Democratizing Biblical Studies : Toward an Emancipatory Educational Space

Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza argues that it is necessary to reframe the field of biblical studies and replace the competitive teaching models prevalent in graduate programs with an emancipatory, radical democratic pedagogical model that fosters collaboration, participation, and critical engagement. To achieve constructive engagement with the differences of social location and diversity of perspectives that exist both in the Bible and in our contexts, Fiorenza argues, we must become aware of the pitfalls of one-dimensional thinking that seeks to use the Bible to find definite answers and to exclude different understandings.

Elisabeth Schssler Fiorenza is Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity. Harvard Divinity School. Her Books include In Memory of Her: Bread Not stone; But She Said; Discipleship of Equals; Sharing Her Word; Jesus and the Politics of Interpretation; Wisdom Ways: Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation; and The Power of the Word: Scripture and the Rhetoric of Empire. She was the first women scholar to serve as president of the Society of Biblical Literature and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001. She also is cofounder and coeditor of the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.