The Bible Seminar
In 1985, Berkeley, California saw the inaugural meeting of the original Jesus Seminar. In 2011, on the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible, Westar will return to Berkeley to launch a new seminar on the Bible.
      The Bible is deployed today in every conceivable debate and dilemma, from gay marriage to Middle East politics. But seldom are the insights of biblical scholars taken up in these discussions. The Bible Seminar aims to coax critical scholars out of the library and into the public square because basic critical scholarship can make a difference. What is the Bible? How did we get it? What does it really say about sexuality, the role of women, and family values? At the Fall 2011 meeting, under the leadership of John Dominic Crossan, Pamela Eisenbaum, Mark George and Stephen J. Patterson, scholars and Associate members alike will begin framing the questions that will form the agenda of this exciting new seminar.

Schedule

Thursday, November 17

Workshop
Claudia Setzer
Whose Book Is It?
     9–a.m.–3:30 p.m.

Reception
     4–6 p.m.

Lecture
Robert A. Kraft
Generating Bible
      7:30–9 p.m.

Friday, November 18

Bible Seminar
     9 a.m.–5 p.m.   

Banquet
     7–10 p.m.

Saturday, November 19

Workshop
Gregory C. Jenks
The Once & Future Bible
     9–a.m.–3:30 p.m.

CEUs available Contact us for details.

Copyright

Whose Book Is It?
The Bible and American Culture
Claudia Setzer
The Bible has been part of American consciousness since the first European settlers imagined themselves an Exodus people on an “errand into the wilderness.” This workshop will consider how the Bible was translated and disseminated, and how translations get dubbed “liberal” or “conservative.” How was it invoked in the founding of states and colleges, and of a republic? What role did it play in America’s great social debates, over slavery, evolution, modernism, and civil rights? And, even as artists push back against its authority, how does the Bible remain a wellspring of images for art and music?

Claudia Setzer is Professor of Religious Studies, Manhattan College, Riverdale, New York. The former chair of the Early/Jewish Christian Relations group at the Society of Biblical Literature and associate editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature, she was a contibutor to the PBS website From Jesus to Christ. Setzer is the author of The Bible and American Culture: A Sourcebook (Routledge) with David Shefferman, Resurrection of the Body in Early Judaism and Early Christianity (Brill, 2004), and Jewish Responses to Early Christians (Fortress, 1994).

 

Generating Bible
Many Scriptures into One Canon, One Codex from Many Scrolls
Robert A. Kraft
The processes that gradually produced both the concept and the physical reality of “the Bible” in Christian history, as well as in Judaism, were extremely complex. The technology that permitted “the scriptures” to be gathered between one set of covers matured only in the fourth century of the common era. Indeed, the very idea of a special “canon” of authoritative writings also developed over time in different community contexts with different concepts of what was considered “authoritative” and why. This presentation explores the preserved evidence relating to these events.

Robert A. Kraft is Berg Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania and former President of the Society of Biblical Literature (2006). A pioneer in digitizing and coding ancient texts, he is the author of Exploring the Scripturesque: Jewish Texts and their Christian Contexts (Brill, 2009), and numerous articles in professional journals and digital publications.

The Once & Future Bible
Gregory C. Jenks
The Bible has a well-documented past, but an uncertain future. Once the metanarrative for a civilization, it now struggles to engage the public imagination in a global village. Can it be reclaimed from the grip of religious conservatives to serve once more as a source of hope and meaning? This full-day workshop will explore selected themes that are relevant to a critical reading of the Bible today and in the immediate future: unholy use of the Holy Bible, multiple readings of the same Scriptures, reclaiming the Bible for progressives, and reading with critical imagination.

Gregory C. Jenks is Academic Dean at St Francis Theological College, Brisbane and Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Theology, Charles Sturt University, Australia. A long-time Fellow of Westar Institute, he is also Co-Director of the Bethsaida Excavations Project in Israel. He is the author of The Once and Future Bible: An Introduction to the Bible for Religious Progressives (Wipf & Stock, 2011) and editor of The Once and Future Scriptures: Exploring the Role of Scripture in the Contemporary Church (Polebridge Press, forthcoming 2012).