90-901 Theological Hermeneutics

1 90-901 Theological Hermeneutics Wednesday 1:00-3:50 p.m. Room 107 PhD Core Seminar, Fall 2015 Instructors: Nancy Bedford, Pfeiffer 114, (O) 847.866.3931; nancy.bedford@garrett.edu Lallene Rector, President s Office; ljr@garrett.edu Course Content and Objectives Central to all theological endeavors, theoretical and practical, is the interpretation of texts: biblical, historical, theological, liturgical, cultural and living texts. Before modernity, theologians and pastors had already developed sophisticated forms of interpretation, especially as a practice of the interpretation of scripture. The modern era saw the rise of historical criticism and the use of scientific hermeneutical tools, which both depend upon and rebel against the pre-modern forms of biblical interpretation. Historical-critical methods of interpretation have been fiercely defended and contested in both the church and the academy. With the development of post-modern sensibilities, modernist scientific hermeneutics has itself come under fire. This course will explore pre-modern, modern and post-modern hermeneutical approaches, including African-American, global feminist, and decolonial perspectives, with particular emphasis on a theological hermeneutics of the various texts available to theology, including Scripture. The purpose of the course is not simply to engage with the theoretical controversies over interpretation, but for each student to develop an understanding of how interpretation is used in her or his theological discipline, as well as how hermeneutics function more generally within that discipline. Our methodology will be both dialogical and heuristic; the seminar will be as good as the quality of what we all as participants put into preparation, dialogue and discovery. The required readings are only meant as a minimum common denominator. The objectives of this course are for the students to: 1. Acquaint themselves with a number of historical and contemporary biblical, theological, and philosophical hermeneutical approaches; 2. Hone the skill of deploying distinct hermeneutical methods as they are appropriate to their fields of scholarship and inquiry; 3. Achieve competence in understanding and communicating both the historical development of hermeneutics and various modes of contemporary application; 4. Produce examples of a theological hermeneutics of culture Class Format and Requirements A. Preliminary work: Read Marion Grau, Reconfiguring Theological Hermeneutics and prepare a brief paper of 8 pages (double-spaced, font TNR 12)addressing the following: (a) What do you perceive as the main theme of the argument? (b) What is the relevance of that theme to a theological hermeneutics of culture? (c) What is the relevance of that theme to your

2 theological discipline? (d) What are its weaknesses? Please send this paper to both professors, via e-mail, by 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7 (earlier if at all possible) it will provide a basis for our introductory discussion of hermeneutics. 10% of grade. B. One-hour presentation providing (a) elements to enrich the discussion of the day s text (i.e. analysis of one of the sources used by the author); (b) proposed questions for the group s discussion of the text. Sign up on first day. 15% of grade. C. Present a hermeneutical analysis of a cultural artifact of your choice (art, music, literature, film, TV, etc.) able to relate the artifact to the student s discipline. Sign up on the first day. 15% of grade. D. Final Paper: 15-18 pages, double-spaced (font TNR 12). Review relevant biblical, philosophical, and/or theological approaches to hermeneutics studied in the course as these relate to your discipline. The student may also choose to orient the paper from a particular perspective in hermeneutics, e.g., feminist, cultural, or post-colonial hermeneutics. It would also be possible to expand the cultural artifact presentation into final paper form. Address how the chosen hermeneutical approaches will affect your thinking and approach to your discipline, as well as your methods of teaching and research. Be sure to include the implications for ministry in the particular context in which you anticipate serving (teaching, counseling, parish ministry, Christian education, etc.). Post on Moodle by 11:59 p.m. CST on Dec. 15, 2015. 30% of grade. Note: Also due on December 15 is your self-evaluation (see below, point G). E. Précis with working hypothesis Each student will make a brief presentation (10 minutes max) of the final paper on December 9. Be prepared to distribute a 1-2 page abstract of your final paper. This should include a thesis statement; some clarification of the thesis you are working with in the final paper; attention to the methodological orientation of the paper; bibliography; and an indication of your conclusions, including the application to ministry. Due in class December 9, 2015. 10% of grade F. Participation in seminar: 20% of grade 1. Regular and punctual attendance. Absences will result in a lowering of the grade. If an absence becomes necessary, please contact one of the instructors. 2. Appropriate weekly preparation that allows for active class participation (prepare queries of the text and proposals for further discussion). 3. All written work is due on the date assigned. Late work may result in a lowering of the grade. G. Self-Evaluation: In one or two paragraphs, reflect upon, your participation in the class and the quality of your preparation and written work. Due Dec. 15, 2015. H. Electronics in class: Please do not bring computers, cell phones, tablets or other electronics to our meetings unless they are turned off. If your version of the text is an

