This wide-ranging Reader provides a comprehensive survey of the interaction between postcolonial criticism and biblical studies. Examines how various empires such as the Persian and Roman affected biblical narratives. Demonstrates how different biblical writers such as Paul, Matthew and Mark handled the challenges of empire. Includes examples of the practical application of postcolonial criticism to biblical texts. Considers contemporary issues such as diaspora, race, representation and territory. Editorial commentary draws out the key points to be made and creates a coherent narrative.

Exploring Postcolonial Biblical Criticism: History, Method, Practice offers a concise and multifaceted overview of the origins, development, and application of postcolonial criticism to biblical studies.? Offers a concise and accessible introduction to postcolonial biblical studies Provides a comprehensive overview of postcolonial studies by one of the field's most prominent figures Explains one of the most innovative and important developments in modern biblical studies Accessible enough to appeal to general readers interested in religion

The essays assembled in this volume constitute a counter discourse to the existing understandings of the Bible and Christian theology. Applying postcolonial critical categories within the theological discipline, Sugirtharajah calls into question some of the established notions about the relationship between the Bible, theology and colonialism.Among the issues the volume deals with are: the status and standing of the Bible; colonial appropriation of biblical texts and postcolonial reappraisal of them; the fate of the Bible outside its natural habitat; the permeation of the ideologies of empire in Christian theology and biblical interpretation; potency and pitfalls of Third World theological discourse and the hazards of brokering texts from other cultures in Western metropolitan centres. Postcolonial Reconfigurations is a major critical intervention in the current debates surrounding the Bible and Christian theology. Written in an accessible style, it offers not only an illuminative reassessment, but also signals a significant next step for theological discourse. R.S. Sugirtharajah is Professor of Biblical Hermeneutics in the University of Birmingham. His most recent publications include The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters (2001) and Postcolonial Criticism and Biblical Interpretation (2002).

A comprehensive analysis of the New Testament from the perspective of postcolonial criticism, this title enables readers to relate biblical texts more sharply to the perennial geopolitical issues of imperialism and colonialism.

This volume aims to explore the implications of post colonial theory, one of the most challenging and contentious critical categories of our time - for biblical texts and interpretation.

In Postcolonial Biblical Interpretation Jeremy Punt reflects on the nature and value of the postcolonial hermeneutical approach, as it relates to the interpretation of biblical and in particular, Pauline texts. Showing when a socio-politically engaged reading becomes postcolonial, but also what in the term postcolonial both attracts and also creates distance, exegesis from a postcolonial perspective is profiled. The book indicates possible avenues in how postcolonial work can be helpful theoretically to the guild of biblical scholars and to show also how it can be practiced in exegetical work done on biblical texts.

Empire and Exile explores the impact of Babylonian aggression upon the book of Jeremiah by calling attention to the presence of the empire and showing how the book of Jeremiah can be read as resistant responses to the inevitability of imperial power and the experience of exile. With the insight of postcolonial theory, resistance is framed in these readings as finding a place in the world even though not controlling territory and therefore surviving social death. It argues that even though exile is not prevented, exile is experienced in the constituting of a unique place in the world rather than in the assimilation of the nation. The insights of postcolonial theory direct this reading of the book of Jeremiah from the perspective of the displaced. Theorists Homi Bhabha, Partha Chatterjee, Stuart Hall, and bell hooks provide lenses to read issues peculiar to groups affected by dominant powers such as empires. The use of these theories helps highlight issues such as marginality, hybridity, national identity as formative tools in resistance to empire and survival in exile.