The Familiar Made Strange: An Orientation to Biblical Study in Vancouver

Abstract. This paper originated in a Wabash‐funded colloquium organized by Richard Ascough and Leif Vaage, on the theme: “Teaching the Bible for Leadership in the United Church of Canada.” Professors teaching biblical studies at United Church seminaries and theological schools met over three years to share pedagogy, things that have worked and not worked in the classroom, changes in teaching Bible over the years, and the role of context in shaping teaching. In the final year they presented their philosophy of teaching to one another; this paper arose from that meeting. The paper describes an orientation to teaching New Testament Studies at Vancouver School of Theology, a theologically liberal school in the context of Vancouver, Canada – paradoxically one of the most secular and multi‐religious cities in the world. Guided by Denise Levertov's poem, “Overland to the Islands,” it explores the promises and challenges of biblical study grounded in the material reality of the world, amidst older students who bear the marks of secularity, who are impatient with traditional orthodoxies, and who long more for life before the grave than after it. Adopting ideas from Roland Barthes, Paul Ricoeur, and Julia Kristeva, it explores teaching the Bible in a way that promotes the polyvalence, strangeness, and irreducibility of biblical texts, in order to move students away from exegetical and hermeneutical theories content with recovering authorial intent and reconstructing historical origins as the primary tasks of biblical study. The paper describes a model of teaching that celebrates the materiality of the New Testament together with its textual, social, theological, and historical complexity, as well as a tradition‐constituted means of apprehending the world, and which treasures students as living texts who in the course of interpretation awaken ever‐fresh meanings relevant to their own communal and personal identities.     

Nature as Muslim: Applying a Qur'anic Concept to the Bible

Eco-sensitive readings of both the Bible and the Qur'an have become common in recent years as scholars have drawn upon insights and methods from environmental studies to inform their interpretations of biblical and qur'anic passages. This article attempts to put the two texts in conversation with one another on this topic to show how what one of them has to say about the natural world can have an effect on how we understand and interpret the other. Some have argued that the Qur'an's view of nature is that it is “muslim” because it submits and conforms itself to the divine will. This article applies that idea to selected biblical texts that refer to various elements of the natural world. Rereading these passages from the Bible through the lens of the Qur'an's concept of nature as muslim can enable us to see important aspects of the biblical view of the environment that we might otherwise miss.     

Beyond the Biblical Impasse: Homosexuality Through the Lens of Theological Anthropology

Abstract: What does the Bible say about homosexuality? The argument developed in this article demonstrates that the five biblical texts often cited as “proof” that the Bible condemns homosexuality reflect a theological anthropology that is challenged within Scripture itself and that has been determined by the church to be contextual rather than binding in relation to other debated issues. By bringing the theological anthropology reflected in the five texts into conversation with contrasting biblical anthropologies, it becomes possible to re‐frame the contemporary conversation on homosexuality in terms of discerning which biblical theological anthropology will be considered authoritative for the church in the 21^st century.     

Word of God or Witness? Issues in Christian Biblical Hermeneutics

This article gives a historical overview of the main issues and problems facing Christian interpreters of the Bible. The Christian understanding of the Bible is influenced by two main factors. On the one hand, Christians believe that God revealed himself and was present in the life, ministry, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. In other words, Jesus is the one Word of God. On the other hand, Christians believe that the Bible is inspired Holy Scripture, containing the revelation of God. There is a tension between these two approaches, as one locates the divine revelation in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the other in the Holy Book. The article argues that this tension has been a major creative driving force in the history of Christian biblical interpretation. It traces the main strategies with which Christian interpreters have approached the Bible in order to reconcile these two elements, or in which they have allowed one to overrule the other. This will provide an introduction to the key approaches and methods in Christian biblical interpretation.     

Student Learning Outcomes for Biblical Studies in the Liberal Arts

What is the role of biblical studies in a liberal arts curriculum? At the 2009 North American Society of Biblical Literature conference, a panel of seven Bible scholars provided brief analyses and arguments about the appropriate goals of teaching biblical studies in undergraduate contexts in this historical moment. They consider and critique the notion of specific Student Learning Outcomes or Objectives (SLOs) for courses about the Bible. In the process they address questions such as: what is the relative importance of “coverage” (biblical literacy, disciplinary knowledge and methods, and the historical creation of the biblical texts) versus modern and historical reception and uses of these texts? In their contributions, the authors analyze ways that a biblical studies course can develop the critical reading and writing skills that are the hallmark of undergraduate education. Some authors find these skills furthered by not bracketing from study the normative truth claims in the texts and instead strategically and critically encouraging the identity work and religious seeking associated with religious uses of these texts. Others call attention to the institutional and classroom power dynamics which inform and are constituted by the current student learning outcomes movement.     

