SBL Sessions: Teaching Bible in a Secular Context (Again)

I was going to try and provide links to the SBL Sections dealing with the above topic. Unfortunately the search function does not provide a usable link. For your convenience, I am providing the sessions and the paper topics below. I am in the session withe theme “Transforming the Curriculum” (I am not sure that I intend(ed) to do that…). I thought it might be useful for conversation for folks to see the summaries of those papers, so I have copied those next, with the session listings below that.

Susanne Scholz, Merrimack College
Gold Mine or Coal Mine? Teaching the Hebrew Bible in the Undergraduate Classroom
This paper investigates the complexities of transforming the undergraduate Hebrew Bible curriculum from the “coal mine” approach of content management and historical-literal presentation to the “gold mine” approach that views Hebrew Bible courses as opportunities toward the development of intellectual-religious maturity, historical-cultural understanding, and literary-ethical engagement.

Stan Harstine, Friends University
Challenges to Teaching Biblical Literature as a General Education Requirement
What factors are involved in teaching at a self-defined “independent, Christian university” when the course is part of the general education curriculum? What do students bring to the class in terms of preconceptions and expectations of a general education course? How does the audience alter the approach to the topic? This presentation will reflect on the results of a survey conducted at Friends University in 2006 to assess student attitudes and expectations regarding the biblical literature courses taught within the general education curriculum.

Mine can be found here.

Glenn S. Holland, Allegheny College
“Not as the Scribes:” Biblical Studies in the Liberal Arts Curriculum
The primary intention of the liberal arts curriculum is to provide exposure to a variety of academic subjects while cultivating in the student the skills of intelligent reading, effective speaking and writing, and incisive critical analysis. The Religious Studies instructor in this context is largely freed from the obligation to present comprehensive overviews and may instead deal with perennial issues of religious inquiry through selected examples taken from specific religious cultures. In the case of biblical studies, the instructor need not deal at length with critical methodologies or the history of interpretation of the biblical texts. Instead, she or he may focus attention on the sorts of issues and questions that arise when documents created in ancient cultural contexts become the definitive body of divine revelation for later religious communities. Lectures, discussions, assignments, and examinations all may concentrate on questions raised by particular passages or situations taken from the biblical texts, with the evaluation of responses based on the students’ ability to recognize and grapple with the central issues and present their conclusions clearly in speaking or writing. In this way, the course becomes a way for students to understand and practice how to investigate biblical texts in a way consistent with the skills and values of the wider liberal arts curriculum. This discussion will be supplemented with examples drawn from twenty years of teaching at Allegheny College, a traditional liberal arts institution.

S18-25
Teaching Biblical Literature in an Undergraduate Liberal Arts Context
11/18/2006
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 102B – CC
Theme: Investigating the Status Quo

Susanne Scholz, Merrimack College, Presiding
Matthew C. Baldwin, Mars Hill College
“The Touchstone Text:” Prolegomena to a History of Biblical Studies in the Liberal Arts (25 min)
Murray Joseph Haar, Augustana College
What Do Athens and Jerusalem have to do with Sioux Falls? (25 min)
Julye Bidmead, Miami University, Respondent (10 min)
Break (10 min)
James C. Moyer, Missouri State University
Moving Students Beyond Their Pre-understandings in the Introductory Course to the Hebrew Bible (25 min)
Janet S. Everhart, Simpson College
Service Learning in Undergraduate Biblical Studies Courses (25 min)
Jonathan Lawrence, Canisius College, Respondent (10 min)
Discussion (20 min)

S18-77
Teaching Biblical Literature in an Undergraduate Liberal Arts Context
11/18/2006
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 154A – CC
Theme: Transforming the Curriculum

Jane Webster, Barton College, Presiding
Susanne Scholz, Merrimack College
Gold Mine or Coal Mine? Teaching the Hebrew Bible in the Undergraduate Classroom (25 min)
Stan Harstine, Friends University
Challenges to Teaching Biblical Literature as a General Education Requirement (25 min)
John Lanci, Stonehill College, Respondent (10 min)
Break (10 min)
Glenn S. Holland, Allegheny College
“Not as the Scribes:” Biblical Studies in the Liberal Arts Curriculum (25 min)
Christian Brady, Tulane University
“God is Not in this Classroom” or Reading the Bible in a Secular School (25 min)
Colleen Conway, Seton Hall University, Respondent (10 min)
Discussion (20 min)

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