Contextual Interpretation of the Bible (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and New Testament)

Call For Papers: This Seminar aims to underline the significance of contextual interpretation and its contribution to biblical studies. We plan the following four sessions (proposed and solicited papers): (1) 1-2 joint session/s with the “Writings (including Psalms)” unit on the contextual interpretation of the Book of Psalms, or individual psalms, in the everyday lives of ordinary readers and communities. This includes investigation of how marginalized and ordinary readers interpret the psalms in context and community. Additional questions: How does my own position as bible scholar in a community impact my reading of a psalm or collection of psalms? How does the psalm impact a specific community? Contributions on similarities between the context of the editors of the Psalms and modern day marginal individuals/groups are welcome. Acceptance of papers is a first step toward, but does not guarantee, publication in the series Texts@Contexts (Bloomsbury Publishing) on the Book of Psalms. (2) A joint session with the “Families and Children in the Ancient World” unit on children’s Bibles welcomes contributions that explore how children’s Bibles have used context in the interpretation of a biblical character or book, aimed at children and/or infantilized “marginal” audiences (e.g. women, semi-literate adults, converts). Consideration of the interplay between visual and textual interpretation is encouraged. (3) An open session on the interpretation of a biblical text from within a reader’s explicitly articulated context, personal as well as communal. We invite contributors to, e.g., explore the different strategies of contextual bible interpretation (including "enculturation", inter(con)textualization, and reading with "ordinary" readers), its methodological justifications, and the extent to which all interpretations are contextual. We are interested in the seemingly “marginal” (e.g., geography, gender, faith, class, age) aspects of biblical interpretation, lodged in a clear methodology.

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