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Approaches to Biblical Studies

Module description

The module will have three taught segments, each lasting for three weeks. Each segment will be on a different topic. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

Cultures of age and aging in the Bible and beyond

What age and aging mean in different contexts is socially constructed. Different cultures imbue childhood, youth, maturity and so on with diverse cultural perceptions and values. Moreover, religious rites and rituals often play an important part in structuring transitions from one stage of life to another. We will investigate how selected biblical texts and traditions, and their interpretations throughout ‘the ages’, demonstrate conflicting views on ageing, longevity, lifespan, and life expectancies.

Ecological interpretation of the Bible

Problems caused by humanity’s impact upon the planet, visible especially in the climate crisis, are among the most pressing issues of the twenty-first century. These challenges have led to a range of new engagements with the Bible, and a range of different interpretative approaches – some of which claim to find ecological wisdom in the Bible, others of which are more critical of the Bible and its legacy, or find other priorities in the Bible’s teaching. This segment will enable you to engage with these various perspectives and to consider for yourself what an ecological interpretation of the Bible might entail.

Socializing (with) the dead

The ways in which humans deal with their dead not only reflect social and cultural preferences, but index wider constructs of ‘death’ as a social state of being – regardless of whether or not the deceased are imagined to transition into a type of postmortem existence or otherworldly realm. Mortuary practices and their associated activities not only re-socialize the body, but can variously trigger, extend or transform the sociality of the dead within the lives of the living. Juxtaposing selected examples of mortuary practice from ancient southwest Asian cultures (including those refracted in the Bible) and the contemporary world, we will explore how and why humans socialize (with) the dead, and ask what our own cultural and personal preferences about corpse management might reveal about us.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• equip you with the intellectual tools to carry out a sustained and rigorous analysis of a biblical text
• enable you to engage critically with current interdisciplinary approaches to biblical literature
• encourage you to pay attention to the social and cultural conditions underlying interpretative strategies, ancient and modern
• provide you with the opportunity to explore your own areas of interest in Biblical Studies in conjunction with a supervisor

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Engage with recent academic approaches to biblical studies
• 2. Critically assess, in depth, one biblical text’s features, contexts, or later reception, OR one methodology associated with academic study of the Bible

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Critically evaluate how approaches to the interpretation of religious texts have developed within the academy
• 4. Demonstrate a critical awareness of the interdisciplinary dimensions of contemporary biblical studies

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Develop a project that engages with contemporary scholarship
• 6. Shape detailed information into a clear written account
• 7. Show significant originality and rigour in argument
• 8. Demonstrate independent and critical research skills
• 9. Convey ideas to your peers through oral and/or written discussion

Syllabus plan

The module will fall into three main parts:

1. Close reading, analysis and discussion of a selected biblical text
2. Exploring examples of the afterlives and interpretation of a biblical text and/or its motifs
3. Directed individual research with a supervisor  

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• David E. Aune, The Blackwell Companion to the New Testament (Wiley Blackwell, 2010)
• John Barton, A History of the Bible: A Book and Its Faiths(Allen Lane, 2019)
• Stephen D. Moore and Yvonne Sherwood, The Invention of the Biblical Scholar: A Critical Manifesto(Fortress Press, 2011)
• Susan Niditch (ed.), The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel (Wiley Blackwell, 2016)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11386

Key words search

Bible, Theology, religion, reception, interpretation, culture