Summer school: Biblical Interpretation in Diverse Communities
This course explores the diverse ways in which the Bible is interpreted and used within various communities, challenging traditional approaches to biblical scholarship and encouraging participants to consider the role of "ordinary" readers and marginalized groups in shaping biblical meaning.
About the course
The course Biblical Interpretation in Diverse Communities: Methods, Perspectives, Challenges focuses on the question 'How people in diverse communities use the Bible and how to research this?' Participants will examine concrete cases of Biblical interpretation in across a spectrum of community contexts.
As attention for the contribution of so-called “intuitive” or “ordinary” Bible readers in Biblical interpretation increases, the need for attentive approaches of understanding the many voices involved in reading the Bible increases too. Researching the Bible by listening to and comprehending its usage extends beyond and challenges traditional forms of Biblical exegesis and hermeneutical framework common to Biblical scholarship.
The classes of the course will address questions such as: How to research the function of the Bible in activities organized by different church traditions? How do people make sense of the Bible? How does the Bible assist them in making sense of their lives? In addressing these questions, the course considers diverse communities, including both traditional churches and groups outside them. Particular attention is given to communities with marginalized identities, such as queer, migrant, or poor. The course challenges participants to reflect on whether and how contextual factors such as age, gender, and socio-economic status require different research methods when examining the role of the Bible within different communities. Additionally, students are asked to reflect on their own positionality and its relationship to researching the Bible in diverse communities of interpretation.
More information
For more information, please check the registration link on this page.
