Biblical Hebrew Poetry
Program Unit Type: Section
Accepting Papers? Yes
Call For Papers: Our section will be holding four sessions: (1) Blessings and Curses, (2) Reading Poetic Texts Disruptively (cosponsored with Feminist Hermeneutics of the Bible), (3) Tree Images (in the wild and in agriculture): Themes and Functions (cosponsored with Nature Imagery and Conceptions of Nature in the Bible), and (4) one general session. Session (1): Blessing and cursing are performative speech acts and vehicles of communication. Blessing and cursing speak life and death into the ears of the objects thereof. Blessing and cursing saturate a large swath of poetry in the Bible. The session on blessing and cursing in Hebrew poetry will consist of submitted papers, followed by a prepared response and a Q&A. Accepted papers must be submitted in final draft by August 31, 2021. Session (2): Reading Poetic Texts Disruptively: Moving beyond simple appreciation of the artfulness of Hebrew and NT poetic texts, how might we read biblical poetry disruptively in the context of the twenty-first century globalized world? Which features of poetic signifying may be fruitfully deconstructed, resisted, or refigured in transgressive ways in arenas having to do with agency, borderlands, diaspora, embodiment, gender, indigeneity, interiority, marginality, memory, sexuality, suffering, or social hierarchy? This invited panel will explore the possibilities afforded by radically disruptive readings of biblical poetry. Session (3) is an invited thematic session following up a 2020 session, showcasing research on the figurative use of parts of the tree: roots, branches, fruit, trunk/height, stumps, etc., or of specific trees or flora formations, and the diverse themes and functions they carry. This will involve co-operations with botanists and archaeobotanists according to the proposed topics. Session (4): General papers regarding any aspect of biblical poetry. All papers are welcome, but we are particularly interested in papers that examine the relationship between emotion and poetry.
Program Unit Chairs
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