SAUS at SBL: Place, Placemaking, and the University

In 2019 the Scripture and the University Seminar initiated a multi-year project to explore the issue of the relationship between Scripture and the University. While theology used to be considered the ‘queen of the sciences’, and theology was inextricably tied to the explication of Scripture, the role of the study of Scripture and theology in the university is in a very different place today. Given that the university has been traditionally committed to the reality and acquisition and passing on of knowledge and wisdom, and given that Scripture is likewise committed to the twin realities of knowledge and wisdom, the study of the relationship of Scripture and the university is fitting and holds great promise. This study group will consider both ‘meta’ or foundational issues concerning the relationship of Scripture and the university, as well as more specialized and particular studies which focus on particular academic disciplines and their relationship to the reality and truth of Scripture. The goal of these sessions is to produce thoughtful and insightful essays which meaningfully explore and explicate the relationship between Scripture and the university. To that end, the Scripture and the University Seminar continues its three-year study of Scripture and place in the 21st century university. The very concept of place has experienced something of a popular-level resurgence during the first quarter of the 21st century; however, the scholarly conversation surrounding the idea has a long and rich history. Scholars from a variety of specialties have considered the idea of “place” and its import to the human experience. While many of those discussions have focused on the physical, others have broadened the field to consider the more nebulous, including the aural, the emotional, and even the spiritual. This long-term study aims to develop an appropriate inter-disciplinary lexicon that presses into the development of Scripture being the place in a university setting where Christians and the spiritually-interested can find a home. The 2025 seminar asks experts in the field to explore the three-part interplay between the proposed definitions, scripture, and their specific fields: human geography, narrative, or the arts.