Biblical Studies and the Scholarly Imagination of Religion

This essay explores the relationship between interdisciplinarity and biblical studies from the vantage point of the general study of religion. Building on the theoretical and methodological reflections of Jonathan Z. Smith, the analysis highlights three core principles that Smith himself placed at the heart of his critical engagement with Bible-related issues and materials: (a) the use of estrangement (or defamiliarization) as a cognitive device; (b) the definition of comparison as a “disciplined exaggeration”; and (c) Smith’s crucial appeal to treat the Bible and biblical studies as “an arsenal of test cases.”