1. Essay Questions: the exam will ask you to select four statements from a list of eight, taken from the following list of twelve. For each statement, you will be asked to write a well-developed, full-length essay. You may agree, disagree or fall somewhere in between, but you will want to give careful attention to key scripture passages and the relevant secondary literature (especially Banks, Cousar, Fisk 03a, Fisk 03b, Hays '91, Kim, Stendahl, Wright '00, Wright '92).

For this section only, you may use an unmarked, non-study Bible.

• Judged by the standards of his day, Paul was not a very effective communicator.
• For Paul, salvation is something to look forward to at the final resurrection.
• Paul's letters are authoritative for the church today.
• It is unlikely that Paul knew very much about Jesus of Nazareth except that he died and rose again.
• Paul taught that the Law of Moses was no longer binding on God's people, because the age of Law was past.
• Paul's churches were egalitarian communities of believers in which all members were expected to participate.
• Paul's version of the story of Jesus' humiliation and exaltation is like, and unlike, many secular narratives, ancient and modern.
• Paul believed that “proclamation” should always be tied to “demonstration,” including healing, prophecy and tongues.
• Paul's teaching on church discipline fits nicely with teaching elsewhere in the New Testament.
• Paul's use of the Old Testament shows that he believed that Jesus Christ was God.
• Paul thought believers could lose their salvation.
• Paul teaches that the rapture and the resurrection will happen together, when Christ returns to earth.

2. Matching:

• Pauline letters: be ready to match major topics, themes and key quotations with any of the chapters in the three Pauline epistles covered in this course
• Secondary Literature: be ready to match major themes and ideas with their authors, drawn from the selection of readings listed above