Biblical Hermeneutics and the Meaning of Meaning

The term 'hermeneutics' is an ancient, pre-philosophical Greek term concerned with the question of what it means to interpret any thing, person or event. With respect to interpreting biblical texts, hermeneutical theories construct, in different ways, the author, the reader, the nature of the text, and the relation of the text to the original context and the contemporary world. The purpose of this course is to provide students with the opportunity to explore the hermeneutic theories of Heidegger, Gadamer, Habermas, Ricoeur, Levinas, Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari. This interdisciplinary course integrates aspects of biblical interpretation with the Continental and Poststructural philosophical traditions.