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PDF (Amy Roche Doctoral Thesis 2020 Dthm) Durham E-Theses Facilitating spiritual understanding through hermeneutical and critical Bible engagement: What can be learned from the experience of a group of Christians reading the Bible with a course developed from the work of Sandra M. Schneiders? ROCHE, AMY How to cite: ROCHE, AMY (2020) Facilitating spiritual understanding through hermeneutical and critical Bible engagement: What can be learned from the experience of a group of Christians reading the Bible with a course developed from the work of Sandra M. Schneiders?, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/13543/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Facilitating spiritual understanding through hermeneutical and critical Bible engagement: What can be learned from the experience of a group of Christians reading the Bible with a course developed from the work of Sandra M. Schneiders? Abstract This study responds to concerns about the gap that has been identified between biblical scholarship and pastoral uses of the Bible. It does so by exploring whether critical hermeneutical approaches that are found to be helpful in scholarship can be made accessible to ordinary Christians in a way that enriches their faith. In order to investigate this, I first develop a Bible course from the work of Sandra M. Schneiders, whose approach to the Fourth Gospel integrates Christian Spirituality with critical scholarship. This course is then used in an empirical study with a group of Christians in order to see how the hermeneutical theory is experienced by participants. The first part of the thesis gives an analysis of Schneiders’ work in its wider context, and then offers an account of the methodology and context used in developing the study. I also describe the context of the study, which took place with women at an international church in Lebanon. Findings showed that one benefit of critical questions is that they allow Scripture to speak not only in ways that support what is believed, but also take readers beyond their existing presuppositions. An evaluation is given to show how specific aspects of the reading approach help the process of understanding. However, facilitating this in the context of a group required the question to expand beyond hermeneutical concerns. It was crucial to facilitate a sense safety, and openness. Insights are offered from educational theory, which are shown to be valuable to hermeneutical and spiritual perspectives of understanding. This is argued to be most helpfully viewed as a multi-directional dialogue that requires facilitation between readers and text, with one another, and with God. 1 Facilitating spiritual understanding through hermeneutical and critical Bible engagement: What can be learned from the experience of a group of Christians reading the Bible with a course developed from the work of Sandra M. Schneiders? Submitted by Amy Roche A thesis in one volume for the degree of Doctor of Theology and Ministry Department of Theology and Religion University of Durham 2019 2 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….....8 1.1 Background and personal interest……………………………………………………………....8 1.2 Previous research with ‘ordinary’ Bible readers……..………………………………….11 1.3 Understanding the thesis question……………………………………………………….........19 1.3.1 Spiritual understanding………………………………………………………………..…………………20 1.3.2 Facilitator……………………………………………………………………………………………………….21 1.3.3 Hermeneutical and critical Bible engagement…………………………………………………..21 1.4 Overview of chapters…………………………………………………………………………………..22 CHAPTER 2: Sandra Schneiders and transformative approaches in biblical scholarship…………………………………………………………………………………………………………26 2.1 Introduction: The work of Sandra Schneiders……………………………………………26 2.1.1 Spirituality……………………………………………………………………………………………………...27 2.1.2 ‘Biblical Spirituality’………………………………………………………………………………………..29 2.1.3 Johannine Scholarship…………………………………………………………………………………….31 2.2 Setting Schneiders’ work in a wider conversation………………………………………33 2.2.1 The relationship between Spirituality and theology………………………………………….33 2.2.2 Theological interpretation……………………………………………………………………………….35 2.2.3 Performance interpretation……………………………………………………….……………………39 2.3. Key distinctives of Schneiders’ approach…………………………………………………...44 2.3.1 Spirituality and theology……………………………………………………………………………..…..44 2.3.2 Biblical Spirituality and interpretation as performance…………………………………….46 2.4 The Revelatory Text: A hermeneutical approach….