Programme
The purpose of this unit is to foster, develop, and encourage contemporaneous engagement with the Bible: the Biblical texts are read alongside and/or in conjunction with present day communities of real-life flesh and blood persons. Being fully cognizant that such readings are partial, subjective, and deeply contextual, they still need to be included in the history of interpretation. The aim of the unit is threefold: i.) we are interested in readings that shed light on contemporary culture/politics; ii.) we invite projects which aim at restoring the lost past behind the Biblical texts by drawing attention to parallel real-life experiences; iii.) we want to explore and develop methods that supports the above mentioned two goals. Although, a unit such as this calls for an ethnographical approach, we also welcome the work of scholars who read the Biblical texts alongside current issues, be it social and/or political, in order to relate their interpretations to real life experiences.
Keywords:
Real-readers, Ethnography, Reading-alongside, Talking-back, Cultural Studies