Click here for a downloadable, printable Google Docs version of these instructions.

Purpose: The goal of this semester-long project is to engage you more fully in the questions we’re exploring about diversity within the Hebrew Bible and/or the diverse ways that reading communities have interpreted these texts—particularly, as noted in the syllabus, in connection with the ways these texts construct identities (of individuals, communities, and deities) and explore power relationships (such as between the powerful and the oppressed). 

Task: In keeping with the disciplinary approaches that distinguish research and writing in literary/rhetorical studies, the gist of the project is to use a combination of textual analysis and contextual research to explore some question or problem related to diversity within the Hebrew Bible and/or the diverse ways that reading communities have interpreted biblical texts. The text(s), readers, and question(s) you focus on are up to you. 

Finding Your Way In: There are several broad (if somewhat abstract) questions that surround our course and this project, including these: 

  • What is it about these texts that lends them to such widely divergent interpretations?
  • What can we learn about the possible meanings of biblical texts from interpreters who may differ substantially from each other? 
  • What can we learn about the social construction (and power dynamics) of identities and ideologies, as we see these playing out in how people read and understand these texts? 
  • What can we learn about the value of disagreement in an effort to deepen our engagement and enrich our questions?

But most important is that you find your own question(s) to explore, investigate, and help the rest of us to understand. In other words, what question(s) might you pursue that matter to you (i.e., who are you in relation to this material?) and that promise to fill a gap in our knowledge (i.e., what’s missing from our conversations?).  

Options: As currently envisioned (pending revisions we might make as a class to the project and/or the contract), there are two options for completing this project and meeting the requirements for a (course) grade of B or higher. Both options will include peer feedback on each element along the way (including, in particular, the development of assessment criteria). And all will have an opportunity to share their findings and discoveries with the entire class. Details for each element, including deadlines, will appear on Moodle.

  1. One sustained investigation, focusing on a biblical text and multiple interpretations of that text by reading communities differentiated by time, place, culture, ethnicity, sex/gender, class, religion, or ideology. These interpretations could be encountered through commentaries, sermons, essays, memoirs, songs, paintings, poems, novels, plays, translations, or any other “text” that may be read as an effort to make sense of the biblical text you selected. Required elements: (a) proposal of 2-3 pages, with initial observations, questions, goals, resources, and assessment criteria; (b) annotated bibliography of 2-3 pages, with summary of initial findings; (c) working draft of 4-5 pages; (d) polished revision of 8-10 pages; and (e) a project self-assessment. 
  2. Series of three shorter investigations, each focused on a biblical text and multiple interpretations by different reading communities. Begin with an interpretive problem or question, then write your way towards some possible answers through a combination of others’ perspectives and your own close reading. Each investigation could focus on a different question, or you could use the series to explore a single question in conversation with three different texts or interpretations. Required elements: (a) proposal of 2-3 pages, with initial questions, goals, plans, resources, and assessment criteria; b) first investigation of 3-5 pages; (c) second investigation of 3-5 pages; (d) third investigation of 3-5 pages; and (e) a concluding reflection and self-assessment. 

FAQs

  • What if I’m feeling totally lost about what to do or how to do it? Talk to Brian! Ask a librarian for help. Schedule a session with the Writing Center. Check the research resources listed on the website. 
  • What kinds of assessment criteria might be worth considering? For starters, you might consult these notes about genre conventions in the humanities and adopt some of these conventions as target criteria. Or look again at the course learning outcomes for ideas about how your work on this project might help you meet one or more of those outcomes. If you’re still stumped, ask Brian for help!