Chair: Christopher Rowland and Christine Joynes
Session 1: Panel Discussion, ‘Painting the Text: The Artist as Biblical Interpreter'
author of Visuality and Biblical Text (Leo S. Olschki Editore, 2004).
author of Furthering Humanity: A Theology of Culture (Ashgate, 2004). (and has written on art, for example in a forthcoming article ‘Transforming Power of the Cross’ )
editor of Between the Text and the Canvas: The Bible and Art in Dialogue (Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2007)
Session 2: (Joint Session with Revelation Seminar)
'The Apocalypse Acording to Johnny Cash: Examining the 'Effect' of the Book of Revelation on a Contemporary Apocalyptic Writer'
Taking its lead from Heikki Räisänen's work on the difficulties of defining the effective history of the Bible, this paper considers the impact of the book of Revelation upon a contemporary apocalyptic writer, the American songwriter and vocalist, Johnny Cash. It is argued that Cash's admission of his own interpretive limitations with regard to the Apocalypse in the liner notes to his 2002 album, The Man Comes Around, strongly suggests that he was reading the Bible and being personally affected by it, and not just 'parroting' the standard readings of the dispensationalist tradition in which he stood. The resulting indirect impact of Revelation through the mediation of the title song is then traced though its subsequent use in various media, notably Youtube videos, Zack Snyder's zombie film, The Dawn of the Dead, and the 2004 US presidential election
Session 3:
'Mark: Gospel of Practice: Discipleship and Community'
The perspectives of MARK: GOSPEL OF ACTION (SPCK, 2006) shift from varied personal and community responses to perceived outworkings of Mark's story and ethos in the areas of intentional discipleship practice and community formation. What might a would-be follower today create from the arguable Markan communities' work with the stories of Jesus and his disciples? How does detailed study of the text work out as intentional practice in matters of vocation, location, lifestyle, policy, corporate life and political action? Mark 2 was pursued in an inner city corner shop church (Expository Times, April 2007). Mark 3 is now handled in the "Fresh Expressions" style inner city Burngreave Ashram, where a Contextual Reading of the chapter has been pursued.