Debate Format

I. Opening Speeches Period (16 minutes)

A. First Affirmative: A five minute statement of the affirmative position.

B. First Negative: A five minute statement of the negative position.

C. Second Negative: A three minute rebuttal of affirmative arguments.

D. Second Affirmative: A three minute rebuttal of negative arguments.

II. Open Debate Period (24 minutes)

A. A twelve minute free-for-all between the teams.

B. A twelve minute free-for-all between the audience and the teams.

III. Closing Arguments Period (4 minutes)

A. Affirmative: A two minute recap of the strongest affirmative and weakest negative arguments.

B. Negative: A two minute recap of the strongest negative and the weakest affirmative arguments.

CONCLUSION: The debate will conclude with a vote by the audience to determine the winner.  Audience members will be admonished to vote for the team that is most fully prepared and persuasive, not simply for the team arguing the position with which one happens to agree.

Debate Preparation

Teams will consist of 4-5 members.  Each team should meet at least a week before the debate to get to know one another, assess talents, and make assignments accordingly.  For example, some people are good at giving speeches; others are "quick on their feet," i.e. able to adapt a prepared rebuttal speech quickly to respond to the other team's opening statement or blow someone out of the water during the free-for-all.  All members should share equitably in the research stage.  The professor will make available several readings that will prove useful to both the pro and con teams.  While all members are strongly encouraged to skim as much of the provided information as possible, each member is to be assigned an equitable portion of the reading to study and outline, taking notes on points that could be of use in an argument.  Remember that each team should try to anticipate the opposing team's possible evidence and arguments as fully as possible in order to prepare counter-arguments ahead of time.  One of the most embarrassing and devastating things that can happen is for an audience to see that one team is presenting relevant evidence and arguments that the other obviously has not even considered.

Resources

The best place to start in researching NT subjects online is the NTGateway, published and maintained by Mark Goodacre of "Mark without Q" fame.  

Also, the Google search engine is a VERY powerful tool.  For example, with reference to debate one, type "Jesus Paul founder Christianity" into the search line--without quotation marks--and an astonishing number of pages dealing with this subject from all sorts of perspectives will appear.  You learn something knew everyday from a search like this.  E.g., one of the first results from this search is a link to Gerd Lüdemann's homepage and a description of a new book from him titled Paul: Founder of Christianity.  I didn't know about this yet--it came out last month--and it's an idea many of us thought was dying out.  Maybe not.

A debate two example: Type "'Mark 13' Jesus prophecy ex eventu" with quotation marks around "Mark 13" only. Then take out ex eventu and try other words that you think might generate pages about Jesus as a predictor of the events in Mark 13.

Debate three has a lot of possible angles.  Of course there are lots of possibilities regarding historical accuracy.  We've seen that a few respected scholars prefer the chronology of John--multiple trips to Jerusalem--and its version of the trial, at least generally speaking.  What I mean by dangerous is especially its attitude towards Jews and Judaism, although the whole "us vs. them" attitude toward all who don't accept Jesus as the only way to the Father is also troubling.  Here's an article dealing with the former issue: de Boer,  Anti-Judaism in John? The Depiction of "The Jews" in the Fourth Gospel.  He tries to defend John, but one can easily see possible objections to his argument.  Also, some of the articles on the Jewish-Christian Relations website may be of use.  More generally, a Google.com search using terms like "John Gospel anti-Judaism," without quotation marks, as well as other combinations, will produce a wealth of materials.

 

Debate Teams

Debate Resolution One: Jesus intended to start Christianity.

Debate One Affirmative:

Jessica P.

Melissa C.

Lauren K.

Dave G.

Deitra M.

Debate One Negative:

Joe M.

Michael C.

Lisa S.

Jenny S.

 

Debate Resolution Two: Even if Jesus was an eschatological prophet, he did not make the detailed predictions found in Mark 13 and parallels.

Debate Two Affirmative

Ray H.

Nathan C.

John B.

Shirl W.

Erin K.

Debate Two Negative

Chris W.

Kristen H.

Chris S.

A. J. F.

Tiffany G.

 

Debate Resolution Three: The Gospel of "John" is a historically inaccurate and dangerous book that should never have been included in the NT.

Debate Three Affirmative

Amanda B.

Mike P.

Joel E.

Rob C.

Jake P.

Debate Three Negative

Stacy J.

Joe B.

Christian S.

David R.

Kim B.