The KLC Scripture Collective operates under the leadership of Rev Dr David Larsen, the Director of the Scripture Collective. It consists of four Seminars: the Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar (SAHS), the Scripture and Doctrine Seminar (SADS), the Scripture and Church Seminar (SACS), and the Scripture and the University Seminar (SAUS).
For any Scripture Collective queries please contact Dr David Larsen.
The Scripture Collective has its origins in the Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar (SAHS), established by Dr Bartholomew in 1998. It was conceived as an ambitious eight-year project to address key issues at the heart of a renewal of biblical interpretation that was rigorous and in the service of the Church. Since then SAHS has continued to meet each year at the Society of Biblical Literature in partnership with the Institute for Biblical Research. From these beginnings, it has expanded to our four seminars.
Each year in November, the KLC Scripture Collective organises a series of seminars and an Annual Meal held in North America in partnership with the Institute for Biblical Research at Society of Biblical Literature/American Academy of Religion.
Click the blocks below to find out more about each of our seminars and their programmes at SBL/IBR in November.
To register for the Scripture Collective Annual Meal 2024, visit our Events page.
The Seminars recognise the fundamental importance of opening the Book of Scripture at all levels in our cultures, but the Seminars themselves are an academic initiative, embodying rigorous scholarship in the service of the church.
Meir Sternberg rightly notes that biblical studies is at the intersection of the humanities, and the Seminars are based on the understanding that at this intersection interdisciplinary insight is required if biblical studies is to be saved from some of its isolation and fragmentation, and for new ways forward to be forged. It has been a delight at our consultations to find philosophers rubbing shoulders with educationalists and theologians, and missiologists working with literary scholars to renew biblical interpretation.
Modernity has marginalised faith in the great public areas of culture, but this is a travesty of a Christian perspective in which faith relates to the whole of life. The one rule of the Seminar is that we are not free to keep our faith out of our reflections; on the contrary we want our faith to be at the heart of our work as Christian scholars.
Based out of the Kirby Laing Centre in Cambridge, the Scripture Collective is rooted deeply in the Evangelical faith. However, a range of Christian perspectives are represented within the Seminars. As the Seminar has developed the growing Catholic participation, for example, has been deeply enriching.
The modern academy is deeply individualistic. However, we recognise that a renewal of biblical and theological interpretation will require communal work. And a great aspect of the Seminar is the emerging sense of community amongst participants.
In agreement with Zondervan, the KLC Scripture Collective has produced a complete eight-volume series of resources, as well as two volumes of our second series.
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