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Old 08-09-2012, 05:16 AM   #1
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Default "Peculiar" sessions at SBL

In another thread Toto linked to the overview of the sessions for the annual SBL meeting this year.

I was looking over it thinking about the criticism Jim Linville had for some of the sessions of past meetings, and look what I found:

Quote:
Institute for Biblical Research
11/16/2012
4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Room: Williford C - Hilton Chicago

Theme: Research Group: A Pneumatic Hermeneutic: The Role of the Holy Spirit in Biblical Scholarship

The purpose of this research group is to provide a diverse professional forum to examine the role of the Holy Spirit in hermeneutics and biblical scholarship. These meetings will examine various approaches throughout the history of biblical scholarship and the reception of Scripture pertaining to the work of the Holy Spirit in interpretation. To foster the continual scholarly discussion of this topic this seminar welcomes the development of not only previous analyses and practices but also new concepts and procedures. For information contact Kevin Spawn (kspawn@regent.edu) and Archie Wright (awright@regent.edu), and see the Institute of Biblical Research website: http://www.ibr-bbr.org/ (click on Research Groups).

Archie T. Wright, Regent University
The Importance of a Pneumatic Hermeneutic and Scholarly Analysis of the Role of the Holy Spirit in Biblical Scholarship (15 min)

Kevin L. Spawn, Regent University
Analogy, the Scholar’s Shared Experience with the Testimony of Scripture, and Answered Petitionary Prayer (20 min)

John Levison, Seattle Pacific University
Dichotomies Be Damned: Investigation and Inspiration in the New Testament (30 min)
For those who aren't familiar with the "Institute for Biblical Research", this is what you have to belive to be a member:
Quote:
1. The unique divine inspiration, integrity and authority of the Bible.
2. The deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. The necessity and efficacy of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ for the redemption of the world.
4. The historical fact of his bodily resurrection.
5. The presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration and for the understanding of the Scriptures.
6. The expectation of the personal return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
While it is possible that the session "A Pneumatic Hermeneutic" is actually scholarly, isn't this almost certainly some sort of evangelical pseudo-scholarship? Isn't SBL supposed to be the main venue for actual critical biblical studies on your side of the pond? :huh:

Feel free to point out more of these "peculiar" sessions.

---
post #666! :devil1:
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Old 08-09-2012, 07:49 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hjalti View Post
In another thread Toto linked to the overview of the sessions for the annual SBL meeting this year.

I was looking over it thinking about the criticism Jim Linville had for some of the sessions of past meetings, and look what I found:

Quote:
Institute for Biblical Research
11/16/2012
4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Room: Williford C - Hilton Chicago

Theme: Research Group: A Pneumatic Hermeneutic: The Role of the Holy Spirit in Biblical Scholarship

The purpose of this research group is to provide a diverse professional forum to examine the role of the Holy Spirit in hermeneutics and biblical scholarship. These meetings will examine various approaches throughout the history of biblical scholarship and the reception of Scripture pertaining to the work of the Holy Spirit in interpretation. To foster the continual scholarly discussion of this topic this seminar welcomes the development of not only previous analyses and practices but also new concepts and procedures. For information contact Kevin Spawn (kspawn@regent.edu) and Archie Wright (awright@regent.edu), and see the Institute of Biblical Research website: http://www.ibr-bbr.org/ (click on Research Groups).

Archie T. Wright, Regent University
The Importance of a Pneumatic Hermeneutic and Scholarly Analysis of the Role of the Holy Spirit in Biblical Scholarship (15 min)

Kevin L. Spawn, Regent University
Analogy, the Scholar’s Shared Experience with the Testimony of Scripture, and Answered Petitionary Prayer (20 min)

John Levison, Seattle Pacific University
Dichotomies Be Damned: Investigation and Inspiration in the New Testament (30 min)
For those who aren't familiar with the "Institute for Biblical Research", this is what you have to belive to be a member:
Quote:
1. The unique divine inspiration, integrity and authority of the Bible.
2. The deity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. The necessity and efficacy of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ for the redemption of the world.
4. The historical fact of his bodily resurrection.
5. The presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration and for the understanding of the Scriptures.
6. The expectation of the personal return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
While it is possible that the session "A Pneumatic Hermeneutic" is actually scholarly, isn't this almost certainly some sort of evangelical pseudo-scholarship? Isn't SBL supposed to be the main venue for actual critical biblical studies on your side of the pond? :huh:

Feel free to point out more of these "peculiar" sessions.

---
post #666! :devil1:
Wow - utterly unbelievable - these people are living in the dark ages......:angry:
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Old 08-09-2012, 04:20 PM   #3
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What have you got against a discussion of the the role of the Holy Spirit in Biblical Scholarship? I mean, would you complain the same way if someone wanted to discuss the role of gremlins in aeronautical engineering? Surely not.
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Old 08-09-2012, 07:29 PM   #4
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What I hate is the emphasis on inventing sophisticated sounding terminology to hide the fact that what you are talking about is silly. This is especially true when dealing with Patristic sources. Scholars love to invent a whole vocabulary of nonsensical terms to (a) over-complicate the study of x (b) exclude outsiders from having the confidence to ask 'wtf?' and (c) keep discussions safely within a tight circle of like-minded sycophants.
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Old 08-09-2012, 09:05 PM   #5
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Peculiar in a different way -

