Exegesis Paper

PASSAGE: LUKE 11:2-4 (THE LORDS PRAYER)

Exegesis of passage of New Testament (employing methods of interpretation and perspectives: literary and historical context, literary form, structure)  Exegesis means to expound upon a text, to unpack a text of its many meanings.  Elements of various types of criticism will be employed to develop further one’s ability to interpret the Bible.  Please respond to the following items as you exegete the assigned passages from the Bible.  Length: 1000 words.

A. Literary Criticism

1. Context. What follows and precedes your passage?  Is your passage affected by this context?

2. Form criticism.  What is the literary form of your passage?  Are there other places in the Bible (or related text) where this form is used and which help to interpret this   passage?  

3. Structure.  Do you detect any particular structural pattern?(e.g. parallelism within your assigned book of the Bible).  Describe the parts of your passage.

4. Redaction criticism.  Has your passage come through an editorial process?  What changes have been made?  Explain why certain changes have been made?

5. Key words.  What are the theologically important words in the passage?  Do these words evoke any other parts of the Bible?  Are these words used in a new way by  the author of this passage?  What do these words mean?

FOCUSING ON ONE OF THE FOLLOWING WORDS:

B. Theological analysis.

  1. What does this passage say about relationship with God?

  2. What questions might this passage have addressed in the community for which it was originally written?

(Some of the ideas above are adopted from “A Guide to Biblical Exegesis” by G. Landes and W. Wink, unpublished)

Document your exegesis carefully.  Include sections of the assignment outline as subheadings for your paper. Be sure to use some material from the course bibliography for your exegesis.