Workshop on Reading the Bible in the Pre-Modern World:  Interpretation, Performance and Image

    My Research Project that is being currently funded by the ISF conceives of English and German Reformation biblical drama (16th and 17th centuries) as a central participant in the effort to translate and interpret the Hebrew Bible. As such, it judiciously positions itself within multi-temporal and interreligious contexts—looking across several historical periods, as well as across Christian and Jewish interfaces. This Workshop, on the one extends the time period to encompass the Late Antiquity, Medieval and Early Modern Periods, focusing on change, yet also on consistencies and correspondences. Within this broadened time frame this Workshop, on the other hand, develops the connections between Jewish and Christian responses to the Bible, by studying three central aspects of reading the biblical text:  Interpretation, Performance and Image. This focus provides the opportunity to investigate topics such as: Jewish and Christian exegetical traditions; biblical translations; literary interpretations of biblical themes, narratives and genres; performative embodiment of the Bible—as linguistic, dramatic and gestural dimensions; and visual representations of biblical themes and narratives.