3 Please note: e-book, bring your notes. Use paper dictionaries. Computers may be used only to aid specific presentations (cultural artifact, devotional, etc.). 1) It is not possible to pass the course without the completion of all assignments. 2) Plagiarism must be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs and will become a part of your record while enrolled. It will jeopardize receiving credit for this course (see the plagiarism policy in the G-ETS Student Life and Academic Handbook). Schedule and Assignments I. Introductory Considerations 1. September 9 Introduction Readings: Grau, Refiguring Theological Hermeneutics II. Classic Conversation Partners 2. September 16 Augustine Readings: Augustine, On Christian Doctrine [De Doctrina Christiana] 3. September 23 Frei Readings: Frei, The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative: 18 th and 19 th c. Hermeneutics, 1-50, 124-154, 245-324 (skim the rest) Presentations begin 4. September 30 Gadamer Readings: Gadamer, Truth and Method, xi-xxxvi; 268-484; 555-581 (skim the rest) 5. October 7 Ricoeur Readings: Ricoeur, Hermeneutics: Writings and Lectures 6. October 15 Thurmon Readings: Thurmon, Jesus and the Disinherited III. Critical Repositioning 7. October 21 The Question of the Subject Readings: Kristeva, Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection; Might Not Universality... (pdf posted on Moodle) 8. October 28 Decolonizing Hermeneutics Readings: Fanon, Wretched of the Earth

4 9. November 4 Queering Hermeneutics Readings: Villalobos, When Men Were Not Men. 10. November 11 White Racism as a Hermeneutical Obstacle Readings: Roithmayr, Reproducing Racism 11. November 18 A Feminist/Womanist Hermeneutic of Liturgy and Hymnody Readings: [posted on Moodle] 12. November 25 [Thanksgiving Recess] IV. Theological Hermeneutics of Culture 13. December 2 Popular music as Theological Text Readings: Daniel White Hodge, The Soul Of Hip Hop. 14. December 9 Modern and Contemporary Art as a Hermeneutical Challenge Presentation of Précis Readings: Stallabras, Contemporary Art: A Very Short Introduction 15. December 15 by 11:59 pm CST - Final paper and self-evaluation due (post on Moodle) Required Texts/Readings 1 Augustine of Hippo. On Christian Teaching. Translated by R. P. H. Green. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press 1997. ISBN-10: 0199540632; ISBN-13: 978-0199540631. Price on Amazon.com: $9.64 Fanon, Franz. Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press 2005. ISBN-10: 0802141323; ISBN-13: 978-0802141323. Price on Amazon.com: $9.29. Frei, Hans W. The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Hermeneutics. New Haven: Yale University Press 1974. ISBN: 0-300-02602. Price on Amazon.com: $26.13. Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Truth and Method. Second, Revised Edition. Translation revised by Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall. New York: Crossroad 1991. ISBN-10: 082647697X; ISBN-13: 978-0826476975. Price on Amazon.com: $12.00. Grau, Marion. Reconfiguring Theological Hermeneutics: Hermes, Trickster, Fool. New York: Palgrave MacMillan 2014. ISBN-10: 1137326859. Price on Amazon.com: $82.80. Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Translated by Leon S. Roudiez. 1 Used versions of most of these books are available for prices lower than those listed here.

5 New York: Columbia University 1982. ISBN: 0-231-05346-0. Price on Amazon.com: $29.64.. Might Not Universality be our Own Foreignness? In Strangers to Ourselves. Translated by Leon S. Roudiez. New York: Columbia University, 1991. pp. 169-192 (posted on Moodle). Ricoeur, Paul. Hermeneutics: Writings and Lectures. Malden, MA: Polity 2013. ISBN-10: 074566122X; ISBN-13: 978-0745661223. Price on Amazon.com $23.20 Roithmayr, Daria. Reproducing Racism: How Everyday Choices Lock in White Advantage. New York: NYU Press 2014. ISBN-10: 0814777120. Price on Amazon.com: $22.26. Stallabras, Julian. Contemporary Art: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006. ISBN-10: 0192806467. Price on Amazon.com: $9.05. Thurmon, Howard. Jesus and the Disinherited. Boston: Beacon Press 1996. ISBN-10: 0807010294; ISBN-13: 978-0807010297. Price on Amazon.com: $13.63. Villalobos, Manuel. When Men Were Not Men. Masculinity and Otherness in the Pastoral Epistles. London: Sheffield Phoenix 2014. 978-1-909697-53-9 hardback. Scholar s price at Sheffield Phoenix Press website: $40.00 (http://www.sheffieldphoenix.com/showbook.asp?bkid=275) White Hodge, Daniel. The Soul Of Hip Hop: Rims Timbs & A Cultural Theology. Downers Grove, IL: Inner Varsity Press, 2010. ISBN-10: 0830837329. Price on Amazon.com: $13.94. Selected Supplementary Bibliography Adam, A. K. M. What Is Postmodern Biblical Criticism? Guides to Biblical Scholarship. New Testament Series. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995. Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow. Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color-Blindness. New York: The New York Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1-59558-643-8 Ashcroft, Bill; Griffiths, Gareth; & Tiffin, Helen. Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts. London and New York: Routledge, 2000. Barth, Karl. Church Dogmatics Vol 1.1, Sections 8-12: The Doctrine of the Word of God, Study Edition 2. Translated by G.W. Bromley, G.T. Thomas, Harold Knight. London and New York: T &T Clark, 20120 [1932-38] ISBN 13:978-567-610274. 8, God in His Revelation pp. 1-52; 9, The Triunity of God pp. 53-90.

