NGRK 646 Greek Exegesis: Colossians

An exegetical analysis of Colossians emphasizing the doctrinal error being confronted and the Apostle’s delineation of the Christian truth.

The primary mission of LUSOD is to train persons for ministry positions. This course seeks to enable the student to understand and to communicate God’s Word properly, which is a primary function of ministry. One goal of LUSOD is “to develop cognitive skills for ministry and scholarship through rigorous interaction with the biblical text…” This course seeks to provide this “rigorous interaction” with the Greek New Testament through the actual practice of biblical exegesis and exposition and by the analysis of the argument of Colossians.

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

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Course Requirements Checklist

Discussions (5)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student will complete 5 Discussions in this course. For each Discussion, the student will read the prompt and then respond by creating a thread that addresses the questions/issues raised by the prompt. After the student has posted his/her own thread in response to the prompt, the student must log back in and respond to the threads of at least two classmates, affirming where the student agrees, stating his/her reasons why he/she disagrees, and/or offering new insights or raising new questions unanticipated in his/her classmates’ threads. For each Discussion, the student will post one thread of at least 600 words and at least 2 replies of at least 200 words each. The replies should be posted in the classmate’s thread.

The student may use either footnotes/bibliography or parenthetical citations/bibliography, but not both in the same post. Correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation must be used. See the Discussion Grading Rubric for the grading criteria. (CLO: B, D, E)

Translation Assignments (7)

The student is responsible for completing a seven (7) translation assignments throughout the course. In each assignment, the student will produce an original English translation of an assigned portion of the Greek text of Colossians on a provided document. The student will be assessed on the basis of the completion and competency of the translation. (CLO: A, B, C)

Exegesis Paper Assignment

The student is to complete an exegetical paper on the text of Col 1:15 – 23. While relevant historical background and points of application should be considered, the main purpose of the paper is to directly engage with the Greek text. The paper should include an assessment of the relevant exegetical issues outlined in Blomberg’s exegetical guide found in the “Summary” section of A Handbook of New Testament Exegesis (located between Chapter 10 and the Appendix). Not all subjects listed in Blomberg’s appendix may be relevant to the assigned passage, but the student is expected to explore subjects of exegetical relevance in the assigned text (e.g., the particular function and semantic range of key words, discourse structure, and textual issues). For additional guidance, the student is encouraged to read Blomberg’s fuller treatments of the subjects listed in the appendix that will be taken up in the paper. For example, the student may find it beneficial to read Blomberg’s entire chapter on word studies (Chapter 5).

Papers should follow Turabian style, be double-spaced, written in Times New Roman font (including footnotes), and contain between 15 – 20 pages of text (not counting the title page, bibliography, or appendices). The student must include a title page, a brief introduction and conclusion, and appropriate headings and subheadings. As an appendix, the student should include the complete Greek text with his/her original English translation. It is preferable to place the Greek text and the student’s English translation on a single page. This can be done by using single-space on this page and placing the Greek text at the top of the page and the English translation beneath it.

The student is to make use of at least 12 scholarly sources in his/her paper. Sources published exclusively online and general resources may be consulted but will not count toward this total. Try to avoid single-volume commentaries on the entire New Testament and commentaries that are not current. The student is encouraged to make use of exegetical commentaries, scholarly monographs, Greek lexicons and dictionaries, and journal articles which focus specifically on the selected text. Block quotes should be used sparingly to support rather than dictate arguments and should amount to no more than 10% of the entire paper. (CLO: A, B, C, D, E)

Quizzes (7)

The student is to complete seven (7) online reading quizzes throughout the course. For each reading quiz, the student must answer questions from the required textbook reading. For example, the first quiz will cover Harris’s commentary of Col 1:1-14, the same passage that the student must translate. Each quiz will include 20 questions, each of which will be worth 1.5 points (30 total points). There is a 3 hour time limit for each reading quiz and the student may consult the volume as he/she completes it. All questions are objective in nature (e.g., True/False or Multiple Choice). Each reading quiz must be completed by the final day of the Module: Week it is assigned. (CLO: B, D)