Hi there
I completed T&T in 2017 with Luke as my text, so I thought I’d share my two cents. Apologies for the intrusion as a former T&T student and not a 2018 one!
Regarding the question about holiday work, I think this can depend on the resources provided to you by your teacher. In my case, my class received a few powerpoints to skim over on the holidays in preparation for the first outcome relating to the sociocultural and historical contexts.
It’d be worthwhile making a note of the areas you’re required to learn about in accordance with the study design, such as this excerpt from AOS1 of Unit 3:
- The social, cultural, religious and political conditions and institutions of the society out of which the tradition emerged and developed during its foundational period
- The historical context, that is, people, places and events that relate to the origin and early development of the tradition
- The ways that the historical context and social, cultural, religious and political conditions and institutions influenced the early development of the traditionThis could encompass topics such as the political system, religious life (including worship, festivals, and the locations at which these acts/celebrations would occur), etc. Having an understanding of the timeline of Jewish history would not hurt either.
The scope of information you research to prepare for this outcome should also be relevant to the passages for special study in 2018. What I mean by this is that perhaps you could have a read over all the selected passages for this year and make a note of areas that might be worth exploring if you haven't already. For instance, the concept of cleanliness, relationships between ethnic groups, and even parables as a literary form were each topics pertinent to the Parable of the Good Samaritan (a selected passage in 2017) in some way, so these of course were beneficial to look into.
Maybe first have a read over the 2018 selected passages and compile a list of topics that come under those key areas outlined in the study design: the social, cultural, religious and political conditions, institutions, historical context, etc.
In relation other forms of assessment in T&T, like essays and exegeses, I think it’d be up to you individually to determine what the most valuable methods of preparation are. You’ve mentioned annotating as one method, which I found instrumental in helping me achieve a high mark in the end (especially colour coding!) but it’s also important to consider the level of detail you’d be able to annotate passages with now compared to, say, a few months into heavy exegetical work having read multiple commentaries. If you set out to annotate
every selected passage now, attempting to incorporate themes, literary forms and techniques, the sociocultural and historical contexts and so on, the workload may feel pretty insurmountable. This was my experience anyway!
Personally, I didn’t do too much work over the holidays aside from note-taking for 3AOS1 and making brief notes on themes after skimming over the selected passages (where the themes appear over the course of entire text, how they are developed, and jotting down particular references). Perhaps you could also read commentaries for the first few chapters and note down anything in relation to the sociocultural/historical context and themes to help your future self out a little.
I’d also recommend making a note of theological terminology that crops up in your readings too, as this is an area I think some people tend to neglect, but it often adds a degree of sophistication to your writing (and of course illustrates that you’ve done your research!)
Hopefully this assisted you in some way, but if I’m reiterating tips you’ve heard before, let me know if I can help in any other way.
Best of luck for this year