Reception History and Biblical Studies: Theory and Practice

Description

How do we begin to carry out such a vast task—the examination of three millennia of diverse uses and influences of the biblical texts? Where can the interested scholar find information on methods and techniques applicable to the many and varied ways in which these have happened? Through a series of examples of reception history practitioners at work and of their reflections this volume sets the agenda for biblical reception, as it begins to chart the near-infinite series of complex interpretive ‘events’ that have been generated by the journey of the biblical texts down through the centuries. The chapters consider aspects as diverse as political and economic factors, cultural location, the discipline of Biblical Studies, and the impact of scholarly preconceptions, upon reception history. Topics covered include biblical figures and concepts, contemporary music, paintings, children's Bibles, and interpreters as diverse as Calvin, Lenin, and Nick Cave. Cover page Halftitle page Title page Copyright page Contents Acknowledgements List of Contributors Part One Introduction 1 Explorations in the Reception of the Bible Introduction Reshaping boundaries Part Two Reception History, Historical-Criticism andBiblical Studies 2 Biblical Studies on Holiday? A Personal View of Reception History The holiday metaphor Defining biblical studies Defining reception history Responding to the critics The importance of collaboration Doing reception history critically 3 What is Reception History, and What Happens to You if You Do It? Do biblical texts have intrinsic qualities? Can we distinguish text and reception? Where does reception history belong? Reception history and the ethics of interpretation Conclusion 4 The End of Reception History, a Grand Narrative for Biblical Studies and the Neoliberal Bible The Liberal Bible and the Cultural Bible: The Bible Decaff einated The Neoliberal Bible Conclusion 5 Visitors, Gatekeepers and Receptionists: Reflections on the Shape of Biblical Studies and the Role of Reception History Introduction No other medicine 8 For the gate is narrow27 Gathering stones36 Conclusions Part Three Conceptualizing Reception History 6 The Head of John and its Reception or How to Conceptualize ‘Reception History’1 Introduction Conceptualizing reception history The head of John and its reception by Giovanni di Paolo 20 Conclusion 7 What Can a Text Do? Reception History as an Ethology of the Biblical Text Introduction: A new generative metaphor Morality and etiology: Generative metaphors for biblical criticism Ethology: What can a text do? Ethology, context and meaning Ethology and the text of Daniel 7 Ethology and the meaning of Daniel 7 Ethological narratives 8 The End of Biblical Interpretation – the Beginning of Reception History? Reading the Bible in the Spaces of Literature 1 Introduction Biblical scholars: ‘Poor birds’ in the secular academy The Bible: Genius redactors or a masterpiece of contingencies? The thinkable and unthinkable (or unspeakable) in Biblical Studies The spaces of literature: Doing without names Calling names from off -stage 9 Reception History of the Bible: Prospects of a New Frontier in African Biblical Studies Introduction Reception history: Definition and practice Reception history of the Bible Reception history: Assumptions and goals Reception history: Challenges Reception history: An example from the Zimbabwean context Conclusion Part Four Practical Implications, Difficulties and Solutions 10 Unlikely Bedfellows: Lenin,Calvin and Nick Cave Erotics, the road and intersections Lenin, religion, and theology Jean Calvin, revolutionary Cave droppings: On love, death and apocalypse On the road again 11 Tracing Patmos Through the Centuries Travelling to Patmos Plotting the journey Reading closely Patmos as place of exile Lonely Patmos Playing with names and numbers Telling John’s larger story What have I learnt? 12 Digital Humanities and Reception History; or the Joys and Horrors of Databases Biblical studies and the digital humanities Reception studies, biblical narratives and databases The database The process Future trajectories 13 Layers of Reception of Jephthah’s Daughter (Judges 11) Among the Ama Nazaretha: From the Early 1900s to Today Introduction Jephthah’s daughter in the early 1900s Jephthah’s daughter in the early 1990s (an etic reception) Jephthah’s daughter aft er 2010 (an emic reception) Layers of reception Part Five Bible, Reception and Popular Music 14 The Story of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Who by Fire’, a Prayer in the Cairo Genizah, Babylonian Astrology and Related Rabbinical Texts 1 Introduction Unetaneh toqef in Cohen’s words Various transmissions The history of the history Material description and textual commentary Repentance, prayer and charity A Babylonian horoscope handbook and related rabbinical writings Questions of ‘reception history’ 15 ‘Time to cut him down to size?’ A Critical Examination of Depeche Mode’s Alternative ‘John of Patmos’ 1 Actualizations of the Apocalypse, or the good, the bad and the downright ugly Son House’s version of the traditional ‘John the Revelator’ 10 Depeche Mode’s version of ‘John the Revelator’ Conclusion – A positive actualization? 16 ‘God’, ‘God Part II’ and ‘God Part III’: Exploring the Anxiety of Influence in John Lennon, U2 and Larry Norman Nostalgia, Harold Bloom and the inevitable precursors of rock and roll Anxiety among the ‘Gods’ Anxiety and reception 17 High, Low and In- between:Reception History and the Sociology of Religion and Popular Music Introduction Popular music’s secular public Methodological departures Conclusion Bibliography Index