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contact:
malbon@vt.edu

Emily K. Arndt teaches in the Religion Department of Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Abstract: Developing the skills of critical analysis with introductory level undergraduate students is always a challenge. The challenging nature of this task is significantly increased in a course where the subject matter is biblical scholarship and the majority of the students in the classroom come from uncritical biblical backgrounds. To meet this challenge at Converse College, I developed a "methodology" course that students take prior to any other sacred text classes. In this course, students (predominantly Freshman) are exposed to several different approaches to the scholarly study of the Bible and, more importantly, are required to try putting them into practice in a variety of ways. In a course like this, with these particular students in this particular context (Spartanburg, SC), it is necessary not only to introduce students to a variety of methods of biblical scholarship, but to encourage more critical awareness about the presence and uncritical use of biblical images in their culture. In order to do this, I developed a "field" project where students must locate a visual representation of a biblical narrative, analyze it in relation to the text itself (how it functions as an interpretation), and analyze how/where it is displayed (how its context also functions interpretively). The students must then use this "field research" and analysis in the course of addressing a hypothetical situation about the display of an undisclosed but valuable piece of artwork that depicts a scene from biblical narrative at our small college. In my presentation to the Bible and Visual Art Consultation, I propose to share this particular assignment and the reasoning behind it in greater detail, discuss some examples from student work during academic year 2003/2004, and explore some possible strengths and weakness of such a project in achieving my pedagogical goals.

2004, San Antonio


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