Perspectives on the Passion: Encountering the Bible through the Arts: The Library of New Testament Studies

There is a growing recognition of the importance of investigating the reception history (or 'afterlives') of biblical texts. How people have interpreted and been influenced by the Bible is often as interesting and historically important as what the text may have originally meant. Reception history is interdisciplinary by nature, examining material from a wide variety of contexts and media, and incorporating readings outside the academy, from both church and culture. This is a distinctive feature, broadening the horizons of material traditionally classed as 'biblical interpretation'. So artists, writers and composers are included as biblical interpreters alongside the academic and the religious believer.