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Tiffany Webster. 120213511. SIIBS. the University of Sheffield. Phd Thesis

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Tiffany Webster. 120213511. SIIBS. the University of Sheffield. Phd Thesis Tiffany Webster. 120213511. SIIBS. The University of Sheffield. PhD Thesis. March 2017. “When the Bible Meets the Black Stuff: A Contextual Bible Study Experiment.” 1 Tiffany Webster. 120213511. SIIBS. The University of Sheffield. PhD Thesis. March 2017. “When the Bible Meets the Black Stuff: A Contextual Bible Study Experiment.” 2 Tiffany Webster. 120213511. SIIBS. The University of Sheffield. PhD Thesis. March 2017. “When the Bible Meets the Black Stuff: A Contextual Bible Study Experiment.” THE SHEFFIELD INSTITUTE FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY BIBLICAL STUDIES (SIIBS) THE FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD “WHEN THE BIBLE MEETS THE BLACK STUFF: A CONTEXTUAL BIBLE STUDY EXPERIMENT” A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY TIFFANY WEBSTER 120213511 06 March, 2017 3 Tiffany Webster. 120213511. SIIBS. The University of Sheffield. PhD Thesis. March 2017. “When the Bible Meets the Black Stuff: A Contextual Bible Study Experiment.” CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7 CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………8 Research Aims. …………………………………………………………………………………………..8 The Why of “When the Bible Meets the Black Stuff” or Why this Research is Important…………………………………………………………………………………………………9 How this Research Took Shape………………………………………………………………….20 Participant Consent……………………………………………………………………………………28 Terminological Clarification……………………………………………………………………….29 CHAPTER TWO. WORKING REFLEXIVELY………………………………………………………………..31 Defining Reflexivity……………………………………………………………………………………33 Critiquing Reflexivity………………………………………………………………………………….45 Reflexivity and Contextual Bible Study……………………………………………………….49 Acknowledging my Vulnerability and Insider/Outsider Status……………………51 My Insider/Outsider Status in Relation to this Study’s Participants..54 My Insider/Outsider Status in the Academy…………………………………..57 Reflexivity, Femininity, and Class……………………………………………………………….68 CHAPTER THREE. CONTEXTUAL BIBLE STUDY AND ETHNOGRAPHY……………………….75 Defining Ethnography………………………………………………………………………………..75 Ethnography’s Origins…………………………………………………………………….76 The Methodology and Method of Ethnography……………………………..84 4 Tiffany Webster. 120213511. SIIBS. The University of Sheffield. PhD Thesis. March 2017. “When the Bible Meets the Black Stuff: A Contextual Bible Study Experiment.” I’m a Member. Hold on, I’m a Fan. No, Wait, I’m a Participant as Observer. Actually, I don’t know who I am…………………………………….99 Critiquing Ethnography………………………………………………………………..105 How my Research Question and Commitment to Reflexivity Drove my Methodological Choices: Defining my Ontological and Epistemological Positions………………………………………………………………………………………………….112 Why Contextual Bible Study should be Formally Grounded in Ethnography in both Practice and Writing.……………………………………………………………………….126 CHAPTER FOUR. PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE I - MY ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF MALE COAL-MINING CULTURE IN SOUTH DERBYSHIRE……………………………………….142 The Heavy Cloud of Class…………………………………………………………………………142 Class and the Issue of Representation………………………………………….144 Academic Studies of Class…………………………………………………………….148 Defining Class: The Coal Miners’ Definition………………………………….152 Occupation and Class……………………………………………………….154 Heritage and Class…………………………………………………………….157 Education and Class………………………………………………………….160 Money and Class………………………………………………………………170 Race and Class………………………………………………………………….171 Extant Ethnographies of British Coal-Mining Communities, why an Ethnography of Modern Coal-Mining Culture is Needed, and why it may already be too Late for such a Study…………………………..……………………………173 Drawing the Boundaries of my Research Field…………………………………………183 My Time in the Field: A Record of the Methods and Techniques used to Collect Data……………………………………………………………………………………………..185 Recruiting and Sampling………………………………………………………………185 A Timeline of my Ethnographic Research……………………………………..187 Coal Mining in South Derbyshire……………………………………………………………..188 Three Key Findings…………………………………………………………………………………..193 “Veins and Seams”: Identity through Vocation…………………………….194 5 Tiffany Webster. 