Student Learning Outcomes for Biblical Studies in the Liberal Arts

Abstract

What is the role of biblical studies in a liberal arts curriculum? At the 2009North American Society of Biblical Literature conference, a panel of seven Bible scholars provided brief analyses and arguments about the appropriate goals of teaching biblical studies in undergraduate contexts in this historical moment. They consider and critique the notion of specific Student Learning Outcomes or Objectives (SLOs) for courses about the Bible. In the process they address questions such as: what is the relative importance of "coverage" (biblical literacy, disciplinary knowledge and methods, and the historical creation of the biblical texts) versus modern and historical reception and uses of these texts? In their contributions, the authors analyze ways that a biblical studies course can develop the critical reading and writing skills that are the hallmark of undergraduate education. Some authors find these skills furthered by not bracketing from study the normative truth claims in the texts and instead strategically and critically encouraging the identity work and religious seeking associated with religious uses of these texts. Others call attention to the institutional and classroom power dynamics which inform and are constituted by the current student learning outcomes movement. Defining Student Learning Outcomes for Biblical Studies: The Task Ahead Jane S. WebsterAs the 2008 AAR-Teagle report on the emerging Religion major makes clear, the nature of the religious studies classroom is changing. Moving from the seminary model in which Christianity is primary and other religious traditions are secondary, the new religion major has begun to look more "comparative, intercultural, multidisciplinary, critical, integrative, and constructive," (2008,(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29). In light of these results, it is appropriate to review our goals for teaching biblical literature in the liberal arts context. In this Forum we will think more generally about our courses and what we hope to achieve in the classroom. If we can find some consensus in these areas, we might be able to draw a number of general principles that will help to shape our courses to address the changing needs of the discipline and our students, and to connect our course objectives with the larger curriculum of a liberal arts education.

Touching sacred texts, touching history: Using manuscripts to teach scribal practices and material scripture in the biblical studies survey course

“…Miller describes this as a need to focus on “the Bible as an on‐going product of certain social practices and particular human institutions” rather than an inherently authoritative text (Miller, 2015, p. 255). Similarly, Gallagher describes how his survey course has employed more comparative material on scriptural practices across different religious traditions (Webster et al, 2012, p. 267). Manuscripts and other kinds of primary sources serve as apt launching‐points for all of these key concepts and contexts, which will recur in the rest of the semester.…”

“…As the undergraduate teaching of biblical studies shifts increasingly from historical‐critical and theological modes to imagining the Bible's role in a broader liberal arts curriculum, recent scholarship in teaching the survey course has explored a variety of tools for incorporating many different disciplinary perspectives (Cornell & LeMon, 2016; Miller, 2015; Peoples, 2012; Reed, 2016; Reeder, Liew, Webster, Batten, & Frilingos, 2016; Roncace & Gray, 2005; Webster et al, 2012; Webster & Holland, 2012). Further, in recent years biblical text‐critics have taken a greater interest in the life of the Bible beyond searching for the ‘original text’ (Breed, 2014; Knust & Wasserman, 2019; Parker, 1997; Stern, 2017), and scholars of religion have taken the turn to the material (Meyer, Morgan, Paine, & Plate, 2010; Morgan, 2014) into the materiality of scripture (Parmenter, 2015; Watts, 2008, 2015).…”

Teaching Students as Shapers of the Traditions that Shape Them

“…This is not a strictly historical interest in the past, concerned only about those people back then, so to speak; instead, the traditions are of value precisely because of the ways they shape the present community. Eugene Gallagher names this as “the fundamental move of the liberal arts,” that is, “to situate the here and now in terms of the there and then” (in Webster et al , 267). In other words, there is a necessary self‐involvement (cf.…”

The Past, Present, and Religious Studies Future of Civic Engagement in American Higher Education

“…What are these outcomes if not civic engagement? For more on student learning outcomes, with specific reference to biblical studies, seeWebster et al (2012). For courses or pedagogical strategies directly engaging with themes of difference and diversity in a global religious context, seeRamye (2006),Eilers (2014), DeTemple (2012), Corrie (2013),King (2016),Wiersma (2016),Derris and Runions (2016).…”