As you can see from the smiling faces, we had a great meeting in June, also with our largest attendance to date. Hannah Bowden led off by talking about the Troubling Jesus report produced by Youthscape in Luton, England. She posed the question ‘What might happen if young people receive the Bible differently to me?”. The research was largely with 14-18 year olds with no Christian faith and brought out the ways in which cultural-generational frames shaped their biblical engagement. Simon Harry then took us through his research on intergenerational Bible study based on fieldwork in three churches in England, using Bible study materials he had written himself on intergenerational relationships in the Bible. The entanglement of disciplines and theoretical frames in Bible user research was highlighted through the variety of sources Simon drew on, including intergenerational theory. Finally, Gerald West, who has been quite the pioneer in this field, took us through some recent research of the Ujaama centre in South Africa, regarding space – invited space, invigorated space, and invented space, following on nicely from Sthembiso Zwane’s talk last year. With a focus on the book of Ruth, Gerald outlined some of the dynamics of Contextual Bible Study: being ‘summoned’ to work with groups wanting to address issues of social justice, wanting to honour the text, working with those who can talk back, the contested nature of the biblical text now and in its production, and paying attention to the voices in the text that may offer alternative readings. Questions arose in our conversations that will be ongoing – the predilection for narrative texts in Bible user research, how to handle Bible expertise in group dynamics, and how to get real responses from Bible users when tradition or group expectations push towards a bounded range of responses. Looking forward to our next joint meeting in the Netherlands – virtual and in person!

It was great to meet again with three thought-provoking presenters. Sean Macguire highlighted aspects of his doctoral studies and recently published book, regarding the metamodern and how it helps us to understand interpretative priorities and disagreements when it comes to Canadian Baptists. Helen John then led us into her extensive fieldwork (published here) amongst people in northern Namibia and how the Bible can open up discussion about local culture. Jo Logan talked about her research with women in south east England and how they understood the passage in Ephesians 5 and what they understood it to mean for the role of women today. Cross cutting questions about Bible user research – its benefits and challenges – were addressed, including questions of language and authenticity of responses. A rich evening!