Sacred Violence: the dark side of God

The subject of this essay is the use to which biblical texts which sanction aggression in the name of God have been put by Jews and Christians over the past 2000 years. The divine injunction given to the Israelites to exterminate the Canaanites has been explained in various ways, but without much success. A literal reading of the Hebrew Bible by Jews and Christians, past and present, has led to its exploitation in support of particular ideologies. Given the appalling record of both faith communities in their relationship with those of a different nationality or religious persuasion, it is imperative that the biblical account of the barbarism inflicted by the Israelites on the people of Canaan be subjected to a searching critique.     

The Bible,Finland, and the Civil War of 1918

Reception history and the effective history of the Bible give a good paradigm to see the Bible in temporally and geographically different contexts. Here, I begin by discussing methodological issues of intertextuality, reception and effect. After that, I present two examples that illustrate the contextual possibilities of this paradigm. The first one is the use of the biblical lex talionis in the Finnish civil war of 1918. The second example is the modernist poet Edith Södergran, whose apocalyptic poems interpreted the same war. I argue that reception historical and effective historical approaches make it possible for biblical scholars to participate in the social and cultural discussions in their contexts.     

Teaching Oppressive Texts

Scholars have identified the many stories in the Bible that are oppressive to women or other minoritized groups. It is remarkable how common it is that North American undergraduate students remain blind to the oppression that is depicted and that is too often the result of commonly accepted interpretations of these texts. Three brief essays collected here, originally presented as part of a panel at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting (Atlanta, 2010), present various teaching strategies for exposing the oppressive elements in the biblical text and showing how the oppression operates (an aspect of ideological criticism). What are good strategies for communicating these hard points to students in a way they can hear them and work with them? Why is this important to do?     

On Christ and Healing: Eiesland,Tillich, and Disability Theology

Abstract : The existentialist interpretation of the biblical texts offered by Protestant theologian Paul Tillich is deeply problematic in its treatment of disability, especially mental illness. Theologian Nancy Eiesland argues against a conflation of sin and illness, and proposes the symbol of the disabled God as a source for a liberation theology of disability. Reading the biblical texts existentially, as Tillich suggests, can advance Eiesland's Christology, while her critique of Christian teaching on disability offers a correction for Tillich.     

Text and Interpretation: Christian Understandings of Authoritative Texts in the Light of Social Change

In purely oral cultures, traditions seamlessly adapt to changing social and political realities. But writing down authoritative religious texts freezes their content. As society changes, so arises the need to interpret the meaning of ancient authoritative traditions in the light of new social realities. The authoritative texts for Christianity have been gathered together into the Bible, and the central issue that will be addressed in this article is the interrelationships between social change and biblical interpretation. It is written in four major sections. The first traces several substantial changes that took place in Christianity as it moved from the social environment of Palestine into the wider Greco-Roman world. The second and third consider Anglicanism and Seventh-day Adventism as case studies of attempts to discover the historical moment against which to measure whether or not a development or idea is authentically Christian. The final section explores the merits of the so-called Wesleyan quadrilateral as an approach to authentic interpretation of authoritative texts in the light of social change. It does so through a consideration of the developing stance of the evangelical theologian Clark Pinnock.     

The Paradigm Challenged A New Analysis of the Origin of Diakonia 1

The classical paradigm saw the apostolic and biblical age as a special moment for the diaconal ministry. The important role of the diaconal ministry continued for just a few centuries and finally withered. According to this study, the traditional outline is not historically true, or at least we need new evidence in order to argue for the biblical origin of a social-caritative diaconal ministry. Following the interpretation of New Testament texts by Luther and Calvin, the 19^th century diaconia movement projected its own life setting into the ancient texts. Thus the return to the biblical ministry of diaconia actually turned out to be a reinterpretation of biblical and early church writings. The ministry of diakonos in the early church was not invented by the modern movement, but it gave a totally new meaning to the ancient Greek concept and also launched a new way to use diakonia-derivative vocabulary.     

