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(Re)Discovering a Midrashic Biblical Imagination for the Progressive-Liberal Community Luther Seminary Digital Commons @ Luther Seminary Doctor of Ministry Theses Student Theses 5-20-2018 (Re)Discovering a Midrashic Biblical Imagination for the Progressive-Liberal Community Elisabeth R. Jones Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.luthersem.edu/dmin_theses Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, and the Liturgy and Worship Commons Recommended Citation Jones, Elisabeth R., "(Re)Discovering a Midrashic Biblical Imagination for the Progressive-Liberal Community" (2018). Doctor of Ministry Theses. 32. https://digitalcommons.luthersem.edu/dmin_theses/32 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses at Digital Commons @ Luther Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Ministry Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Luther Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. (RE)DISCOVERING A MIDRASHIC BIBLICAL IMAGINATION FOR THE PROGRESSIVE-LIBERAL CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY by ELISABETH R. JONES A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Luther Seminary In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF MINISTRY ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA 2018 © 2018 by Elisabeth R. Jones All rights reserved ABSTRACT (Re)Discovering a Midrashic Biblical Imagination for the Progressive-Liberal Community by Elisabeth R. Jones This thesis presents the case for the development of a sustainable community practice of midrashic biblical imagination as a catalyst for transformative engagement with the Bible in progressive Christian congregations. Notes that a midrashic imagination applied to the polyvalent testimonies of the biblical canon is an apt partner for post- modern, progressive congregations, whose theology embraces diversity, plurality, and critique of hegemonic structures. Uses a longitudinal qualitative methodology, with Appreciative Inquiry, to trace the various methods used for cultivating curiosity among Scriptural skeptics over nine years, concluding with the Midrashic Imagination Project, which involves the community in study, worship, preaching and discipleship. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS If you are reading, have read, or if you will ever read this, thank you! Richard Rehfeldt, Brian Fraser, Cameron Howard and Karoline Lewis are at the top of the list of the many advisors, mentors, and colleagues in ministry who have tightened the loose ends, strengthened the weak spots, asked the hard questions, and believed enough in this project to encourage me through this writing process. Thank you too, Luther Seminary, for believing enough in biblical preaching to offer this Doctor of Ministry degree programme, and for staffing it with amazing core and visiting faculty, and administrative support staff who navigated the ins and outs of international student visas, Zotero, heat-waves, and classroom swaps. I especially want to thank Professor Richard Ward, who took away the biblical text so that I could find it already within; your course was pivotal to the development of this thesis in ways I would not have thought possible. Cohort 2015, we simply cannot stop now! I have learned so much in your company. You have all become treasured colleagues in this odd and wondrous calling, and the most rock-solid soul kin anyone could ask for. To Chris, thanks for your air- conditioned, riverside sanctuary from the scorching heat, and for the pastoral theology filled car rides. None of this would have happened were it not for the blessed mixture of skepticism and curiosity of the faith community of Cedar Park United Church. To the members of the Congregational Response Groups and all the study groups, as well as to iii the worshipping community of all ages, your willingness to turn a text upside down and inside out has taught me “infinitely more than we could have asked or imagined” about the Lively Word hiding in plain sight in our midst. My thanks to you all, especially to Shawm (age two), for sharing your cheerios on the Feast of Epiphany. To my family, and most especially to Norman, whose weekends, evenings, and even vacations have been sacrificed on the altar of midrashic study, I owe debts of gratitude I will never repay, but will enjoy trying. To you, I promise a summer without turning a text! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................... iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................. viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................. ix 1. INTRODUCTION: A LOVE STORY...........................................................................1 A Love Story: The Prologue ......................................................................1 The Challenge: Progressives Don’t Read the Bible (much) ......................3 A Progressive-Liberal Community of Faith ..............................................7 …In a Post-everything world ..................................................................11 Recovering a Biblical Imagination ..........................................................12 Provoking Curiosity, Fostering Imagination ...........................................15 Outline: How this Thesis will proceed ....................................................18 2. BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS ...............................................21 Imagination ..............................................................................................22 Theological and Biblical Imagination .....................................................25 Excursus: Midrash 101 ............................................................................33 Midrashic Literature (Product) .........................................................34 Midrashic Process ............................................................................36 Midrashic Biblical Imagination in the Progressive Liberal Community .40 Conclusion ...............................................................................................44 3. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................46 Contextual Studies ...................................................................................47 Defining “Progressive-Liberal” ...............................................................50 Biblical Imagination ................................................................................55 Midrash Studies .......................................................................................58 Performance Theory ................................................................................61 Conclusion ...............................................................................................64 4. PROJECT DESCRIPTION ..........................................................................................65 Methodological Questions .......................................................................65 Research Context .....................................................................................70 What’s Past is Prologue (2008-2015) ......................................................71 Biblical Imagination in Worship, 2012-2015 ...................................73 The Midrashic Imagination Project (2016-2017) ....................................76 v Workshops: “Follow the White Rabbit” ..........................................78 “Texts and Textures” Seasonal Series ..............................................79 Sunday Worship ...............................................................................83 Midrash in Ordinary Time ................................................................85 Focus Group and Journals ................................................................86 Participation and Evaluation methods ..............................................86 Conclusion ...............................................................................................87 5. ANALYSIS OF PROJECT ..........................................................................................89 Research Protocols. .................................................................................89 Preliminary and Prototype Phases: Analytical Summary ........................92 Midrashic Imagination Project ................................................................94 Texts and Textures ...........................................................................96 1. Advent Texts and Textures. .........................................................98 2. Lenten Textures: We Walk this Road Together. ........................105 3. Easter Texts and Textures: This Changes Everything ...............110 4. Ordinary Time ............................................................................115 5. Focus Group ...............................................................................116 Conclusion .............................................................................................118 6. EVALUATION..........................................................................................................120 Did the Thesis Deliver? .........................................................................121 a. Research Questions: Outcomes ..................................................121 b. Anticipated Outcomes ................................................................125
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