THE BIBLE ANDTHE LIBERAL ARTS - Papers from a Conference - October 16-17, 1986 - Wabash College

Sep 30, 2026

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A conference proceedings document presenting scholarly papers on teaching and studying the Bible within the Western liberal arts tradition. The foreword argues that biblical courses remain central to religion departments because biblical material shapes understanding of history, arts, music, psychology, philosophy, and political science, and supports interdisciplinary methods. It explains how hermeneutics as a science extends beyond scripture, requiring attention to text, author, reader, and community while avoiding overly narrow or purely text-centered approaches.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages44

Reading Time1 h 8 min

AccessFree to download

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

How Should the Bible Be Taught?

Studying the Bible as Memory and Imagination

# THE BIBLE ANDTHE LIBERAL ARTS Papers from a ConferenceOctober 16-17,1986 Wabash CollegeCrawfordsville,Indiana # THE BIBLE ANDTHE LIBERAL ARTS Papers from a ConferenceOctober 16-17,1986 ## TABLE OF CONTENTS ForewordRaymond B.WilliamsV How Should the Bible Be Taught?James Kugel1 Studying the Bible as Memoryand ImaginationWayne Meeks 21 2019年1月 / ## FOREWORD The Bible is the primary text of the Western intellectual tradi-tion,and courses on the Bible are with good reason foundation-al in college and university religion departments.Indeed,priorto the establishment of separate departments of religion,studyof the Bible was integral to the liberal arts,and now biblicalcourses attract many students to departments and support ex-panded offerings in other less well-subscribed areas.Althoughthe students fit no single profile,many select a biblical course astheir first in religion,and some subsequently concentrate in reli-gion.It seems unlikely that any department can sustain successwithout significant courses on the Bible. Surprising and disturbing,therefore,are current attempts tochange curricula in religion departments that attack the place ofbiblical studies and criticize earlier curricula as conforming to a"seminary model."The phrase is usually spoken with a sneer.Powerful forces support the changes.The National Endowmentfor the Humanities influences the curricula of new departmentsunder its sponsorship,and,in conjunction with major universi-ties,sponsors institutes for revisions of courses and curricula ona global model.Foundations and professional organizationssponsor reports critical of the so-called “seminary model”andof the prominence of biblical courses.The impression is giventhat biblical courses have been tainted by their success and mustbe brought low. Professors of the Bible should be ready to defend the role ofbiblical studies in the liberal arts and their central place in reli-gion departments.Biblical material is interwoven in the livingfabric of the Western intellectual tradition so that the concepts, people,arguments,symbols and terminology are essential to anunderstanding of history,art,music,psychology,philosophy,political science,indeed,of most of the humanities and socialsciences.Even some tensions in the history of science and theclash of world-views,ancient and modern,are virtually unintel-ligible apart from a knowledge of interpretations of biblicalthemes.Moreover,methods of study in the intellectual tradi-tion,many of which developed in conjunction with the study ofthe Bible,have been constantly applied and improved in biblicalstudies.Thus,the Bible is not a captive of one methodology;rather,literary,historical,sociological,archeological and philo-sophical analyses complement the study of the Bible.Genealogi-cal relationships of disciplines and methods exist so that studyof the Bible assumes an interdisciplinary character.Thus,thestudent of the Bible applies a wide range of critical methods de-veloped in the Western intellectual tradition to the central textof that tradition.While it may not be necessary to argue thatbiblical studies is the“queen of the sciences,”it is,nevertheless,possible to maintain that courses on the Bible are central to theliberal arts.Needless to say,it is essential that biblical courseslive up to their heritage and deliver on their promises,becauseno defense exists for courses incompetently conducted in anyfield. Hermeneutics as a science developed as adjunct to biblical inter-pretation and now encompasses all representation of meaning ina culture,what has been said and what can be said.Comprehen-sive Biblical courses appropriate to the liberal arts attend to thefull range of hermeneutics that requires a four-fold perspectivethat embraces text,author,reader and community as parts of thecreation and transmission of meaning.Students of the liberalarts should develop through biblical courses a sophistication inhermeneutics and a knowledge of what is involved i

FAQs

Why does the document argue that Bible courses belong in the liberal arts?

It says biblical material is interwoven in the Western intellectual tradition, essential for understanding history, culture, and many humanities and social sciences.

What curriculum changes does the foreword criticize?

It objects to attempts to change religion department curricula that diminish biblical studies and portray earlier curricula as a “seminary model.”

What four perspectives are described as necessary for comprehensive biblical courses?

The document states that courses should embrace a four-fold perspective: text, author, reader, and community.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Ophelia