120213511. SIIBS. The University of Sheffield. PhD Thesis. March 2017. “When the Bible Meets the Black Stuff: A Contextual Bible Study Experiment.” An “Us versus Them” Mentality, Collectivity, Unity, and being a Monolithic Group…………………………………………………………………………199 The Perilous State of a Perilous Industry: The Trauma of Mass Involuntary Redundancy………………………………………………………………203 Introducing Mr Black, Mr Brown, Mr Green, Mr Purple, and Mr Red - the Coal Miners that Participated in the Contextual Bible Study Programme…211 CHAPTER FIVE. CONTEXTUAL BIBLE STUDY………………………………………………………….216 What is Contextual Bible Study? ……………………………………………………………..216 Contextual Bible Study and South Africa………………………………………216 Contextual Bible Study beyond South Africa………………………………..220 The Method of Contextual Bible Study…………………………………………………….228 CHAPTER SIX. PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE II - READING THE BIBLE WITH SOUTH DERBYSHIRE COAL MINERS……………………………………………………………………..241 How I Ended up with too much Data and what I did with it……………………..241 Power, Authority, an “Us versus Them” Mentality, Mass Involuntary Redundancy, and Collective Trauma………………………………………………………..243 Matthew 20:1-16: “I think it’s as though he’s trying to split the workforce up, I think. You know, get men against men” – Mr Green…………………………..………………………………………………………249 Job 17:1-16: “Well this is depressing!” - Mr Purple……………………..261 CHAPTER SEVEN. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………..269 Grounding Contextual Bible Study in Ethnography – What’s the Point?.....269 The Future of Contextual Bible Study………………………………………………………271 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………………………………………..276 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………………………….305 6 Tiffany Webster. 120213511. SIIBS. The University of Sheffield. PhD Thesis. March 2017. “When the Bible Meets the Black Stuff: A Contextual Bible Study Experiment.” ABSTRACT The original contribution to knowledge that this Biblical Studies research project offers is the experimental analysis of the claim that the Bible reading methodology Contextual Bible Study (CBS) should be grounded in ethnography, not only in practice, but also in writing. This project not only critically evaluates this argument, but it also demonstrates the efficacy of its claims by putting the argument presented into practice. This was done by implementing the suggested methodological refinements of CBS via the design and facilitation of a CBS programme that was grounded in ethnography. This took the form of ethnographically researching coal- mining culture in South Derbyshire and conducting a CBS programme with a group of contemporary South Derbyshire coal miners. The findings of this project are significant for the discipline of Biblical Studies as thus far CBS has been used in a manner that fails to recognise the need for ethnographic contextualisation – a need which is twofold. First, it has yet to be widely acknowledged that the processes, methods, and goals of CBS are products of the context that gave birth to it (South Africa) and that in order for CBS to be used appropriately and effectively, it should be contextualised in light of its origins. Secondly, ethnographic contextualisation is also needed to ensure the following: that the researcher using CBS understands as fully as possible the context in which they intend to use CBS; that the CBS programme being developed resonates deeply with those participating in it; and that the final audience of any readings produced via CBS are equally knowledgeable about the context of those participating in the process. This thesis therefore examines critically both ethnography and CBS, and through the employment of reflexivity, incorporates ethnography into CBS not only as its formal prerequisite stage, but in a manner whereby its results are then used to shape and inform the entirety of the CBS research. WORD COUNT: 75,870 7 Tiffany Webster. 120213511. SIIBS. The University of Sheffield. PhD Thesis. March 2017. “When the Bible Meets the Black Stuff: A Contextual Bible Study Experiment.” CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION Research Aims The focus of this research project was to investigate critically the Contextual Bible Study1 methodology and to ascertain whether ethnography2 should be formally incorporated into the existing CBS methodology as the necessary prerequisite stage of CBS programmes.3 To demonstrate the soundness of this proposal, I then put my methodological amendments into action by constructing an ethnographically grounded CBS programme. As a result of this, my research project also records and analyses how a group of “ordinary”4 readers, in this case a group of South Derbyshire coal miners, contextually read a series of biblical texts. Both my methodological refinement of CBS and the coal miners’ contextual biblical interpretations should therefore be considered as this research project’s original contribution to the discipline of Biblical Studies. 1 “Contextual Bible Study” will be abbreviated to “CBS” and a detailed explanation of this exegetical process will be provided in chapter five. 2 The notion of ethnography will be examined at length in chapter three, alongside a description of how this understanding aligned with my ontological and epistemological positions. 3 How I determined CBS’ need for ethnography will be examined in depth in chapter three. 4 The term “ordinary” reader refers to untrained readers of the Bible. For example, readers that have no knowledge of the historical
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