Allowing the biblical text to do its pedagogical work: Connecting interpretative activity and moral education

Drawing upon scholarly literary approaches to biblical narratives, this article offers both a theoretical view and a method for teaching and learning which connect interpretative activity of biblical narratives with moral education. The theoretical section of the article discusses the pedagogical rather than propositional nature of biblical narratives and illustrates how the former is mediated through calculated literary devices in the text. The article then attends to the experiential nature of the interpretative dynamic between learner and text, with special attention to the learner's filling of literary gaps and the potential of this for moral education. The article concludes with a discussion of the pedagogical rationales behind a method for teaching and learning designed to engage the learner in an interpretative and reflective activity on biblical narratives, which holds potential for effective moral education.