User:Rosencrantz and Guildenstern/Choose an Article

Article Selection
Please list articles that you're considering for your Wikipedia assignment below. Begin to critique these articles and find relevant sources.

Option 1

 * Article title: The Shepherd of Hermas
 * Article Evaluation: Found through WikiProjects Religion assessment list (Mid-Importance, Start-Class classification)
 * -Sources right now are limited, no use of key Hermas scholar Carolyn Oseik, whose commentary on the ancient text is very extensive
 * -Perhaps also necessary to use a more current translation, seems the Lightfoot edition is being used (from the 1890s!) and Bart Ehrman's translation is much more up to date (its from this century!)
 * -Article is quite neutral in tone, no overt opinions or polemical sections; can tell that the community editing the article is very much invested in the material for 'scholarly' research purposes (as the Shepherd of Hermas does not necessarily cater to a 'popular' audience)
 * -Content is limited, a few edits maybe needed in content section (esp. last sentence on the "tone" of the text); potential addition of a "themes" or "symbols" section that accounts for some of the literary techniques used in the text
 * -Though not sure where to place it yet (in its own section or perhaps slotted in with an already existing one like "Place in Christian Literature" mention of its place in the Oxyrhynchus corpus and ties to Egypt
 * Sources
 * Carolyn Osiek. The Shepherd of Hermas in context, Acta Patristica et Byzantina, 1997. 8:1,115-134, DOI: 10.1080/10226486.1997.11745886
 * Ehrman, Bart D.. Lost Scriptures : Books That Did Not Make It into the New Testament, Oxford University Press, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ubc/detail.action?docID=280932.
 * Blumell, Lincoln H. and Thomas A. Wayment. Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and Sources. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2015.
 * Ehrman, Bart D.. Lost Scriptures : Books That Did Not Make It into the New Testament, Oxford University Press, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ubc/detail.action?docID=280932.
 * Blumell, Lincoln H. and Thomas A. Wayment. Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and Sources. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2015.

Option 2

 * Article title: Archon (Gnosticism)
 * Article Evaluation: Found through 'Article Finder' on class Wiki Dashboard (part of a 'Start Class', avg. 452 views per day; in WikiProject Religion this article is rated Top Importance, with a start class quality)
 * -Immediately looking though the contents of the article, there is plenty of room for a category on the prominence of 'archons' in Sethian Gnostic texts, as well as more expansion in the already present sections on Manichaeans and Mandaeans
 * -Also, no mention of philology, this could be a section on its own; exploring the relevance of the term in Greek and its more relevant form in Coptic (both are related though the coptic is interesting due to the language's links to Middle-Egyptian vocabulary and vernacular)
 * -More secondary sources needed, many of the references in the article stem from primary source translations of patristic authors; a section on primary source biases/slants in perspective could be useful, given that a lot of what the patristic authors say about the Gnostics deviates from the main corpus of tractates found in Nag Hammadi
 * -The Section on 'Naming and Associations' requires a lot of 'cleaning' up; only two major Gnostic strains are mentioned and the train of thought is somewhat difficult to follow (though the list format is helpful)
 * -Talk page is sparse, but one fellow editor has suggested that this page should be merged with the 'Archon (Philosophy)' page; I would disagree since there is a rich history of gnostic deviation from the philosophic Greek term (once again a philology section would help to clarify how it is different from the Greek)
 * Sources
 * Layton, Bentley. The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with Annotations and Introductions. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1987.
 * Jonas, Hans. The Gnostic Religion: By Hans Jonas. -- the Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity. 2d, rev. -- ed. Vol. 259;259.;. Boston: Beacon Press, 1963.
 * Gilhus, Ingvild Sælid. The Nature of the Archons: A Study in the Soteriology of a Gnostic Treatise from Nag Hammadi (CGII, 4). Vol. 12;12.;. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1985.
 * Jonas, Hans. The Gnostic Religion: By Hans Jonas. -- the Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity. 2d, rev. -- ed. Vol. 259;259.;. Boston: Beacon Press, 1963.
 * Gilhus, Ingvild Sælid. The Nature of the Archons: A Study in the Soteriology of a Gnostic Treatise from Nag Hammadi (CGII, 4). Vol. 12;12.;. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz, 1985.

