Logos is a two-week workshop that endeavours to contribute to the participants’ pursuit of excellence in scholarship combined with enhancing a vital and authentic faith connection and commitment. The workshop is primarily intended for graduate students (including graduating seniors who will begin advanced studies in Autumn 2022) and Logos alumni who have completed their education.
Logos 2022: Washington DC
What: A summer workshop on museums, biblical texts, vocation, and the Christian mind that is offered by SCIO with funding provided by Steve and Jackie Green
Where: Museum of the Bible, Washington, D.C., US
When: Programme dates: 1-15 June 2022
Enquiries: please email [email protected]
The application deadline is 11:59 PM (GMT) Sunday, 6 February 2022. Please see the application webpage (here) to apply.
Applicants should be working in Biblical-related studies with a special focus on ancient texts and manuscripts, museum studies and education programmes, history of the Bible, reception history, ancient languages, and related disciplines. Applicants should be considering a vocation in one of these academic fields. Logos offers an opportunity to be taught by experts in the fields of curation, text preservation, history, theology, textual studies, and museum studies and education programmes more broadly.
Logos 2022 comprises the following components:
Lecture series: Curating texts and current issues in textual studies
This lecture series will engage curating issues such as provenance, presentation, and preservation and will use Museum of the Bible as a textbook. In this course of lectures, experts will also discuss specific areas in which the reading of manuscripts and the editing of texts prove particularly contentious, difficult, and interesting. This will enable students to investigate divergent academic fields, some of which will not be familiar, and to learn how to face methodological challenges and apply them in their own areas of interest.
Lecture series: Museums – Presenting the Christian past and present
This lecture series will investigate the many ways Christianity is presented to the public in museums. Museums offer an interface between scholarly investigation and public perceptions, and these lectures will consider the ways curators present both objects and ideas to convey particular narratives, both to enlighten and to entertain. Lecturers will lift the veil to discuss the many issues – academic, ideological, ethical, practical – which concern those who run museums, with a focus on the way in which the Christian past and present are presented, whether explicitly or more subtly, in museum displays.
Lecture series: The vocation of Christian scholars on the public stage
A central aspect of Logos is a series of discussions in which participants learn from the experience of others about the intersection of faith and vocation in public life as a vital responsibility of scholars regardless of academic field. These discussions enable students to hear what it is like to apply a scholarly Christian vocation outside of the constraints of the academy. A more informal setting promotes discussion and helps those considering an academic career to consider the challenges involved and to encourage one another with advice and insight.
Text seminars on studying manuscripts in ancient languages
Participants will elect to participate in one of a range of seminars, depending on the language appropriate to their research focus. Possible seminars include Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Ethiopic. Making use of Museum holdings, these seminars will focus on issues of papyrology, codicology, prosopography, and curating. In these seminars, experts will present in a detailed fashion the practices and challenges involved in dealing with a particular class of documents. This will give the opportunity to study documents in depth. Participants will also practice reading documents together, making the workshops an eminently practical element of the programme.
Academic excursions
Participants will receive customized tours of DC-based and nearby museums relevant to the workshop themes and content.
Learning from peers
The workshop is an opportunity for young scholars from a wide variety of institutions to meet and share common enthusiasms and interests. Although the participants will be involved in different, but broadly related areas of study, common ground is found in the desire to understand the use of texts in scholarly enterprise and to investigate the role of the Christian scholar.
Logos alumni
Participants who have previously participated in a Logos Workshop from 2012 are encouraged to apply. Alumni will play a full part in the workshop, and their prior experience will contribute to each year’s Logos group. Some will be asked to present an account of their scholarly work to participants. Logos alumni will also be given the opportunity to present their current research. It is to be hoped that by returning to Logos they will further their engagement with textual studies and Christian learning, and that they will be able to share their experience in these matters with other participants. Please note: while the places allocated to Logos alumni in prior years were limited, that is no longer the case.
Financial award
Travel expenses as well as housing and meal costs for the two weeks of the workshop will be covered for all workshop participants. Workshop participants will also receive a generous stipend.
Housing and meals
Participants will stay at the CCCU’s Dellenback Center, where most meals will be provided. For more information about the Dellenback Center, which is located on Capitol Hill, please visit the CCCU’s American Studies’ program website here.
While at the Museum of the Bible for lectures and seminars, food will also be offered.
Visas for participants
Participants are responsible for their own visa applications, but SCIO can assist by offering a letter of invitation.
Guidance for referees
An information document for the use of referees is available here.