In 2023, the Centre for Bible and Literature (CBL) launched the research project Harold Bloom’s Literary Theory and the Bible. The aims of the project are to contribute to the understanding and study of the extensive body of work of literary theorist Harold Bloom, particularly his interpretation of the Bible. Particular attention is given to Bloom’s reading of the oldest biblical stratum, the so-called Yahwistic redaction (J) (Ruin the Sacred Truths: Poetry and Belief from the Bible to the Present, 1989; The Book of J, 1990; Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine, 2004). Furthermore, the project seeks to place Bloom’s reading of the Bible within the broader context of his “Western Canon” (twenty-six writers with W. Shakespeare at its centre) and, finally, to understand Bloom’s view of the relationship between the Bible (scriptura sacra) and the “Western Canon” as secular scripture. The project leaders are Robert Stubičar and Krešimir Šimić.
