Midterm Exam Essays
(50% of midterm examination)
Directions:
Answer one of the following two
questions in a clear, well-organized essay. There is no
right or wrong response to these questions, but a good essay will have
a clear argument or thesis, a coherent structure, and it will
support
its thesis by citing evidence. I do not expect you to use
direct
quotations on an exam essay, but you should refer whenever possible
to
specific events, people or primary-source texts that
illustrate or substantiate your points.
Your response must be
typed, and
it should be no longer than 2 1/4 double-spaced pages in length.
(After you prepare and outline your response you should spend no
more than
an hour writing the actual essay.) You should bring
your typed
essay with you to the exam and hand it in before taking the
objective/short
answer part of the exam.
Option A
Discuss the
ministries
of women and
the rise and decline of female leadership in the first three centuries
of the
Christian movement. Which
primary-source texts suggest that women played leadership roles in the
first
three centuries, and what kinds of ministries did they perform? Which primary-source texts reflect efforts
to limit those ministries? Finally,
what biblical, theological and/or social factors help explain the
increasing
restrictions placed upon women’s leadership in the church?
Option B
“If on
the issue of
marriage and church leadership patristic
Christianity remained resolutely traditional, on other fronts there
were ways
for women to make their mark.”
-Elizabeth
Clark, “Early Christian
Women,” in That Gentle Strength.
Historical Perspectives on Women in Christianity (1990)
Discuss Clark’s
observation with
regard to Christian women of the first five centuries.
Describe three different ways in which
Christian women “made their mark” in the Christian community and/or
Roman
society as a whole. Refer to at least
one text or example to illustrate each point.
(At least one example must come from the pre-Constantinian
period and
one from the post-Constantinian period.)
In conclusion, explain whether you think Christianity had
primarily a
positive or primarily a negative impact on women of this period.