Adventures in Biblical Reader-Response Criticism part 3 – From theory to practice
The second chapter (“Two Experiments”) illustrates the reality of polyvalence and the influence of social location, reading strategy, empathy, and conceptions of meaning, by way of two experiments which Powell carried out. For each experiment 100 participants were chosen, 50 clergy and 50 laity (one of each from each church), each were presented with a [...]
Adventures in Biblical Reader-Response Criticism part 2 – Polyvalence
The first part of the book is entitled “Meaning” and is made up of three chapters, the first of these is “Polyvalence” in which Powell discusses the theory underpinning Reader-response criticism. He offers the following definition of polyvalence: “In literary theory Polyvalence refers to the multiplicity of potential meanings that seems to be present in [...]
Who’s meaning counts?
Consider the following scenario: After a brief study of a passage from the Bible, the leader of the Bible study asks those present to reflect on what the text means for them. The first person to speak reiterates what they understood the passage to be mean but goes no further. The next speaks of the [...]
