Today we had a guest speaker named Rev. Barbara Essex. She is the renowned writer of books including Bad Girls of the Bible, Bad Boys of the Bible, and Misbehavin' Monarchs. She talked about reading the Bible in context and introduced us to **big word voice** the Hermeneutics of Suspicion!!! This consists of the questions: Who's doing what for what purpose? Who's benefitting? Who's story is left out or hidden? In addition, she asked the question: What do we bring to our reading of the scriptures?
She retold the story of Abraham and Sarah, but this time with a new twist! With the focus almost exclusively on Hagar, the Egyptian slave that we don't hear much of in the story. Then, she invited us to create a MySpace, Facebook, or YouTube video to retell Hagar's story from her perspective. If you were Hagar, how would you want to be remembered? Small groups came up with a "Hey-gar-geous!" MySpace with a rendition of "I'm a Survivor!" and acted out scenes from the Maury Povich show complete with a paternity test. We had a great time - when was the last time you were rollin' on the floor at a Bible Study? Thank you, Barbara!
Here's what some participants said after Barbara's workshop:
"It made the Bible seem so much more real." - Crystal, R2W 2008 participant
"I read the Bible at church, but I don't even know what I am reading. I want the people at my church to understand the Bible like we did today." - Martha, R2W 2008 participant
"I like the fact that it was a woman leading this Bible study because I am used to hearing a man's view of the Bible. It was different today because, as a woman, I can relate more to Hagar." - Vio, R2W 2008 participant
"This Bible Study related to me as a Samoan because you tuaght us to look at/for what was missing in the Bible story and Samoans are missing in the textbooks... So now I am questioning what is missing." - Ose, R2W 2008 Residential Assistant
- Victor M., R2W 2008 Residential Assistant and Lauren Q., R2W Program Associate
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