The Writing/Reading Jeremiah group invites proposals on the following topics for 2012.
1) In keeping with the Writing/Reading Jeremiah group’s ongoing interest in exploring poetics over and above textual genetics, and the Biblical Hebrew Poetry section’s ongoing interest in the role of poetry in a broad range of biblical literatures, we will be co-hosting a session considering the rhetorical function of poetry in the book of Jeremiah, namely: the impact of poetic imagery (to generate nostalgia; strike terror; solicit sympathy), the task of poetry in counter imagining (an end amidst false hope; hope amidst an apparent end), and so also its theo-politics (perhaps in relation to the prose); the impact of poetry on readers’ experiences of the structure of the book. Papers for this panel have been invited.
2) For a panel on theological readings of Jeremiah, papers that offer well-theorized analysis of any of the following, in the text(s) of Jeremiah or in reception history: the prophet’s performance as embodiment of the divine word; constructions of Judah as theologized subject; ways in which portrayals of God in Jeremiah are complicated by the interplay of prose and poetic traditions in the book; theological dimensions of representations of history in Jeremiah; or some other issue that invites theologically astute interpretation of Jeremiah. Priority will be given to papers that demonstrate meaningful engagement with contemporary theology en route to writing/reading Jeremiah.
3) For an open session: papers on any interpretive issue related to the book of Jeremiah. Priority will be given to proposals that demonstrate a hermeneutical attentiveness that moves beyond, or seeks to complicate, traditional historicist interpretive paradigms.