ENGAGING TEXTS & CONTEXTS

This course introduces students to a three-fold framework for biblical interpretation involving the investigation of the "world in front of the text" (between the text's composition and us as readers), the "world within the text" (the close reading of the text itself), and the "world behind the text" (the environment and situation that contributes to the occasion and shaping of the text, and therefore its contextual interpretation). The applicability of this model also to the literature and contexts of other curricular areas will also be demonstrated.