Psychology and the Bible: Three Worlds of the Text

While biblical scholars have all too often remained skeptical, preachers and pastoral counselors have always known, consciously or not, that the Bible is a richly psychological document. Until recently, psychological biblical criticism has been one of the hidden avenues of biblical interpretation, made more inaccessible due to the lack of organization and coherence within the literature. Recent shifts in the discipline of biblical studies, along with the increasing influence of psychological perspectives on the culture in general have made psychological approaches to the Bible more visible. It is useful to identify three dimensions or levels of the biblical text: the world behind the text, the world of the text and the world in front of the text. Such a division can help to identify the goals of a particular psychological approach and the appropriateness of its aims.     

JESUS' LANGUAGE‐GAMES: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NOTION OF LANGUAGE‐GAME FOR A REFORMULATION OF ‘NEW TESTAMENT BIBLICAL THEOLOGY’1

Despite the exciting consequences of the later Wittgenstein's notion of language‐game for theology in general, one discipline centered on language – exegesis and biblical theology – has remained largely unaffected by this advance. I here show that describing biblical language as a language‐game not only enhances our understanding of biblical texts; it also explodes a long‐term impasse separating the interpretation from the ‘actualization’ of sacred texts. Insights taken from the notion of a language‐game may, as with form of life and grammar, emerge as central building blocks for reformulating the postulates of biblical theology. 1     

Decentered online Bible instruction: How active learning enhances the study of Scripture

The field of biblical studies lends itself well to decentered online learning – a kind that uses active learning to engage primary texts and their interpretations. Not only does such an approach work well in online and hybrid formats, it more readily welcomes readings that are more contextual, constructive, and collaborative. Three aspects best characterize a decentered approach to active learning online: an orientation toward primary texts, collaborative inquiry, and enhanced learner initiative. This essay describes the significance of each in turn, along with naming some best practices. I argue that this approach not only shifts focus toward learners and the learning environment, it works particularly well for teaching Bible courses online and in hybrid formats where interpretation of primary sources is the fundamental goal.     

Ethical Criticism of the Bible: The Case of Divinely Mandated Genocide

Taking as a test case biblical texts in which the God of Israel commands the destruction other nations, the present paper defends the legitimacy and the necessity of ethical criticism of the Bible. It takes issue with the suggestions of several contemporary Christian philosophers who have recently defended the view that (in Israel’s early history) God had good and morally sufficient reasons for commanding genocide.     

Madness and Prophecy: Dreams,Texts, and the Power of Rabbinic Interpretation

To the rabbis, dreams were a serious theological challenge. While in the Hebrew Bible dreams could be prophetic and therefore a source of authority, rabbinic authority was based on textual interpretation rather than direct revelation. This article examines one rabbinic strategy for responding to this challenge: the Talmudic dream ritual of Berakhot 55b. Through this ritual the rabbis place the dreamer in the position of a supplicant. Dreaming becomes like an illness or curse rather than a revelation. Instead of telling the dream, the dreamer prays for its healing. This article argues that this ritual itself is a form of interpretation, both of the dreamer’s dream and of the biblical texts about dreaming, in which the biblical idea of revelation through dreams is retained but the dream itself is stripped of any specific prophetic meaning. Through the performative speech of this ritual the dreamer places the dangerous dream under the power of rabbinic authority.

Teaching the Bible and Film: Pedagogical Promises,Pitfalls, and Proposals

This article begins by recognizing the increasing use of film in Religion, Theology, and Bible courses. It contends that in many Biblical Studies (and Religious Studies and Theology) courses, students are neither taught how to view films properly, nor how to place films into constructive dialogue with biblical texts. The article argues for a specific pedagogical approach to the use of film in which students learn how to view a film closely, in its entirety, on its own terms, and in its own voice. Viewing a film in this manner by attending to its aesthetic integrity is a prerequisite for constructing a fruitful dialogue between films and biblical texts. The essay concludes with three specific examples of what this approach might look like. Two responses follow the essay; Erin Runions of Pomona College considers two additional learning goals we might consider, and Richard Ascough of Queens University at Kingston helpfully distinguishes a range of possible pedagogical goals for introducing film into the Biblical Studies classroom.