Austbiblica

My method of interpreting biblical passages in the Texts of Terra project is intertextual. Intertextuality is a much debated term in hermeneutics. A simple definition is given in the Encarta online dictionary:
“the relationship that exists between different texts, especially literary texts, or the the reference in one text to others”

In the Texts of Terra texts about the land from two different literary traditions are used. One tradition is the bible, especially the Old Testament. The other is that of Australian literature, especially novels.

To use a visual metaphor, each text is read parallel to, or alongside each other. So, for example, Joan Lindsay's novel Picnic at Hanging Rock is read along with the story of Jacob's dream at Bethel (Gen 28:10-22). The focus in both texts is on their representations of the land.

One text is also used as a lens through which another text is written. So, in the example above, Picnic is like a lens through which we read the Jacob story. My reading of Picnic with its emphasis on the power of the land influences and focusses my reading of the Jacob story, so that I become more aware of the significance of the land in Gen 29:10-22.

I can also reverse the process. I can read Picnic through the lens of the Jacob story. The effect of this is that the emphasis on the transcendent character of the land in Gen 28:10-22 can give challenge Picnic's portrait of the land as something dangerous.

For a more theoretical explanation of the interpretive method of Texts of Terra, a short paper in PDF form is available for download by clicking on the following link:

For more on intertextuality, see:
Tull, Patricia. “Intertextuality and the Hebrew Scriptures.” Currents in Research: Biblical Studies(2000):59-90.