I
wonder if it would be better to teach my “Bible Interpretation” class using
texts from outside the Bible. Essentially the aim of the course is to
teach methods, goals and practices of good interpretation and if I could cover
the same exercises without using the Bible, then they could take those same
methods and apply them to the bible. The assessments could still be
focussed on biblical texts but the class room analysis could be on texts
unfamiliar to the student. We could use texts from ANE, Dead Sea Scrolls
and the Apostolic Fathers in our classroom exercises, texts from similar
historical, cultural, and ideological environments in which the Bible was
written. The benefit of this approach would be that students would have
no theological/ideological investment in the specific “meaning” of these texts,
since most of them would be unfamiliar with these writings and have no vested
interest in their interpretation. There could be a sustained focus on
texts that aid our interpretation of the Bible and also this would alert
students to the various texts which provide the necessary ideological,
historical and cultural matrix within which biblical writings are to be
understood.
Thoughts?
What am I missing?