……………………………….……..49 2.4.1 The New Testament as sacred Scripture…………………………………………………………..50 2.4.2 The world behind the Text………………………………………………………………………………53 2.4.3 The world of the Text………………………………………………………………………………………55 2.4.4 The world before the Text……………………………………………………………………………….58 2.4.5 Key features selected to use in the Bible course………………………………………………..63 CHAPTER 3: Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………...65 3.1 Practical Theology Methodology…………………………………………………………………...65 3 3.2 Introduction and the research question……………………………………………………..68 3.3 A method of evaluative research…………………………………………………………………69 3.4 Sources of data:…………………………………………………………………………………………..70 3.4.1 Bible course……………………………………………………………………………………………………70 3.4.2 Focus groups and interviews…………………………………………………………………………...72 3.5 Limitations of the research…………………………………………………………………………74 3.6 Context of research……………………………………………………………………………………..75 3.7 Practical details of the Bible course…………………………………………………………….76 3.8 Recruiting participants……………………………………………………………………………….77 3.9 Confidentiality and ethics…………………………………………………………………………...77 3.10 The impact of my ‘insider’ role………………………………………………………………….79 3.11 Response bias……………………………………………………………………………………………81 3.12 Data Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………..82 CHAPTER 4: Formulating the Bible Course………………………………………………………….85 4.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………..85 4.2 The conditions of the text……………………………………………………………………………86 4.3 The conditions of the reader(s)……………………………………..……………………………86 4.4 The conditions of the reading……………………………………………………………………..87 4.5 Practical considerations……………………………………………………………………………..89 CHAPTER 5: The Bible Course: A Descriptive Account ……………..………………………...91 5.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………..91 5.2 The participants………………………………………………………………………………………….92 5.3 Spiritual talk and spiritual reading………………...…………………………………….…….96 5.3.1 Finding language to talk about experiences of God through his Word…….………….96 5.3.2 “You can’t read the Bible quickly like a paper back”: Slow reading…………………….98 5.3.3 “Really reading it for ourselves”: Freedom for personal reflection…………………......99 5.4 Making connections and finding meaning……..………..............…………………………101 5.4.1 “Maybe for us it’s like that”: Imaginative reading…………………………………………….101 5.4.2 “The picture kind of grew”: Diversity and shared understanding in community.104 5.4.3 “Struggling!” with Jesus’ words………………...…………………….…………………………..….106 5.4.4 “Lord, if you had been here”: Identifying with Martha……………………………………..107 4 5.5 Recognising the need to interpret……………………………………………...……………..109 5.5.1 “I think John and I have an understanding”: Literary approaches to John…………109 5.5.2 Looking “behind what is being said”: Language and meaning……...…………………...111 5.6 Interpretive challenges and critical questions………………………………………….113 5.6.1 “Where am I in the story?” Women in the Bible and in the Church…………………..113 5.6.2 “Now we feel included”: Jesus and women in the Fourth Gospel………………………116 5.6.3 “Unlearning”: Recognising and removing “lenses” that obscure our view of Jesus……………………………………………………………………….119 5.7 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………………………..123 CHAPTER 6: Analysis………………………………………………………………………………………...124 6.1 Introduction: Originality of research and Focusing on key questions…….…124 6.2 Becoming readers of the Bible: “Come and see”...……………………………………...125 6.2.1 The self-involved nature of understanding……………………………………………………..127 6.2.2 A bridge towards spiritual reading………………………………………………………………...128 6.3 Dialogue as locus of learning…………………………………………………………………….130 6.3.1 Multi-directional dialogue and openness………………………………………………………..130 6.3.2 Diversity and difference………………………………………………………………………………...133 6.3.3 Relational spirituality and learning………………………………………………………………..135 6.4 The role of facilitator…………………..……………………………………………………………139 6.4.1 Safety and risk……………………………………………………………………………………………...139 6.4.1a) Authenticity……………………………………………………………………………………………….141 6.4.1b) Affirmation………………...……………………………………………………………………………...143 6.4.2 Safety and risk: Between reader and text……………………………………………………….144 6.4.3 …And between text and reader………………………………………………………………….......147 6.5 The significance of presuppositions………………………………………………………….150 6.5.1 Presuppositions about the Bible: Starting at ‘The Beginning’…………………………..152
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