CREATIVE HISTORY PAPER
last update 13 January 2006

The Anointing of Jesus:
A PROPHETESS HAILS JESUS "CHRIST"

Setting

You are an early Christian writing an account of the "unknown" Christians, the ones who received little or no attention in the four canonical Gospels. You are faced with three accounts of the annointing of Jesus at Bethany (Mk 14:1-9, Mt 26:3-13, and Jn 12:1-8), and a similar story in Luke (7:36-50). You are writing your story about the woman who annointed Jesus.

Assume that you know what modern scholars do about the order in which the four Gospels were written, and the aims of the individual evangelists in writing their Gospel accounts. Then, write your own story about the woman. Include such details as her religious, economic, and social background, and tell about how she spent her life after this event (e.g. where she was during the crucifixion, and what she did after Jesus' death).

Assignment
  1. First introduce the woman, giving a brief description of her social location (class, ethnic origin, clan, etc.), and saying a little bit about where/when/why she met Jesus for the first time.
  2. Then, speaking as that person, respond to the following questions:
    1. Why did you anoint Jesus? What were you trying to tell the other people at the banquet? How well do you think this message was understood by those who wrote these stories? Do you think the narratives should have identified you by name?
    2. Which of these stories do you think is the best account of what you did to/for Jesus? How so? If you were to write your own narrative to convey what you were trying to "say" through your actions, what would you include that these have omitted? What other changes would you make?
    3. What do you think about the fact that the accounts conclude with Jesus affiriming that what you have done "will be told in memory of [you]"?
    4. What else would you like to say?
  3. In a post-script, reflect on your character and her response to these questions.
    1. Do you think it has been true, throughout Christian history, that this story really has been told told "in memory of her"?
    2. How would you appraise the way in which the tradition has been passed down to us?
    3. How would Christianity today be different if we had understood the woman's story in the way you have told it? What do you think about that fact?
    4. What else would you like to say?
  4. To prepare to present your paper in class, outline your responses to the following questions (on a separate sheet of paper):
    1. What was your experience writing this paper?
    2. How did this process affect your view/understanding of the gospel/NT materials?
    3. What issue(s) did the process raise that you would like to explore further?
    4. What is the most important thing you learned by doing this exercise?
Questions for Class Discussion

to see the Grading Protocol for these assignments