What's New at BibleWorkbench
Welcome to BibleWorkbench!
For nearly twenty years, B
ibleWorkbench has been a unique resource for encountering the Bible in a new way. Our faithful core of writers and editors work hard to bring you study designs that will consistently challenge, stretch, and enliven you and your participants.
We have long believed that BibleWorkbench is not so much a product as a process. We hope you will take advantage of upcoming training events (you'll find them listed at Center News ). BWB is also a community of those who, week after week, explore the possibilities of new life and transformation through stories of the Bible. We invite you to be a part of the BibleWorkbench experience.
Don't hesitate to contact our staff if you have questions or comments about BibleWorkbench or how you can use it in your own situation.
Grace and peace,
D. Andrew Kille
Editor, BibleWorkbench
May 2012
Walter Wink, pioneer in psychological approaches to the Bible and a member of the Founding Advisory Committee of BibleWorkbench, passed away at his home in Sandisfield, MA on May 10, 2012. He had been diagnosed with Lewy Body dementia and his health had been failing for many years.
Walter was Emeritus Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York. He was profoundly influenced by seminars on the “Records of the Life of Jesus” led by the Guild for Psychological Studies, which sought to bring together critical reflection on biblical texts and insights from Jungian Psychology. His call for a “new paradigm” in his book The Bible in Human Transformation (Fortress, 1973) opened the way for a more psychologically-informed approaches in biblical studies. His later book, Transforming Bible Study (Abingdon, 1990), explained more deeply why engaging both sides of the brain was important for transformational reading.
Walter's retreats and seminars were much like powerful BibleWorkbench sessions; it was those sessions that opened up for me a new and creative way to study the Bible. He wrote in Tranforming Bible Study:
. . . [O]ur interest is not in titillating the group with warm fuzzy experiences, or getting people to know one another better, but in finding that subtle intersection between the text and our own life where the sparks fly, the insights are born, the corner is turned-- where, in short, we encounter the living God addressing us at the point of our and the world's need. To serve that end, and that end only, is the sole justification of these exercises.
Walter’s life illustrated the breadth and depth of those interests. He was deeply engaged in teaching and cultivating nonviolent resistance to the powers that be in the present day, and traveled to South Africa and Latin America on behalf of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Many of his books dealt with peacemaking, nonviolence, and the Gospel tradition. We are grateful for what he taught us, and we hope to pass on his legacy to those who will follow.
Grace and Peace
You can find a tribute to Walter Wink on the Fellowship of Reconciliation website.
