Papers Session: The Promise and Peril of Public Hermeneutics
Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)
The paper emerges from my experience teaching biblical texts to undergraduate students across 2025. First, I report on a Gospels class, in which students analyze politicians’ use of the Gospels to support their political convictions and policy positions. Second, I share how my students in a Gender and Family in Genesis class wrestle with Genesis 1-3 in conversation with President Trump’s Executive Order declaring that the United States recognizes only two sexes, male and female, thereby “restoring biological truth.” Finally, we will explore the ethical concerns that accompany my own sense of urgency that students develop skills to read the Bible responsibly in this moment of a politics of certainty and throwing off all restraints.