Signifying (on) Scriptures Series
()
About this series
In Borderline Exegesis, Leif Vaage presents an alternative approach to biblical interpretation, or exegesis—an approach that bends the boundaries of the traditional North American methodology to analyze the meaning of biblical texts for a wider audience. To accomplish this, Vaage engages in a practice he calls “borderline exegesis.” Adapting anthropological notions of borderlands, borderline exegesis writes biblical scholarship peripherally, unearthing the Bible’s textual and discursive borderlands and allowing biblical texts to be at play with the utopian imagination.
The book’s main chapters comprise four case studies that engage in a “divergent reading” of the book of Job, the Gospel of Matthew, the Epistle of James, and the book of Revelation. Informed by the author’s time in war-torn Peru, these chapters take on themes that the poor and disenfranchised have historically claimed—themes of social justice, the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of prevailing social practices, and, most importantly, utopian demand for another possible world. The chapters are held together by the presentation of a greater theoretical framework that provides reflection on the exegetical practices within and confronts biblical scholars with important questions about the aims of the work they do. Taken as a whole, Borderline Exegesis seeks to disclose what the professional practice of textual interpretation might become if we refuse the conventional distances between academic practice and lived experience.
Titles in the series (4)
- Divining the Self: A Study in Yoruba Myth and Human Consciousness
1
Divining the Self weaves elements of personal narrative, myth, history, and interpretive analysis into a vibrant tapestry that reflects the textured, embodied, and performative nature of scripture and scripturalizing practices. Velma Love examines the Odu—the Yoruba sacred scriptures—along with the accompanying mythology, philosophy, and ritual technologies engaged by African Americans. Drawing from the personal narratives of African American Ifa practitioners along with additional ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Oyotunji African Village, South Carolina, and New York City, Love’s work explores the ways in which an ancient worldview survives in modern times. Divining the Self also takes up the challenge of determining what it means for the scholar of religion to study scripture as both text and performance. This work provides an excellent case study of the sociocultural phenomenon of scripturalizing practices.
- Understanding the Qurʾanic Miracle Stories in the Modern Age
3
The Qurʾan contains many miracle stories, from Moses’s staff turning into a serpent to Mary’s conceiving Jesus as a virgin. In Understanding the Qurʾanic Miracle Stories in the Modern Age, Isra Yazicioglu explores the ways in which meaningful implications have been drawn from these apparently strange narratives in both the premodern and modern eras. She fleshes out a fascinating medieval Muslim debate over miracles and connects its insights with early and late modern turning points in Western thought and with contemporary Qurʾanic interpretation. Building on an apparent tension within the Qurʾan and analyzing crucial cases of classical and modern Muslim engagement with these miracle stories, Yazicioglu illustrates how an apparent site of conflict between faith and reason, or revelation and science, can become a site of fruitful exchange. This book is a distinctive contribution to a new trend in Qurʾanic studies: it reveals the presence of insightful Qurʾanic interpretation outside of the traditional line-by-line commentary genre, engaging with the works of Ghazali, Ibn Rushd, and Said Nursi. Moreover, while it focuses on the case of miracle stories, the book also goes beyond these specific passages to reflect more broadly on the issue of Qurʾanic hermeneutics. It notes the connections between literal and symbolic approaches and highlights the importance of reading the Qurʾan with an eye to its potential implications for everyday life.
- Finding Kluskap: A Journey into Mi'kmaw Myth
2
The Mi’kmaq of eastern Canada were among the first indigenous North Americans to encounter colonial Europeans. As early as the mid-sixteenth century, they were trading with French fishers, and by the mid-seventeenth century, large numbers of Mi’kmaq had converted to Catholicism. Mi’kmaw Catholicism is perhaps best exemplified by the community’s regard for the figure of Saint Anne, the grandmother of Jesus. Every year for a week, coinciding with the saint’s feast day of July 26, Mi’kmaw peoples from communities throughout Quebec and eastern Canada gather on the small island of Potlotek, off the coast of Nova Scotia. It is, however, far from a conventional Catholic celebration. In fact, it expresses a complex relationship between the Mi’kmaq, Saint Anne, a series of eighteenth-century treaties, and a cultural hero named Kluskap. Finding Kluskap brings together years of historical research and learning among Mi’kmaw peoples on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The author’s long-term relationship with Mi’kmaw friends and colleagues provides a unique vantage point for scholarship, one shaped not only by personal relationships but also by the cultural, intellectual, and historical situations that inform postcolonial peoples. The picture that emerges when Saint Anne, Kluskap, and the mission are considered in concert with one another is one of the sacred life as a site of adjudication for both the meaning and efficacy of religion—and the impact of modern history on contemporary indigenous religion.