6 Crossan, Dominic D. Paradox Gives Rise to Metaphor: Paul Ricoeur s Hermeneutics and the Parables of Jesus. Biblical Research 24-25 (1979-1980): 20-37. Derrida, Jacques. "Différance." In Margins of Philosophy, 1-27. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1982. Dockery, David S. Biblical Interpretation Then and Now: Contemporary Hermeneutics in Light of the Early Church. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1992. Donaldson, L. E. Editor. Postcolonialism and Scriptural Reading. Semeia 75. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996. Dostal, Robert J. Editor. The Cambridge Companion to Gadamer. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1983. Felder, Cain Hope. Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991.\ Fish, Stanley. Is There a Text in This Class? In Is There a Text in This Class: The Authority of Interpretive Communities. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: Harvard University Press, 1980. pp. 303-321. Fowl, Stephen. Editor. The Theological Interpretation of Scripture: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers, 1997. Gerhart, M. Paul Ricoeur s Hermeneutical Theory as Resource for Theological Reflection. Thomist 39 (1975): 496-527. Gerkin, Charles V. The Living Human Document: Re-Visioning Pastoral Counseling in as Hermeneutical Mode. Nashville; Abingdon Press, 1984. Grondin, Jean. Introduction to Philosophical Hermeneutics. Translated by Joel Weinsheimer. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994. Ferraris, Maurizio. History of Hermeneutics. Translated by Luca Somigli. New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1996. (1988) Johnson, Patricia Altenbernd. On Gadamer. Wadsworth Philosophical Series. United States: Wadsworth Thomson Learning, 2000. Khanna, Ranjana; Fish, Stanley; Jameson, Frederic. Dark Continents: Psychoanalysis and Colonialism. Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2003.

7 Kogler, Hans Herbert. The Power of Dialogue: Critical Hermeneutics after Gadamer and Foucault. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: MIT Press, 1996. Kurt Mueller-Vollmer. Ed. The Hermeneutics Reader. New York: Continuum, 1985. Lyotard, Jean-Francois. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Translated by Geoff Bennington and Brain Massumi. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984. (1979) Madison, G.B. The Hermeneutics of Postmodernity: Figures and Themes. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1988. Mudge, L.S. Paul Ricoeur on Biblical Interpretation. Biblical Research 24-25 (1979-1980): 38-69. Ochs, Peter, and Levene, Nancy. Eds. Textual Reasonings: Jewish Philosophy and Text Study at the End of the Twentieth Century. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003. Palmer, Richard E. Hermeneutics. Evanston: Northwestern University, 1969. Perkinson, James. White Theology. Outing Supremacy in Modernity. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004. ISBN 978-1-4039-6584-4 Sanneh, Lamin O. Whose Religion Is Christianity? Grand Rapid: Eerdmanns, 2003. Schleiermacher, Friedrich. Hermeneutics and Criticism. And Other Writings. Translated and edited by Andrew Bowie. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-521-598486 Introduction pp. vii-xxxi; General Hermeneutics pp. 225-268. Smith, James K.A. The Fall of Interpretation: Philosophical Foundations for a Creational Hermeneutic. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2000. Soskice, Janet. The Kindness of God. Metaphor, Gender and Religious Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0198269502 Sugirtharajah, R.S. Postcolonial Criticism and Biblical Interpretation. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Taylor, Victor E. & Winquist, Charles E. Editors. Encyclopedia of Postmodernism. London and New York: Routledge, 2001. Tillich, Paul. Systematic Theology. Volume 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973. ISBN-10: 0226803376 pp. 3-159. Tolbert, Mary Ann. Reading for Liberation. In Reading From This Place, Vol. 1: Social

8 Location and Biblical Interpretation in the United States. Edited by Segovia and Mary Ann Tolbert. pp. 263-276.. Afterwards: The Politics and Poetics of Location. In Reading From This Place, Vol. 1: Social Location and Biblical Interpretation in the United States. Edited by Segovia and Mary Ann Tolbert. pp. 305-317. Yeo, K.K. What Has Jerusalem to Do with Beijing? Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1998.. Paul s Theological Ethic and the Chinese Morality of Ren Ren, in Charles Cosgrove, Herold Weiss, K.K. Yeo, Cross-Cultural Paul: Journeys to Others, Journeys to Ourselves. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008, pp. 104-140.. Christ and the Earth in Pauline and Native American Understandings, in Charles Cosgrove, Herold Weiss, K.K. Yeo, Cross-Cultural Paul: Journeys to Others, Journeys to Ourselves. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008, pp. 179-218.. Musing with Confucius and Paul: Toward a Chinese Christian Theology (Oregon: Cascade Books, 2008), 215-252 (on Yue and music). Young, Robert J.C. Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Wamke, Georgia. Hermeneutics, Tradition, and the Standpoint of Women. pp. 206-226. In Hermeneutics and Truth. Edited by Brice R. Wachterhauser. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8101-1118-7