about a group of creation stories (like the short Yoruba creation stories). In this blog post, you should try to answer one or more of the questions below (see alternate questions for writing about Genesis. Whatever questions you address, be sure to quote phrases/sentences from the text:
- What is this creation (or stories) about–what stands out to you about them, and why?
- What does this creation story (or stories) tell you about how that society viewed God, the cosmos (universe) and the world?
- What questions do you have for us as a class about this story/stories?
If you are writing about the Genesis creation stories: note that many scholars have observed that Genesis recounts 2 different creation stories (Genesis Ch. 1 is the first; Genesis Ch. 2 and 3 is the second). If you write about Genesis, consider these questions instead/as well as:
- For the first Genesis creation story (chapter 1), what can you tell about how the community writing and reading this text viewed God, the cosmos, and the world? Specifically, what do you observe about God in Genesis 1: what kind of God is he, and how does he treat his creation? Use quotes/examples from the story itself.
- For the second Genesis creation story (chapter 2-3): Compare this version to the first version: what differences do you notice between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2-3? How does the God in this story compare to the God of Genesis 1? Use quotes/examples from the story itself (and try to find specific places where God seems to act/speak differently from the God in Genesis 1)?
2. Before posting, look to the right side of the screen where there’s a box labeled “categories.” Tag your post as “Creation Stories” so your post goes specifically to a place on the blog just for creation stories (you can find this place in the menu on the top of the page).
3. Once other classmates have posted: Look at at least a few of your classmates’ posts: choose two on which to comment, one of which focused on the same story/stories you did, and one that focused on a different creation story/stories than you did (if this is possible). These comments only need be 100-200 words but they should be more substantial than just “good point!” Instead, you might:
- Address a question in your classmate’s post (especially by bringing up a passage from the text that helps answer that question).
- Provide more textual evidence for a claim/interpretation in your classmate’s post, to expand/elaborate on your classmate’s claim.
- Propose another interpretation for a passage your classmate brought up in their post, or propose another way to interpret the story.
- Compare the creation story your classmate addressed to another creation story you read, or the creation story you posted about.
- A combination of the above suggestions.