The Institute for Bible, Theology & Hermeneutics is located within St Mary's College (School of Divinity) at the University of St Andrews. It was established in 2009 to formalize the School of Divinity's long-standing efforts at research into Scripture and Theology.^[1]

The Institute introduces its aims as seeking, "To overcome the sense of fragmentation within the field of Divinity that burdens many within the Academy, promoting intra-disciplinary conversation between Biblical Studies and the various fields of Theology, thus providing a core identity for a more integrated discipline competent to engage in inter-disciplinary research. With the study of general hermeneutical theory and practice at its centre, it will be outward-looking and keen to engage with issues arising from the contemporary world."^[2]

Seminars are held in College Hall, a room within the 16th century St Mary's College building.

Prof. N.T. Wright of the School of Divinity identified the significant elements of his research that support inter alia the purpose of the Institute in a public speech at the University of St Andrews on 22 August 2011:

"I am continuing my work on Pauline theology for my major project, Volume IV of Christian Origins and the Question of God. The underlying thesis of this book -- which offers a full and fresh account of the origin, shape and cultural interaction of Paul's thinking -- is to propose that with Paul we see the birth of something quite new, 'theology' in a new register from anything known before in either Judaism or the Greco-Roman world of late antiquity.

'Theology', our term for Paul's reality, is the fresh biblically resourced reflection on God, God's people and God's purposes which functions within the larger reality of Paul's work as the mainstay of what was, for him, the central symbolic reality, namely the single renewed and united people of God in the Messiah.

This work thus engages precisely with Bible, Theology and Hermeneutics -- Paul's use of his Bible, the development of his theology, and his own hermeneutical strategies. It also points to tomorrow's use of the Christian Bible, Paul included, thedevelopment of appropriate biblical theology for tomorrow's world, and -- since Paul is both stimulus and model for this task -- the hermeneutical engagement with contemporary realities, especially in the worlds of philosophy and theology which, arguably, are more relevant to Paul than what today is called 'religion'."^[3]

The Institute is lead by the Director, Dr. Mark Elliott, and Associate Director, Dr. Grant Macaskill.

External links

• Official website

References