Narrative Exegesis and Subject-oriented Biblical Didactics

This interdisciplinary project combining New Testament exegesis and religious education develops a narrative model, which mixes New Testament exegesis and biblical didactic approaches based on the example of the Emmaus Encounter, in which the disciples meet the Risen Lord (Lk 24, 1349). The option of considering the readers as spirit-gifted and competent subjects capable of reading biblical texts and narratives represents the common ground for the collaborative project. Lk 24 thrives on the tension between the subjective experience of resurrection and the confession stipulated by the church. A model for narratological analysis developed by Carola Surkamp and considered in the exegesis for the first time was chosen to record / support this tension methodologically. Carola Surkamp belongs to Ansgar Nünning`s School and has developed a theory of the perspective structure of narrative texts differentiating between the perspectives of narrator(s), character(s) and reader(s) leaning on the works of Mieke Bal, Gerard Genette and Manfred Pfister. In accordance with this model, the meaning potential of a text can only be recognised through the interplay of these individual perspectives. The newly adapted "Theory of the Perspective" in this project enables a multilayered discussion about the tension between the essential subjective experience of resurrection and the confession stipulated by the church. The goal of the project is to examine and to adapt this innovative narrative exegetical instrument to teaching concepts in Bible didactics with the aim to find out to what extent an individual student`s encounter with a biblical narrative text, her / his competency in handling of a narrative and its meaning(s) as well as the communication about the text can be encouraged. This takes place through a multilevel qualitative-empirical method, which implies that students are competent readers and interpreters in terms of a subject-oriented approach (participant observation videography "thinking aloud" interpretation phases in the sense of a hermeneutic circle). The project results are to be expected on different levels: On the one hand, the methodological approach proves to be stringent and innovative from the exegetical perspective. In addition to that, it aims at creating impulses to further develop of narrative exegesis. On the other hand, the approach revolves around the insight into the teaching process of Bible didactics gained through a mixed methods teaching design. Nonetheless, the overall goal is to examine and further develop the interaction between religious didactics and other theological disciplines and the critical-constructive interplay of various perspectives in teacher education. This means that the interdisciplinary collaboration is not only meant to lead to deeper insights into the own discipline, but also to more animation through the mutual discussions and to more reflexion and development of the different programmes of teacher education.

The Bible the Holy Book of Christianity in the context of Catholic religious education and from an educational perspective: A didactic challenge for both teachers and pedagogues. Today, religious biblical learning and teaching in schools is embedded in opposites between biblical apathy and sometimes militant and occasionally fundamentalist literal interpretations, between scepsis based on natural sciences and unquestioning faith, between the incomprehensible foreignness and complete familiarity of texts. Teachers are expected to create an explorative space between these opposites, allowing students to freely perceive biblical texts with all their senses, reflect on them and reach their own interpretations. At the centre of this project is a biblical text which particularly highlights many religious didactic challenges: the story of the Emmaus disciples (Lk 24, 13-49). This Bible passage deals with the issue of the (non-)presence of the Risen Lord and thus with the theological theme of His resurrection an issue which directly affects the Christian faith at its core. The present research project is titled Narrative exegesis and subject-oriented biblical didactics on the example of Lk 24. Narrative here refers to the narratological basis of the project. This is primarily reflected in the characterisation of the Easter text Lk 24 as a story and the methodological analysis and interpretation of this passage. Describing bible didactics as subject-oriented in the title refers to the reception-aesthetic and constructivist basis of the overall project. Since autumn 2013 the inter- and transdisciplinary project team has investigated the question how religious and biblical learning can encourage students to take a pluralistic approach to biblical texts. To this purpose, teaching designs for Lk 24 based on narratological principles have been developed through theological work combining religious didactics and New Testament studies. The results have been tested in class, empirically investigated, evaluated and improved through circular iterative research processes in order to achieve religious biblical plurality competence.