TERTIARY & CAREERS PATHWAYS:
Charity Officer, Curator, Law, Missionary, Outreach worker, Priest, Researcher, Social work, Teacher, Writer
UNIT 3: Texts and the early tradition
The texts of a particular religious tradition are foundational in that they recount, for example, specific events, narratives, laws, prophetic pronouncements and teachings that describe the beginnings and initial development of a religious tradition. In this unit students explore the society and culture from which the tradition being studied was formed. They seek an understanding of the historical background that lent shape and content to the texts themselves. Students develop an understanding of how the chosen set text is a response to particular social, cultural, religious, political and historical needs and events. They explore the formation of the text itself, the intended audience of that text, and the message or teaching found within the text. As a means to gaining an understanding of the content and message of a text, students become familiar with the nature of exegetical methods being used today by scholars in the religious tradition of their particular text.
Learning Activities:
Research and analysis of the texts within a religious tradition. Investigation activities relating to the areas of study, and guest speakers and other inputs to consolidate knowledge and understanding
Key Skills Achieved:
Ability to:
- identify social, cultural, religious, political and historical conditions and issues of purpose, authorship and intended audience that relate to the writing of the set text
- identify major themes within the set text
- outline why the major themes are in the set text
- locate examples of the development of given themes within the set text
- identify the literary form and structure of the set text as a whole and in particular passages, together with techniques evident in the text
- explain how specific literary forms, structures and techniques contribute to the text
- the nature of exegesis in general and of at least two exegetical methods, including sociocultural criticism and literary criticism
- what the set text conveys about historical context and the sociocultural context: that is, the social, cultural, religious and political conditions and institutions within which the text developed
- where and how these conditions and institutions and historical context appear in the passages for special study
- the contextual placement of the passages for special study including, as appropriate:
- how they arose in relation to a particular historical event or circumstances
- the sociocultural context of the passages for special study
- the literary context of the passages for special study
- the literary forms and techniques of the passages for special study
- major ideas and themes of the set text as found in the passages for special study
- the meaning and significance of the passages for special study for the original community
- a range of scholarly commentaries on the interpretation of the passages for special study
Assessment:
Unit 3 School Assessed Coursework consists of 25% of thefinal Assessment:
- Outcome 1: 30% (of Unit 3)
- Outcome 2: 30% (of Unit 3)
- Outcome 3: 40% (of Unit 3)
UNIT 4: Texts and their teachings
In this unit students continue to apply exegetical methods to the passages for special study begun in Unit 3, but to greater depth.
Some texts are regarded as essential for the continuation of a religious tradition because they function as a means of communicating teachings or understandings about the relationship between the human and the transcendent. These understandings are often expressed through themes in the particular texts.
Some of the themes contained in the foundational texts have been reinterpreted at different times by the religious tradition. In this unit students study a significant theme contained in the set text and consider the interpretation of the text in light of the theme.
Key Skills Achieved:
An ability to:
- themes arising from the passages for special study, and how they reflect the set text’s original social, cultural, religious and historical context
- the way themes are developed throughout the set text
- the teaching purpose of these themes, with a focus on the original audience
- current scholarship that analyses the set themes
- the way a theme is developed in the set text
- the ways that the later tradition discussed and understood the theme that has arisen from the text, and why the theme was interpreted in that way
- the ways that the later religious tradition explained its interpretation of the theme by using the original set text
- the ways that the religious tradition is affected by later interpretations of the theme arising from the set text
- the way documents or writings from a period later than the set text have explored the theme
Assessment:
Unit 4 School Assessed Coursework consists of 25% of the final Assessment:
- Outcome 1: 50% (of Unit 4)
- Outcome 2: 30% (of Unit 4)
- Outcome 3: 20% (of Unit 4)
VCAA ASSESSMENT - THE OVERALL STUDY SCORE WILL CONSIST OF:
- Combined achievement in Units 3 and 4: 50%
- End of Year Examination: 50%
Prerequisites:
N/A
Recommendations:
It is recommended that the student have satisfactory completion of Unit 2 Religion and Society, and Unit 2 Texts and Traditions.
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