The Sheffield Centre for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies (SCIBS) brings together scholars from across disciplines to explore the Bible’s role in history, culture, politics, and contemporary thought. Its research seminar series offers a forum for critical discussion and innovative perspectives on biblical texts and their reception.
This year’s programme features topics ranging from trauma and gender in the story of Esther, to the contested place of the Bible in modern classrooms, to gender violence in late antiquity, and queer reimaginings of apocalyptic narratives in speculative fiction. Together, these talks highlight the Centre’s commitment to examining biblical texts in relation to pressing social, cultural, and political issues.
Seminars take place online on Mondays, 2–3:30pm (UK time), and are open to all. Register to attend here.
Semester 1 Schedule
20 October
Alexiana Fry (University of Copenhagen) - ‘If I Am Pleasing’: Esther and the Fawn Response
10 November
Tim Hutchings (Nottingham University) - The Bible in the RE Classroom: Education Reform, Worldviews and the Politics of Change
17 November
Jennifer Barry (University of Mary Washington) - Gender Violence in Late Ancient Domestic Spaces
8 December
Lois McFarland (University of Edinburgh) - Queer Resistance to Apocalyptic Narratives in Speculative Fiction