Option 3

 * Article title: Postmodernism
 * Article Evaluation: Found through 'Article Finder' on class Wiki Dashboard (rated 'Start-Class', with 2354 page views per day)
 * -Article presents an interesting challenge; the article is rated as a 'B-Class' article by all of the WikiProjects associated with it (e.g. Philosophy, Pop Culture, Literature), but with a 'Start-Class rating by the Wikipedia 1.0 Editorial Team, who mention that though it is a "good article" it requires improvements to meet the current 'good article' criteria? not 100% clear on the jargon, but just scanning through there are content sub-sections that can be expanded
 * -A glance through the Talk Page presents a rich variety of edits and discussion about the concept of 'postmodernism', which is in itself HUGE! Expansion on the key theorists section could include Roland Barthes (who comes up in the section just prior on the movement from 'Structuralism to Poststructuralism')
 * -Very interesting discussion on Talk page regarding Nietzsche and Heidegger's positions in relation to the movement; suggestions to add sections for these two philosophers were supported, though their relationship to the material seemed to be questioned by a few users; consensus reached by categorizing them as "Precursors" in the history section, though as of right now this section is still absent in the published article
 * -For this article, a lot of the engagement and appeal for me is the discussion on the Talk page; it appears that Nietzsche is a very controversial figure (understandably due to the history of the interpretation of his philosophies), though it should be noted that his significance to the deconstruction movement and Derrida is significant (perhaps inclusion of his essay on essentialism and language would be useful?)
 * -I would want to take on the section on Frederic Jameson also, as this subsection, under the 'Philosophy' section merits further explanation and a mention of his relevance to the movement (esp. Marxist strains and influences)
 * Sources
 * Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. "On Truth and Lying in a Non-Moral Sense." In Critical Theory: A Reader for Literary and Cultural Studies, edited by Robert Dale Parker, p.74-84. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
 * Jameson, Frederic and Taylor & Francis eBooks A-Z. Signatures of the Visible. New York;Florence;: Routledge, 2016.
 * Jameson, Fredric. The Prison-House of Language: A Critical Account of Structuralism and Russian Formalism. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1972.
 * Jameson, Frederic and Taylor & Francis eBooks A-Z. Signatures of the Visible. New York;Florence;: Routledge, 2016.
 * Jameson, Fredric. The Prison-House of Language: A Critical Account of Structuralism and Russian Formalism. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1972.

Option 4

 * Article title: The Hymn of the Pearl
 * Article Evaluation: Found through WikiProject Religious Texts assessment page (quality rating is "Start-Class", but it has yet to receive a ranking on the importance scale)
 * -Though this article has no ranking on the importance scale this text is one of my favourite Gnostic texts and does have a decent amount of scholarship written on it (especially scholarship debating its inclusion in the category of the so-called Thomasine school of early Christian texts)
 * -The 'Talk' page is sparse, but glancing through the contents of the article, there is a lot of work that can be done; namely, the inclusion of its themes in relation to Gnosticism and Thomasine texts, an expansion on the 'Interpretations' Section, and the inclusion of a 'History' Section for further contextualization
 * -References section is very bare and can be expanded to include the works of key gnostic scholars who are interested in the text, including: Denzey Lewis, Bentley Layton, and Ioan Culianu)
 * -The Section entitled "Extracts from the Text" can be significantly trimmed down, or even eliminated and replaced with a link to the full text; this will be an interesting exercise in handling the discussion related to this edit on the Talk page
 * -The 'In Other Media' section is really interesting, but needs expansion; though I know very little about the hymn's influence in popular culture, it might be interesting to explore this further and link the findings to the hymn's relevance to pop culture
 * Sources
 * Culianu, Ioan P. The Tree of Gnosis: Gnostic Mythology from Early Christianity to Modern Nihilism. 1st HarperCollins ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992.
 * Layton, Bentley. The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with Annotations and Introductions. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1987.
 * Denzey Lewis, Nicola. Introduction to "Gnosticism." Ancient Voices, Christian Worlds. 1st ed. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
 * Layton, Bentley. The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation with Annotations and Introductions. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1987.
 * Denzey Lewis, Nicola. Introduction to "Gnosticism." Ancient Voices, Christian Worlds. 1st ed. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Option 5

 * Article title: Songs of Innocence and Experience
 * Article Evaluation: Found through 'Article Finder' on class Wiki Dashboard (WikiProject Poetry rates its importance as "High". The "Start-Class" quality is an assessment echoed by WikiProject Books and WikiProject Visual arts)
 * -Talk page is dedicated only to "Issues" in the article, and presents multiple positions from which to enter into the editing process (e.g. fixing links within the article text, cutting down the "Musical Settings" section)
 * -Worth adding a "History Section" which is accessible through numerous monographs published by Romantic scholars in the current academic landscape
 * -Also article could benefit from a "Key Themes" or "Prominent Motifs" section that sums up a lot of the recurring motifs in this collection (off the top of my head I can think of lamb-Christ imagery, apocalyptic imagery, allegorical interpretations of nature, etc.)
 * -Almost no secondary scholarship on Blake; this article could benefit from key Blake scholars such as Northrop Frye, Donald Ault, and possibly Harold Bloom
 * -Section entitled "Blake's Inspiration and Aim" should be expanded, or perhaps even re-named; do we have access to an author's "aim"? Perhaps re-naming it "The Writing of the Songs" or "Structural Features of the Songs" or even just "History of Composition" would seem to be more appropriate (would even be possible to split this section into two, one on themes, the other on form?)
 * Sources
 * Bloom, Harold. Blake's Apocalypse: A Study in Poetic Argument. [1st]. -- ed. Garden City, N. Y: Doubleday, 1963.
 * Frye, Northrop. Blake: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1966.
 * Haggarty, Sarah and Cambridge Core EBA eBooks Complete Collection. William Blake in Context. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
 * Frye, Northrop. Blake: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1966.
 * Haggarty, Sarah and Cambridge Core EBA eBooks Complete Collection. William Blake in Context. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019.