Networking
CollECT: Colloquium on Epistemology, Context, and Text, in Biblical Interpretation
CollECT is a research group linked to Faculty of theology, diaconia and leadership studies at VID Specialized University (Stavanger, Norway), but with members also from other universities and university colleges in Scandinavia and Africa. Professor Knut Holter is leader of CollECT (contact).
CollECT’s overall aim is to create an environment for innovative biblical studies, with a particular focus on the roles different epistemologies and interpretive contexts play both in popular and critical biblical interpretation. As such the research promoted by the group negotiates with crucial currents in contemporary biblical, cultural and literary studies.
Most members of CollECT approach their research material from explicitly African perspectives, identifying and analyzing experiences and concerns of African popular and critical biblical interpretation. Other members approach questions of epistemology and context in relation to texts from other contextual perspectives or theorize about epistemology and contextuality in relation to biblical interpretation.
Due to its international and interinstitutional membership, CollECT mainly works through digital platforms, convening members to various work communities:
- Seminars – where all group members come together to discuss research texts and research strategies.
- Postdoc cluster – for members in a postdoctoral phase of their career, focusing on research and other strategies for promotion to a full professorship.
- Project clusters – where some members collaborate in defined projects.
- Ad-hoc clusters – where some members collaborate for a limited time and for a specific purpose, such as developing funding applications.
CollECT MEMBERS
Research adviser Anja Nieuwenhuis
…works in VID’s Division of Research Administration
Prof Anna Rebecca Solevåg
…of VID Stavanger, Norway, doing research on Bible and migration
Dr Beth Elness-Hanson
…of Johannelund School of Theology, Uppsala, Sweden, coming from USA, doing research in African biblical interpretation from epistemological perspectives
Dr Funlola Olojede
…of Stellenbosch University, South Africa, doing research on African feminist approaches to the Old Testament
Dr Helen Nambalirwa
…of Makerere University, Uganda, doing research on African interpretive strategies to the Bible
Th.M. Helge Ask
…of VID Stavanger, Norway, is developing a PhD project
Dr Hoyce Mbowe
…of Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation, Zambia, coming from Tanzania, doing research on feminist interpretation of the Bible in Africa
Dr Jean de Dieu Rafalimanana
…of Lutheran Graduate School of Theology, Madagascar, doing research on Malagasy, interpretive strategies to the New Testament
Prof Jean Koulagna
…of Institut al Mowafaka, Morocco, coming from Cameroun, doing research on African biblical hermeneutics
Research fellow Dr Joanna Bauer
…of VID Stavanger, Norway, doing a PhD project on the Old Greek version of Isaiah
Prof Jostein Ådna
…of VID Stavanger, Norway, doing research in biblical theology
PhD student Rev Kambere Bolingo
…of the University of South Africa, coming from DR Congo, doing a PhD on Nehemiah 5 in relation to rebuilding society in DRC mineral conflict contexts
Research fellow / PhD student Karin Hakalax
…of VID Stavanger, Norway, doing a PhD project on ways divine fury is experienced and expressed by the גבר in biblical lament
PhD student Rev Kjersti Wee
…of VID Stavanger, Norway, doing a PhD project on Malagasy popular
readings of Proverbs 31
Prof Knut Holter
…of VID Stavanger, Norway, doing research on colonial and contemporary interpretive strategies to the Bible in Africa
Prof Kristin Joachimsen
…of MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Oslo, Norway, working on Bible and migration from a postcolonial perspective
Prof Marta Høyland Lavik
…of VID Stavanger, Norway, doing research on existential interpretations of the Bible in Africa
PhD student Rev Medhat Youssef
…of VID Stavanger, Norway, coming from Egypt, doing a PhD on the portrayal of Egypt in Isaiah 19
Dr Misgana Mathewos
…of Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, where he is President of the institution and does research in Old Testament studies
Head librarian Nina Sundnes Drønen
…of VID Stavanger, Norway, leader of the VID Campus Library
Dr Ntozakhe Cezula
…of Stellenbosch University, South Africa, doing research on Bible and
reconstruction hermeneutics
Dr Olivier Randrianjaka
…of Lutheran Graduate School of Theology, Madagascar, doing research on Malagasy, interpretive strategies to the Old Testament
PhD student Oulia Makkonen
…of Uppsala Universitet, Sweden, coming from Togo, doing a PhD project on the Bible in African cinema
PhD student Rev Tarekegn Abate
…of VID Stavanger, Norway, coming from Ethiopia, doing a PhD project on ‘discerning the body’ in 1. Corinthians 11:29
Dr Tina Dykesteen Nilsen
… of VID Stavanger, Norway, doing research on ecological biblical
interpretation in Africa and beyond
Dr Zephania Shila Nkesela
…of Central Diocese, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, doing
research on African, interpretive strategies to the Old Testament
PUBLICATIONS BY CollECT MEMBERS 2020
PROGRAM: SECOND SEMESTER 2021
More information is coming soon.