Each essay should be 500-750 words

These answers should be in your own words. There is no need to do outside research. You may use the lectures and your textbooks as part of your answers, but I don’t want you to use my words or words from the textbook as part of your answer. Synthesize the information you’ve been learning in your own words.

if you use any words that are not your own and you present them as your own (i.e. if you don’t cite your sources), this is plagiarism. If you are caught plagiarizing, you will get a 0. In short: do your own work and use your own words

1) In your own words: explain the synoptic problem. Write your essay as if you were explaining it to a friend who asked you about the relationship between the Gospels. As part of your answer, make an argument for which synoptic Gospel came first: Mark, Luke, or Matthew.

2) Pick one of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) and write an essay in which you compare and contrast that author’s depiction of Jesus with the depiction of Jesus in the Gospel of John. How are they similar? How are they different?

3) In your own words: what is “apocalyptic literature”? How does a broader understanding of the genre of “apocalypse” help you make sense of the book of Revelation?