JBU Reads: Freshman Summer Reading Program
The Chosen Essay Contest
This year JBU is sponsoring an academic essay contest in conjunction with The Chosen. The winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to the University Bookstore; second place will receive $50 to the bookstore; and third place will receive $25 to the bookstore. In addition, the winner’s essay will be published in the spring issue of Broaden: John Brown University’s Undergraduate Journal. Take a look at this year’s journal.
Below is this year’s essay question:
A major theme of Chaim Potok’s The Chosen is the simultaneous appeal and danger of new ideas. How should a Christian university deal with the ideas of thinkers who are, to Christians, “goyim”? How do we balance devotion to our faith with exploration of new ideas?
Essay Criteria:
- Typed, double-spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman font
- 900 word max
- The essay must use direct passages from the novel to support its major claim.
- No secondary research is necessary, but it is allowable.
- All secondary research must be properly cited in a Works Cited page.
- Please email all submissions (and any questions) as Word attachments by 5 p.m. Wednesday, August 26th (the first day of classes) to Dr. Jacob Stratman at jstratman@jbu.edu.
- Make sure your full name is on the email and NOT on the essay.