About Us
Top row: Tom Boomershine, Carole Danby, Marti Steussy, Phil Ruge-Jones, Adam Bartholomew, Pam Faro, Rina Wintour, Tracy Radosevic
Bottom row: Tim Coombs, Amelia Cooper Boomershine, Richard Swanson, Kathy Culmer, Whitney Shiner, Lynn White, David Rhoads
Not shown: Dennis Dewey
In the summer of 2003 the Network of Biblical Storytellers invited biblical scholars of the Society of Biblical Literature to work with well-trained and professional storytellers to shape a new partnership in order to explore how performance in both the ancient world and the contemporary world might affect our understanding of the nature of the biblical narrative.
For four consecutive summers almost twenty scholars and storytellers have gathered in the summer under the name “NOBS Scholars.” These gatherings have been made possible by the generosity of Chuck Stetson whose deep commitment to contemporary biblical literacy has nurtured various projects including the Bible Literacy Project.
International Visitors : The Seminar was enriched by the addition of visiting scholars and storytellers from Kerala, India in 2006 (Fr. Joseph Palakeel) and from Melbourne, Australia in 2007 (Carole Danby and Rina Wintour, pictured above).
Fishbowl Seminar
Enter into a discussion of the story of Jesus and the Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30), led by Richard Swanson
Topics We Discuss
- oral context of the ancient world
- relationship between oral and written stories
- contributions of other traditional and contemporary schools of biblical criticism for our task
- distortions in biblical interpretation that results when the primary medium of performance is neglected
- pedagogical value of storytelling methodology in universities and seminaries
- role of gender in storytelling
- contemporary biblical scholarship with digital media
- value of performance for understanding the nature of the biblical material
Contact Information
Philip Ruge-Jones Texas Lutheran University
"NOBS" (Network of Biblical Storytellers, Inc.) is an international organization whose purpose is "to communicate the sacred stories of the biblical tradition." Its mission is "to encourage everyone to learn and tell biblical stories." For further articulation of the NOBS mission, values, work, programs, history and resources, visit www.nobs.org.
