Vanderbilt University Department of  Religious Studies, College of Arts and Science

Class meets Mondays  3-5 p.m. at Garland 301F
M-Sept. 4.  Introduction.   Choosing the texts.

M-Sept. 11 Method: Miller, “Reading the Bible Historically,” 17--32; Viviano, “Source Criticism,” 35--57 in To Each Its Own Meaning.  Reporter: ________________
Methodology:  Van A. Harvey, The Historian and the Believer : The Morality of Historical Knowledge and Christian Belief  Reporter: ________________

M-Sept. 18 Daniel Marguerat, exceptionally the seminar meets from 2 – 4 (a joint session with the Acts seminar; also an open Graduate Colloquium  "Historical Reading and/or Narrative Reading.  Acts as a Testcase."   Also lecture at 4:30  "God, a Murderer ?  The case of Ananias et Saphira (Acts 5,1-11).  Narrative Theology and History"
Methodology: Daniel MARGUERAT, The First Christian Historian, chapter 1, “How Luke Wrote History” (duplicated material)

M-Sept. 25 Method: Sweeney, “Form Criticism,” 58 – 89; Di Vito, “Tradition Historical Criticism,” 90 – 104, in To Each its Own Meaning.  Reporter: ________________
Methodology: Vernon K. Robbins, Exploring the Texture of Texts : A Guide to Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation
Reporter: ________________

M-Oct. 2 Method: Streete, “Redaction Criticism,”105-121 in To Each its Own Meaning.
Reporter: ________________
Methodology:  Mieke Bal, Murder and difference : gender, genre, and scholarship on Sisera's death
Reporter: ________________

M-Oct. 9 Method: Martin, “Social Scientific Criticism,” 125 – 141 in To Each its Own Meaning
Reporter: ________________
Methodology:  Brian K. Blount, Cultural Interpretation : Reorienting New Testament Criticism
Reporter: ________________

M-Oct. 16 Method: Patte, “Structural Criticism,” 183ff in To Each its Own Meaning
Reporter: ________________
Methodology:  Daniel Patte, The Religious Dimensions of Biblical Texts : Greimas's Structural  Semiotics and Biblical Exegesis
Reporter: ________________

M-Oct. 23 Method: Beardsley, “Poststructuralist Criticism,” 253ff in To Each its Own Meaning
Reporter: ________________
Methodology:  George Aichele, et al editors The Postmodern Bible : The Bible and Culture Collective
Reporter: ________________

M-Oct. 30 Method:    Callaway, “Canonical criticism,” 142 – 155  in to Each its Own Meaning
Reporter: ________________
Methodology: Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenza (Editor),  Searching the Scriptures : A Feminist Introduction (suggested:  Emily Cheney, She Can Read : Feminist Reading Strategies for Biblical Narrative)
Reporter: ________________

M-Nov. 6 Method: Gunn, “Narrative Criticism,” 201ff in To Each its Own Meaning
Reporter: ________________
Methodology:    R. S. Sugirtharajah (Editor), The Postcolonial Bible and Gerald O. West, The Academy of the Poor : Towards a Dialogical Reading of the Bible
Reporter: ________________

M-Nov. 13 Method: McKnight,“Reader Response Criticism,”230ff  in To Each its Own Meaning
Reporter: ________________
Methodology: Cristina Grenholm and Daniel Patte (Editors) Reading Israel in Romans : Legitimacy and Plausibility of Divergent   Interpretations
Reporter: ________________

M-Nov. 27 Method: Tull, “Rhetorical Criticism and Intertextuality,” 156ff.     in To Each its Own Meaning
Reporter: ________________
Methodology: Daniel Patte, Ethics of Biblical Interpretation : A Reevaluation
Reporter: ________________

M-Dec. 4 Method: Nolan Fewell, “Reading the Bible Ideologically: Feminist Criticism,” 268ff   in To Each its Own Meaning  Reporter: ________________
Methodology: Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Rhetoric and Ethic : the Politics of Biblical Studies.
Reporter: ________________

M-Dec. 11   Method: Segovia, “Reading the Bible Ideologically: Socioeconomic Criticism,” 283ff in To Each its Own Meaning
Reporter: ________________
Methodology:  Emmanuel Levinas, Richard A. Cohen New Talmudic Readings and Roger Burggraeve, “The Bible Gives to  Thought : Lévinas on the Possibility and   Proper Nature of Biblical Thinking.”
Reporter: ________________

RESEARCH PAPER DUE on December 18.