22 to 26 July 2024 in Utrecht, the Netherlands

The course description can be found below. The Summer School will be taught by experts of and invited by the Centre for Contextual Biblical Interpretation at the Protestant Theological University and the Faculty of Religion and Theology of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. See more information at: https://www.pthu.nl/ccbi/about-ccbi/.

In addition, exposures to diverse ways of reading the Bible in communities will be part of the program. The course “Biblical Interpretation in Diverse Communities: Methods, Perspectives, Challenges” focuses on the question “How people in diverse communities use the Bible and how to research this?”

Participants will examine concrete cases of Biblical interpretation in across a spectrum of community contexts, challenging them to reflect on ways of studying them. As attention for the contribution of so-called “intuitive” or “ordinary” Bible readers in Biblical interpretation increases, the need for attentive approaches of understanding the many voices involved in reading the Bible increases too. Researching the Bible by listening to and comprehending its usage extends beyond and challenges traditional forms of Biblical exegesis and hermeneutical framework common to Biblical scholarship.  The classes of the course will address questions such as: How to research the function of the Bible in activities organized by different church traditions? How do people make sense of the Bible? How does the Bible assist them in making sense of their lives?

In addressing these questions, the course considers diverse communities, including both traditional churches and groups outside them. Particular attention is given to communities with marginalized identities, such as queer, migrant, or poor. The course challenges participants to reflect on whether and how contextual factors such as age, gender, and socio-economic status require different research methods when examining the role of the Bible within different communities. Additionally, students are asked to reflect on their own positionality and its relationship to researching the Bible in diverse communities of interpretation.  Our target audience includes MA/PhD students, advanced BA students in theology, religious studies, or related disciplines; professionals (pastors, teachers, Bible translators, etc.), and researchers. The official application page is https://utrechtsummerschool.nl/courses/humanities/biblical-interpretation-in-diverse-communities-methods-perspectives-challenges.