Biblical Literature and the Hermeneutics of Trauma

Call For Papers: This section studies methods for employing trauma as a concept for interpreting biblical and extra-canonical texts in their origins and their reception. Papers may interpret biblical or extra-biblical texts through the lens of various dimensions of trauma, including the following: individual, collective, and intergenerational experience; events or ongoing situations that traumatize; effects of traumatization; and strategies for recovery from and resilience against traumatization. This year the section will receive proposals for three sessions, each focusing on one of the following topics: (1) Trauma and RESILIENCE: RESILIENCE may be understood broadly as the capacity to progress in recovery from traumatic experiences or to withstand to some degree potentially overwhelming experiences. How might resilience be more precisely defined as a productive lens for interpreting or appropriating the biblical text? (2) Trauma and GENDER: We encourage papers on trauma and GENDER to interact with the notion of "insidious trauma" – a term coined by the feminist psychotherapist Maria Root to describe the ongoing violation experienced by individuals and groups based on gender, race, sexual orientation and class that includes the long-term effects of systemic sexism, racism and classism. (3) Trauma and ECOLOGY: This will be a joint session with the ECOLOGICAL HERMENEUTICS section. We invite papers that explore the following questions. How might the discussion of trauma be extended beyond the human to include the land, trees, animals, and other non-human members of creation in dialogue with the biblical material? What does it mean to talk of “traumatization of the land (or oceans, etc)?” How does the non-human manifest and communicate trauma? What principles are helpful? Proposals should indicate which of the three topics is being addressed. Proposals should also define the aspect(s) of trauma being employed, and papers should include some evaluation of the usefulness of the definitio

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