Philosophy and the Bible

  Write 2-3 page answers to each of the following essay questions. These aren’t research essays, so there’ll be no need for a bibliography or works cited page. Instead, these are exegetical essays that require only a parenthetical citation after either a direct quote or a paraphrasing of the primary source. Please use 12 point, Times New Roman font, double space your answers. 1. Explain the divergence between philosophy and the Bible with reference to Plato’s dialogue, Timaeus, comparing it to the creation account in the first two chapters of Genesis. How do the two accounts of creation diverge? And why do they diverge? You must make your comparison citing at least four passages from Timaeus, and four passages from the first three chapters of Genesis in your answer. 2. What is Descartes’ argument for God’s existence from his third Meditation? Discuss how this argument differs from the presentation of God in the first three chapters of Genesis. Reference at least three passages from Genesis and four passages from the third Meditation in your answer. 3. Selecting one of either Plato’s dialogue, Ion, Kant’s account of creative genius in the Critique of Judgment, or Nietzsche’s criticism of Socrates in Birth of Tragedy, explain the convergence of philosophy’s account of human creativity in the face of suffering, comparing it to the book of Job. You must reference at least four passages from whichever philosophical text you choose, and four passages from the book of Job in your answer. 4. Selecting one of the speeches of one of Job’s three friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar), explain the philosophical (ontotheological) influence on their thought about Job’s condition, as contrasted with Job’s poetic lament about his condition. Connect this philosophical influence to the notion of the fall in Genesis 3:6 as a quest for knowledge in the face of suffering when artistic creativity is more appropriate, using Leibniz’s principle of sufficient reason. With this connection in mind, what is lost after the fall? And how can the fall of humanity as depicted in the Bible be considered a philosophical event? You must use at least six Bible passages in your answer.