- Borderline Exegesis
4
In Borderline Exegesis, Leif Vaage presents an alternative approach to biblical interpretation, or exegesis—an approach that bends the boundaries of the traditional North American methodology to analyze the meaning of biblical texts for a wider audience. To accomplish this, Vaage engages in a practice he calls “borderline exegesis.” Adapting anthropological notions of borderlands, borderline exegesis writes biblical scholarship peripherally, unearthing the Bible’s textual and discursive borderlands and allowing biblical texts to be at play with the utopian imagination. The book’s main chapters comprise four case studies that engage in a “divergent reading” of the book of Job, the Gospel of Matthew, the Epistle of James, and the book of Revelation. Informed by the author’s time in war-torn Peru, these chapters take on themes that the poor and disenfranchised have historically claimed—themes of social justice, the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of prevailing social practices, and, most importantly, utopian demand for another possible world. The chapters are held together by the presentation of a greater theoretical framework that provides reflection on the exegetical practices within and confronts biblical scholars with important questions about the aims of the work they do. Taken as a whole, Borderline Exegesis seeks to disclose what the professional practice of textual interpretation might become if we refuse the conventional distances between academic practice and lived experience.
Leif E. Vaage
Leif E. Vaage teaches New Testament literature and exegesis at Emmanuel College and the Toronto School of Theology, both in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of Galilean Upstarts: Jesus’ First Followers According to Q and, most recently, a book of verse, Schooled in Salt.
Related to Signifying (on) Scriptures
Related ebooks
What Squirt Teaches Me about Jesus: Kids Learning about Jesus while Playing with Fido Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFemale Force: Carrie Fisher Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nanny & Hank #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn the Way Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOMWG Oh, My Wonderful God!: A Tribute in Verse to Our Lord and Savior Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNurse Best's Medicinal Cocktails and Mocktails: Over 100 Cocktail and Mocktail Recipes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFemale Force: Cher Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlackbeard Legacy Gallery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGlobo Arte March 2022 magazine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlackbeard Legacy #2 Volume 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVincent Price Presents: Black & White #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings20 Million Miles More Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Space Women Beyond the Stratosphere #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFemale Force: RuPaul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Southwest Landscaping Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegend of Isis Gallery #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBaneberry Creek: Academy for Wayward Fairies #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFinding Treasured Gold Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRuth & Freddy #0 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBruce the Fire Dog and His North Pole Friends Say Hello Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlying Saucers Vs. the Earth #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreastfeeding and Parenting: Your baby will teach you how Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFleischer #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBirds: Our Fine Feathered Friends: Seen by Sue and Drew Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOdyssey Presents: Anthology #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsyellow promises Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrion the Hunter: Giant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLogan's Run: Aftermath Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrapped in the Tower Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJeremiah's Path to Confirmation: And his Pocketbook of seven, nine plus three Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Religion & Spirituality For You
The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Se Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5THE EMERALD TABLETS OF THOTH THE ATLANTEAN Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Course In Miracles: (Original Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Urantia Book – New Enhanced Edition: Easy navigation with an index and multiple study aids Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Upon Waking: 60 Daily Reflections to Discover Ourselves and the God We Were Made For Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Love Dare Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mere Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5NRSV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hindu View Of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gospel of Mary Magdalene Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer: Summary and Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Buddha's Guide to Gratitude: The Life-changing Power of Everyday Mindfulness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Writing to Wake the Soul: Opening the Sacred Conversation Within Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Live in Grace, Walk in Love: A 365-Day Journey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reason for God Discussion Guide: Conversations on Faith and Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Signifying (on) Scriptures
0 ratings0 reviews