Biblical Texts

Biblical Texts

C. S. Lewis once described himself as a dinosaur because of his interest in ancient Greek language and mythology. Perhaps I belong to the same breed, but my interest lies more in the biblical texts, the issues they raise, how we might read them today, and how they might speak into our personal lives and inform our Christian engagement with the church and world around us.

For an overview of the texts I have covered extensively in my teaching, and the issues I have been exploring, please see the list below.

And do please get in touch, if you would like to explore the possibility of me speaking speaking at your church about any of these texts and themes.

Genesis 1-3
  • Reading the creation stories against their ancient Near Eastern background
  • Images of God and creation in Genesis 1-2
  • Feminist-critical interpretation of Genesis 2-3
Exodus
  • Reading the book of Exodus
  • Bondage in Egypt (Exod. 1-2)
  • The call of Moses – and the identity of Yahweh (Exod. 3-4)
  • Reading the ‘plagues’ (Exod. 7-11)
  • Decolonising Exodus
  • The passover and the exodus (Exod. 12-13)
  • Food in the wilderness (Exod. 16)
  • God’s appearance at Sinai and the Ten Commandments (Exod. 19-20)
  • Story and law
  • The golden calf (Exod. 32)
Ruth
  • Reading Ruth from different perspectives, including that of survivors of abuse
Job
  • Reading the book of Job
  • How to read Hebrew poetry
  • Wisdom in the ancient world
  • Job’s debate with his ‘friends’ (Job 3-31)
  • In the commentator’s study: case studies from Job 18
  • Yahweh’s response out of the whirlwind (Job 38-41)
  • The message and theology of Job
Psalms
  • Prayer and song: a poetic theology
  • Reading the psalms and the psalter
  • Lament, thanksgiving …: the Psalms and literary form
  • The Lord reigns: the Psalms and worship
  • Reading and using the curse psalms
  • Reading, singing and praying the law: thoughts on Psalm 101
Song of Songs
  • Reading the Song of Songs
  • The rhetoric of body, desire and consummation
  • The Song of Songs, the body, sexuality, and spirituality
  • Praying the Song of Songs
Amos
  • The prophet and his book
  • Amos’s ‘oracles’ against foreign nations (Amos 1-2)
  • How to read prophetic discourse (Amos 3; 5:1-17)
  • Amos’s theology
  • How to preach on a prophetic text (Amos 5:18-27)
  • Reading Amos as a book
Jonah
  • Jonah’s readers: perspectives on interpretation
  • Jonah’s world: historical, and social science perspectives
  • Jonah’s art and reception: the poetics of a biblical narrative
  • Jonah’s rhetoric and allusiveness: composition, persuasion, and intertextuality
  • Jonah’s depths: psychological readings
  • Jonah’s challenge: contextual, liberationist, and postcolonial interpretation
  • Jonah’s ‘otherkind’: ecological readings
Mark
  • Mark’s readers: reader-response criticism and the making of meaning
  • Mark’s women: feminist readings of the gospel
  • Mark as manifesto: socio-literary exegesis and political hermeneutics
Luke
  • The Gospel of Luke: author, readers, book
  • Power, conflict, and discipleship in Luke
  • Gospel, liberation, and jubilee in Luke
  • God and God’s people as guests and hosts in Luke
Revelation
  • How to read the book of Revelation
  • Revelation, violence, and empire

%d bloggers like this: