1. As if to a friend, explain some of the difficulties in the text scholars have in accepting Genesis and Exodus as accurate historical accounts of the events they purport to portray. In this question confine yourself to the text exclusively, or, in other words, do not bring into your discussion any archaeological finds that some scholars think either authenticate or disprove biblical accounts.
2. As if to a friend, explain why some scholars find the archaeological situation of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period and the New Kingdom conducive to the view that the story of Jacob and his twelve sons as well as the story of the Exodus might have some basis in fact.
3. As if to a friend, explain why the archaeological record of ancient Israel does not confirm the story of the conquest as Joshua records it.
4. As if to a friend, explain some of the difficulties in the text scholars have in accepting Joshua and Judges as accurate historical accounts of the events they purport to portray. In this question confine yourself to the text exclusively, or, in other words, do not bring into your discussion any archaeological finds that some scholars think either authenticate or disprove biblical accounts.
5. In a clearly written and well organized essay, pick either Saul or David and explain the judgment made on his reign by the Deuteronomist and the different judgment a modern historian, using the information provided by the Dueteronomist, might make about his reign. You should obviously identify the criteria both the Deuteronomist and the modern scholar might use.
1. In a clearly written and well organized essay, explain the differences between what or whom scholars call the Deuteronomist and what or whom scholars call the Chronicler.
2. In a clearly written and well organized essay, pick a king of Israel or Judah and explain the judgment made on his reign by the Deuteronomist and the different judgment a modern historian might make about his reign. You should obviously identify the criteria both the Deuteronomist and the modern scholar might use, as well as the source or sources each would use.
3. Although you do not have to be a geographical determinist to believe geography is a determining factor, for the purpose of this essay pretend that you are. Under such a guise, explain the history of both the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah based on their geographical locations in a clearly written and well organized essay
4. In a clearly written and well organized essay, explain the different reasons the Chronicler and a modern historian would give to account for not only the apparent permission to rebuild Jerusalem but even the monetary and bureaucratic support of the effort.
5. In a clearly written and well organized essay, explain the role of prophecy in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. You should not only include the names of some of the prophets and an explanation of their role (biblical and modern), but form some judgment on the uniqueness of the phenomenon.
1. In the late second Temple period (200 BC - AD 70), Judaism faced great internal discord. In a concise but well written essay explain the major causes and results of this great internal discord.
2. Although you do not have to be a geographical determinist to believe geography is a determining factor, for the purpose of this essay pretend that you are. Under such a guise, in a clearly written and well organized essay, explain the history of Judea after 300 BC based on its geographical location.
3. In a concise but well written essay, explain why the Romans could never find a solution which would allow the Jews to live in peace under Roman rule in Judea from 63 BC to AD 70.
4. After AD 70, according to the most accepted scholarly interpretation of Judaism, normative or rabbinical Judaism reigned supreme. In a concise but well written essay, define normative or rabbinical Judaism, and either defend or attack this interpretation of the development of Judaism.
1. The Deuteronomist and the Chronicler left magnificent examples of Israelite (Jewish ?) histories. In a well organized and well written essay, explain who each is, what works they are responsible for, when they wrote (or rather when their works were near their final compilation formed from their theological viewpoints), and what their theological viewpoints were. As a final proof of your amazing knowledge of the development of Israelite (Jewish ?) thought, explain why neither of these two had followers whose works would have continued their histories of the Jewish peoples from when their histories ended.
2. After 400 BC (more or less) the age of prophets ended in that there was no prophet whose contemporary prophecies were able to claim the same status that those of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Deutero-Isaiah had won. What was it about the writings of those prophets and the times in which they lived that Israel could not raise up men after 400 BC to drum God's message into, to explain His purpose to, to help, etc., the Jewish people in their checkered history down to, say, AD 200? In your essay, you should tell who each of the great prophets mentioned above was, when he lived, and what was his primary political/religious purpose before you attempt to offer an explanation for the later lack of prophets. You might also consider the role of the Pseudepigrapha in your attempt to deal with this question.
3. In a concise but well written essay give the major divisions of ancient Israelite history, their names and approximate dates, and explain or justify these divisions that historians or you make.
4. As if to a friend, define or state what the following are: Hebrew Sacred Scripture, the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha, the Septuagint, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the New Testament, and the Mishnah. In your explanations, tell what modern or ancient groups accept (accepted) which as the "divine word of God" or as writing somehow superior to all other written documents and why they accepted them as the "divine word of God" or as writing somehow superior to all other written documents.