10.08.2012
Bible Society’s Basic Hermeneutics Introduction Day
The Biblical Association for the Church of Ireland (BACI) Introduction Day to the Bible Society’s H+ (Basic Hermeneutics) Course will be held in the Theological Institute in Dublin on Saturday September 8. It will run from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm and will be conducted by Michael Pfundner from the Bible Society, accompanied by the Revd Dr David Spriggs, Bible Society UK’s Bible and Church Consultant.
The day is designed for potential leaders of a 10 week course which has been designed by Dr Andrew Rogers and is sponsored by the UK Bible Society. Andrew Rogers’ doctoral work was in a comparative study of how different church traditions read the Bible. This prompted him to write a beginners course in biblical interpretation (hermeneutics). The course takes scholarly insights and makes them accessible to the uninitiated. It also focuses on a number of virtues that have characterised faithful biblical reading through the history of the Church such as honesty, humility and courage. In this way, the course combines theory with practice. BACI believes that this sort of training will produce deeper engagement with the Bible and hopes it will also develop Christians who are increasingly alert to the dynamics of interpretation.
The cost for the day including two tea/coffee breaks and a light lunch is €20, half price concession for students. Registration can be made by emailing BACI’s chairman, the Revd Dr William Olhausen, at wolhausen@gmail.com or the treasurer, Judy Wilkinson, at judyw@natbibsoc.iol.ie. Those attending the training day will need to have a certain amount of theological/biblical training, so they should ideally be clergy, lay readers or other suitably qualified lay members of the diocese. BACI hopes that every diocese might be represented so that these courses can begin to run across the Church of Ireland at a local level.