Quote:
Social Scientific Criticism of the New Testament
11/19/2012


Zeba Crook, Carleton University
Manufacturing Memory: Redaction Criticism in Light of Collective Memory Theory (25 min)
... There is no doubt that memory theory contributes to our study of the transmission of Jesus material, but it is too often used uncritically to buttress the general reliability of the Gospels. Such an approach ignores an important facet of memory theory, namely memory distortion. This paper investigates the relationship between redactional activity and memory distortion.
Erin Vearncombe, University of Toronto
Nakedness and the Abject, or Don’t Get your Coat!: the Naked or Semi-Naked Body in the Synoptic Gospels
Garments are a social obligation in a dressed society, and going without clothes is generally to risk social punishment or some degree of social exclusion; the common dream of appearing naked in public is interpreted as a nightmare. The contrast of nakedness and dress communicates some of the most basic differentiations of human experience: death and life, weakness and power, savagery and civilization. Naked bodies may be described in terms of Judith Butler’s category of the abject; without the social categorization of clothing, naked bodies are abjected, removed from codes of cultural intelligibility, yet still have the discursive power to disrupt. This paper will explore the notion of the discursive abject in the context of clothed and unclothed bodies in the synoptic gospels; examined within this framework of the abject, Jesus’ commands regarding the clothed/unclothed performance of the body have important unexplored social consequences.
...
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Old 08-09-2012, 09:35 PM   #6
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More on nudity:

Quote:
Writing/Reading Jeremiah
11/17/2012


...
Theological Seminary of America
Bare Naked: A Gender Analysis of the Exposed Body
The exposed female body is a familiar trope of the prophetic rhetoric, with the power to incite, shock, shame, disgust, arouse or inspire an audience. Viewing a naked body is an interactive experience between the one who sees and the one who is seen, in which gender is a significant factor. How one perceives a naked body varies according to the gender and sexual orientation of the subject as well as the object. This paper offers a gender analysis of the naked body based on Jeremiah 13 in which the male prophet and female Zion are asked to strip. In the first part of Jeremiah 13, God commands Jeremiah to wear, remove and then bury a soiled loincloth. The subject shifts in the second part to address Zion whose body will be exposed. Using the work of Michael Satlow, who asserts that the meaning of the naked body is context-dependent and that female nakedness is understood differently than male nakedness in the ancient world, I suggest that the exposed male body functions differently than the female body in Jeremiah and throughout the Prophets. This difference reflects the role of the prophet as the embodied word of God. Whereas the naked female body functions as a rhetorical device employed by the prophets to shame and incite their audience, the male naked body is a sign from God to be read and interpreted.
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Old 08-09-2012, 09:50 PM   #7
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I think I can lay claim to having spent the most time intellectualizing the Bible while in the presence of naked beautiful (or at least attractive) women in the history of the world (or at least I don't know of another example). I don't think even the Church Fathers or rabbinic sages can beat me on this (one because they didn't spend time in the company of women, the other because they spent time in the company of Jewish women who are by and large unattractive).

Sorry I am on vacation in Napa. Mind's distracted.
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Old 08-10-2012, 02:25 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stephan huller View Post
What I hate is the emphasis on inventing sophisticated sounding terminology to hide the fact that what you are talking about is silly. This is especially true when dealing with Patristic sources.
Perhaps that's because it's not altogether progressive to study the fathers of lies.
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Old 08-10-2012, 04:07 AM   #9
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I think this "reading the bible as X" stuff in biblical studies is getting ridiculous:

Quote:
S19-225
Islands, Islanders, and Bible
11/19/2012
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: N139 - McCormick Place

Theme: Reading as islanders

Hisako Kinukawa, Panelist (12 min)
Yak-Hwee Tan, Taiwan Theological College and Seminary, Panelist (12 min)
Fernando Segovia, Vanderbilt University, Panelist (12 min)
Discussion (25 min)
David Gunn, Texas Christian University, Panelist (12 min)
Grant MacAskill, University of St. Andrews, Panelist (12 min)
Nasili Vaka'uta, University of Auckland, Panelist (12 min)
Discussion (25 min)
Althea Spencer Miller, Drew University, Respondent (8 min)
Jione Havea, Charles Sturt University, Respondent (8 min)
Business Meeting (10 min)

Panel will reflect on (1) what it means to be islanders and how that (islandedness) influences the way they think and operate and (2) the difference such understandings make for reading scriptural texts. Each speaker will be given 12 mins, to theorize as well as engage scriptural texts. A healthy portion of time will be given to discussions.
What next? "Reading scripture as a black, Welsh, disabled, woman, trades unionist."
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Old 08-10-2012, 04:18 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hjalti View Post
I think this "reading the bible as X" stuff in biblical studies is getting ridiculous:

Quote:
S19-225
Islands, Islanders, and Bible
11/19/2012
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: N139 - McCormick Place

Theme: Reading as islanders

Hisako Kinukawa, Panelist (12 min)
Yak-Hwee Tan, Taiwan Theological College and Seminary, Panelist (12 min)
Fernando Segovia, Vanderbilt University, Panelist (12 min)
Discussion (25 min)
David Gunn, Texas Christian University, Panelist (12 min)
Grant MacAskill, University of St. Andrews, Panelist (12 min)
Nasili Vaka'uta, University of Auckland, Panelist (12 min)
Discussion (25 min)
Althea Spencer Miller, Drew University, Respondent (8 min)
Jione Havea, Charles Sturt University, Respondent (8 min)
Business Meeting (10 min)

Panel will reflect on (1) what it means to be islanders and how that (islandedness) influences the way they think and operate and (2) the difference such understandings make for reading scriptural texts. Each speaker will be given 12 mins, to theorize as well as engage scriptural texts. A healthy portion of time will be given to discussions.
What next? "Reading scripture as a black, Welsh, disabled, woman,
The new privileged class, eh.

Quote:
trades unionist."
Maybe not.
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