1. You are allowed to choose a passage of your preference from anywhere in 1 Joh

1. You are allowed to choose a passage of your preference from anywhere in 1 John. Your passage should contain a complete idea or story. You should not start in the middle of something or cut a unit off early. Generally, your selection should be at least 3 verses long but no longer than 10 verses.
2. Once you have chosen your passage. You will want to read it closely, attending to its overall flow, the structure of sentences, key nouns, key verbs, and any important descriptive elements. Then you will want to consider the four contexts (immediate, literary, cultural-historical, and canonical) and see how they may inform your understanding of the passage. Remember that you can draw on the videos on “Literary Styles in the Bible,” “Cultures in and of the Bible,” and “The Story of the Bible” to help provide some material for these various contexts.
3. A brief introduction that identifies your passage and explains why you chose it (approximately 50-75 words).
4. A section that explores the details of the passage’s flow, sentence structure, nouns, verbs, and descriptors (approximately 250-300 words).
5. A section that explains the passage more fully by using the following contexts with connections to details in the passage: immediate, literary, historical-cultural, and canonical (approximately 250-300 words). Show your work! Use specific verses to demonstrate where you are finding your findings.
The immediate context is the material that comes immediately before and after your selected passage. This usually involves a paragraph or two on either side of the passage, which may be up to 15 verses or so either way. This can often help to clarify the flow of a story or the steps of a poem or argument.
The literary context includes the whole book that contains the passage that you are studying. If you are studying a passage in John 8:1-4, then the Gospel of John is the literary context. This includes the type of writing that comprises that book (e.g., narrative or poetry) and any smaller forms of writing that might affect your passage (e.g., parable, vision, miracle story).
The historical-cultural context helps us to place a book and passage of the Bible in the real-life settings of events and culture that originally surrounded it. God’s word came to specific people in particular times and places. The better we understand those people, times, and places the better we will understand that portion of the Bible.
The canonical context recognizes that each book of the Bible is set in a collection with 65 other books. The Christian church sees these as a whole with each book shedding light on the others. Connections between various parts of Scripture can help interpret particular parts more fully.
6. A short conclusion that states your main takeaway from your interpretive work and how that point may apply to our time and place (approximately 100-150 words).