Inspired by the current political moment around the globe in which uprisings, protests, revolutions, and movements are on the rise, this book examines the intersections between the Bible and activism. It does this by showcasing intersectional readings of the Bible as an activist act and a tool for activism; historicizing the uses of the Bible within activist/freedom movements around the globe; and offering activist approaches to teaching the Bible.Each chapter in this volume provides a critical and substantive response from the discipline of Biblical Studies to global political trends. International in scope, with contributors from Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, Oceania and the United States, they address themes such as gender politics, racial injustices, violence toward women, political resistance, and activist hermeneutics and pedagogies. Together they harness the intellectual energies of minoritized Biblical scholars in a nonessentialist manner to reflect on the Bible as a tool for liberating social and political change. Reflecting on the activist potential of the Bible, this book will be of keen interest to scholars in Biblical Studies, Political Theology, and Religious Studies.

The new edition of this essay collection, written by a wide spectrum of theologians, aims to reflect the advances made in the study of new sociological and political approaches to the Bible. The editors' introduction surveys and summarizes developments and current socio-political interpretations

The same Bible that historically has been invoked to support exploitation is also a source of inspiration for those fighting oppression and injustice. This collection of essays highlights the different receptions that liberationist hermeneutics has found in a number of contemporary contexts. The authors, originating from various countries and continents and nurtured by diverse theological insights, provide regional overviews of liberating struggles and liberation hermeneutics or engage the biblical text from various perspectives, including mujerista and feminist Afrocentric readings. This is an enriching panorama of ideas and readings all centered on the Bible as a key to liberation.The contributors are Pablo R. Andiñach, Alejandro F. Botta, Gerald O. West, Hans de Wit, Erhard Gerstenberger, Jione Havea, Mercedes L. García Bachmann, Musa W. Dube, Theodore W. Jennings Jr., Luise Schottroff, Ada María Isasi-Díaz, Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon, Lai Ling Elizabeth Ngan, and Mortimer Arias.

Liberating Biblical Study is a unique collaboration of pioneering biblical scholars, social-change activists, and movement-based artists. Well known and unknown, veterans and newcomers, these diverse practitioners of justice engage in a lively and critical conversation at the intersection of seminary, sanctuary, and street. The book is divided into eight sections; in each, a scholar, activist, and artist explore the justice issues related to a biblical text or idea, such as exodus, creation, jubilee, and sanctuary. Beyond the emerging themes (e.g., empire, resistance movements, identity, race, gender, and economics), the book raises essential questions at another level: What is the role of art in social-change movements? How can scholars be accountable beyond the academy, and activists encouraged to study? How are resistance movements nurtured and sustained? This volume is an accessible invitation to action that will appeal to all who love and strive for justice--whatever their discipline, and whatever their familiarity with the Bible, scholarship, art, and activist communities.

This important book provides a sampling of liberation theology's use of biblical texts, relating it to the "standard" methods of interpretation in Europe and America. Divided into four sections, the book sets out contemporary readings of the parable of Jesus influenced by a liberationist perspective; identifies the biblical and theoretical foundations of liberation theology, comparing them with the dominant exegetical paradigm in the first world; explores the way in which liberation exegesis affects reading the canonical accounts of Jesus; and argues that liberation theology cannot be seen solely as a third-world phenomenon.

The field of biblical studies has championed the historical-critical method as the only way to guarantee objective interpretation. But in recent decades, scholars have pursued hermeneutical approaches that provide interpretations useful for marginalized communities who see the Bible as a resource in their struggles against oppression. Such liberative strategies remain on the margins. The Liberation of Method argues that this marginality must end, and that liberative methods should become central to biblical studies.