Discussion question

1. Romans is by far Paul's most systematic letter, it was written to the Roman church in order to address specific concerns. Discuss the occasion, date, recipients, and purpose of Romans. Consider the following: Who founded the church in Rome? What was the situation like in Rome during this time? Who wrote Romans? From where was it written?

2. exegetical considerations and scholarly research. per current Turabian format

The Group Discussion Board Forums were designed for the following 3reasons: (1) to provide a platform for peer interaction, (2) to prompt serious research and reflection, and (3) to encourage timely responses and interaction. The specific guidelines are also spelled out below. Let your instructor know if you have any questions after reading these instructions.

1. DESIGNED TO PROVIDE A PLATFORM FOR PEER INTERACTION

The Group Discussion Board Forums were designed with peer interaction in mind, especially since this is a 400-level course. The forums are intended to stimulate meaningful and timely interaction within your discussion group.

Your instructor will assign you to a specific group. The instructor will monitor each discussion, evaluate them according to the Group Discussion Board Forums Instructions as well as the grading rubric, and make some general comments via "Instructor Summary" threads, announcements, and/or class-wide emails.

Other than this, the instructor's involvement in your discussion will be minimal. Feel free to email your instructor if you have specific questions about any of your Group Discussion Board posts.

Keep the following considerations in mind as you reflect upon your classmates' threads and compose your replies. Are you replying in a timely manner? Since theseare Group Discussion Board forums, the discussion must be timely and pertinent. As you reply, are you summarizing the fellow student's post?

Does your reply substantially advance the discussion? Specifically, do you present additional facts, Scripture verses, or applications to the current discussion that have not yet been considered? Do you present a point not yet mentioned, redirect the discussion to another appropriate path, or apply the content to an area of life/ministry, etc. that your discussion group has not yet considered?

2. DESIGNED TO PROMPT SERIOUS RESEARCH AND REFLECTION

In addition to peer interaction, a primary purpose of the Group DiscussionBoard Forums is to prompt you to do some serious research and reflection on the subject at hand. Each forum topic demonstrates that the Word of God, in general, and the book of Romans in particular provide eternal truths that you must apply to your life in order to glorify God and fulfill His purposes in Christ.

Your discussion must be based on exegetical considerations and scholarly research. What is meant by exegetical considerations? Study the text under consideration by conducting a personal inductive Bible study. Interpret the text based on its context within the book of Romans as well as the historical and theological context of Scripture.

Scholarly research means consulting a few scholarly, research-oriented sources.As a minimal requirement,you must consult the coursetextbook (the Romanscommentary by Moo), and at least 2 additional scholarly sources in order to compare and contrastcontent/ideas/interpretations. The Group Discussion Board Forums may prove helpful in the creation of your Research Paper.

Keep the following in mind as you participate in the Group Discussion Board Forums. Be sure to answer each component of the forum's instructions. You must aim for 1paragraph on each component of the Discussion Board Forum prompt.

You must refer to at least 1 scholarly source for each paragraph. You must document your sources in either parenthetical references or footnotes (per current Turabian format). Be sure to include a works cited list at the bottom of the page. In this vein, you must cite from Moo; you must also consult additional scholarlysources such as journal articlesandcommentaries.

3. DESIGNED TO ENCOURAGE TIMELY RESPONSES AND INTERACTION

Because of the nature of the Group Discussion Board Forums, they must be completed by the specified due dates. The Discussion Board Forums are due during Modules/Weeks 1, 3, and 5. The discussions will take place during these modules/weeks from Friday to Monday.In other words, you must participate in the discussion during the timeframe in which it is assigned in order to receive full credit.

DISCUSSION BOARD GUIDELINES

First of all, let the obvious be stated: the purpose of the Group Discussion BoardForums is to provide each student with a forum in which to interact on a scholarly level with other members of the class. It is a way of creating a virtual classroom experience. Note the following guidelines as you prepare and compose your forum threads and replies:

1. Do some research in preparation for your thread (your response to the provided forum topic). You will need to study the Bible passage(s) under consideration in order to be reasonably sure of the verse's or verses' teaching (per above instructions).

You must read a fewscholarly commentaries in addition to the course textbook and a couple of articles that specifically address the topic and/or the Scripture passage at hand.

2. As you compose your thread (your original response to the provided forumtopic), aim for 4-6 paragraphs (this will vary per topic) for a maximum word countof 300. The original thread must be 250-300 words.

More specifically, devote a full paragraph to each component of the forum's instructions. Each paragraph does not have to be lengthy, but it must be substantial, concise,andmust reflect serious thought and research. You must demonstrate an excellent grasp of English grammar and critical thought. Your essay must be cohesive, coherent, and concise. Your thread is worth 60 points.