StFX professor wins national award for reimagining how scholars study the earliest sayings of Jesus

A St. Francis Xavier University religious studies professor has won a national award for a project that invites people to help read the oldest materials about Jesus of Nazareth with fresh eyes. Dr. Sara Parks received the Norman E. Wagner Award from the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies for "Q According to U," a video project that will gather responses to the reconstructed sayings source known as Q. The only rule is that they must not be experts.

The award recognizes Canadian scholars who use technology in innovative ways to advance research or teaching in biblical studies.

It was presented during the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies annual conference, held this year at Mount Allison University.

"Q" comes from the German word Quelle, meaning "source." Scholars believe it was a source used by the Gospels, especially Matthew and Luke, for some of Jesus' spoken material, like parables and instructions. It is only preserved in quotations by later works, so international collaborators painstakingly reconstructed a Critical Edition.

Dr. Parks points out that the field has traditionally focused on technical questions about textual reconstruction and the literary relationships among the Gospels. "This obscures what is more interesting about this material: what it can tell us about a stage of Jesus' movement that was still completely Jewish, and that had community dynamics quite different from what we see in later New Testament texts."

The project asks participants to read the reconstructed sayings collection and respond in videos of one minute or less. Contributors do not need to be academics. "Making a video compilation may not sound innovative, but what the judges considered groundbreaking was the content," says Dr. Parks. "The goal is to encourage fresh perspectives on a text that has often been approached as a mere puzzle piece for manuscript questions, rather than exploring what it reveals about the earliest followers of Jesus, and the ways traditions evolved before being incorporated into the Gospels."

Participants should ideally encounter the sayings without drawing on any prior knowledge of Christianity.

"What do they see if they imagine they've never heard of Jesus, and this is the only evidence they have?" Dr. Parks asks. "Hearing lively student responses to this exercise gave me the idea to invite others to try it. I hope it will move more scholars towards an appreciation for Q. Most human beings, both now and in the past, don't approach stories and wisdom teachings to dissect them, but to be entertained, comforted, or inspired."

The award also carries personal significance. Dr. Parks noted she appears to be only the third woman to receive the Norman E. Wagner Award since it was established in 1999.

"The first woman was Nicola Denzey (2001), and the second was Mary Ann Beavis (2003)," Dr. Parks said. "These are both scholarly heroes of mine, so I love seeing them in that list."

Additionally, Dr. Ken Penner, current chair of StFX's Department of Religious Studies, was also awarded the Wagner Award in 2006.

Anyone wishing to participate can read the Q collection and record a short response video (one minute or less) to send to @email."