You have a dizzying range of support in your efforts this semester to understand and apply the New Testament. This assignment is meant to help you take advantage of support available outside our college environment.
Identify an elder to serve as a 'mentor' this semester in reading some New Testament books alongside you. Your mentor needs to be someone at least four years older than you, whom you know and respect: an immediate or extended family member, pastor, godparent or family friend, or teacher. He or she will need to read some of the New Testament along with you and have several conversations with you over the semester regarding those books and the course as a whole. I highly recommend that you not choose someone at Westmont (faculty or staff members or their families), since they tend to get many of these requests as the years go by. I highly recommend instead that you choose someone from your life outside and before Westmont.
Your mentor will read a selection of our New Testament books alongside you and watch the Bible Project videos associated with those books. Selections should total around fifty chapters of New Testament writings. (More than that is okay, but not required, and those added discussions may impinge on your time or your mentor's.) Try to draw from across the semester's authors and genres; for instance, one of the four gospels, one or more of Paul's letters, and one of the general letters. Arrive at a combination that will be rewarding and instructive for both of you.
In the past, some mentors have turned out to be too busy to read and discuss effectively. Please make absolutely sure your mentor really has the time to devote to this by the time you are due to finish the books yourself.
Here are the details of this assignment:
Early in the semester, find a mentor who agrees to read with you. Note who that person is, his or her contact information (e-mail or phone, preferably e-mail), and what books you plan to read together.
Over the semester, have at least four conversations. Comment about each when you submit your completed assignment:
- Early in the semester's discussions, spend a little additional time talking about the course in general. You might wish to ask about a few of your responses in your entrance exam, or the shape of the course, or the readings you're doing. Summarize one or more things that you or your mentor took away from that conversation. I'm not looking for a lengthy entry, let alone a transcript; spend the time talking with your mentor.
- Schedule discussion times for after you both will have completed a given New Testament book and watch its Bible Project introduction. In writing, summarize what either or both of you have learned in the course of reading and discussing. These entries can still be brief.
- As part of your final NT book discussion, discuss the New Testament as a whole, and how the Bible might figure in to life beyond college. Summarize, again briefly, at least one 'takeaway' from that conversation.
Where you refer to any course materials in your report, you will of course need to cite them properly, or you're plagiarizing. Don't forget proper style, clear writing, a thorough answer to the question, and explicit citations of course materials. I hope you come away with not only a better understanding of these parts of the New Testament, but also with a new understanding of one another!