Postcolonial Commentary and the Old Testament
Overview
This is the first volume to provide a wide range of postcolonial interpretations of and commentaries upon significant texts in the Hebrew Bible. The volume intersects with the work of the key theorists in postcolonial studies such as Fanon, Senghor, Said and Spivak as well as with scholars such as Sugirtharajah, Kwok Pui-lan, and Segovia who have applied this theory to biblical studies. Texts have been chosen specifically for their relevance to postcolonial discourse, rather than seeking to cover each biblical document.
This volume is designed to demonstrate how historical criticism, postmodernism, and the important concerns of postcolonial readings may be integrated to obtain an informed explanation of the Hebrew Bible and the writings of early Judaism. The chapters are written by scholars who represent a spectrum of national, indigenous, and diasporic contexts. Taken together these perspectives and the interpretations they yield represent a continued expansion of the manner in which Old Testament texts are read and interpreted through postcolonial lenses, reminding readers that the interpretive trajectories of these texts are almost inexhaustible. As such the volume serves as not only an addition to ongoing scholarship on postcolonialism but also as an expansion of the horizon for dialogue.
Key Features
- Includes a diverse selection contributors
- Provides insights cultural perspectives from around the globe
- Lays out an innovative exegesis of Old Testament texts
Contents
- “The Exodus Story as a Foundation of the God of the ‘Fathers’” by R. S. Wafula
- “Leviticus Alice Laffey 27 5 Numbing Numbers: Land and People of the Wilderness” by Jione Havea
- “Numbers” by Dora Rudo Mbuwayesango
- “The Empire, the Local, and its Mediators: Deuteronomy” by Kåre Berge
- “Judges: Subaltern Women” by Cristina García-Alfonso
- “Judges Diandra” by Chretain Erickson
- “Subaltern Existence as the Path to Perfect Empire: Wisdom of Solomon” by Daniel C. Timmer
- “The Empire of Solomon: An Analysis of Imperial Rhetoric in 1 Kings 3–11” by Kari Latvus
- “The Chronicler’s Narrative on Saul (1 Chron. 10:1-14): A Decolonial Reading of Chronicles” by Gerrie Snyman
- “Nehemiah” by Roland Boer
- “Esther on Trial: Resistance or ‘Collaboration Horizontale’?” by Daniel L. Smith-Christopher
- “The Enthronement Psalms: The Poetic Metanarrative of Imperialism” by Royce M. Victor
- “The Empire and First Isaiah” by D. N. Premnath
- “Jeremiah’s Welfare Ethic: Challenging Imperial Militarism” by Hemchand Gossai
- “The Collecting Impulse in Lamentations: Postcolonial Traumata Made Miniature in Word-Objects” by Gregory Lee Cuéllar
- “Jonah” by Steed Vernyl Davidson
- “Reading Nahum with the Oppressed: Power as a Social Justice Issue” by Wilhelm J. Wessels
Product Details
- Title: Title of Collection
- Editor: Hemchand Gossai
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Publication Date: 2018
- Pages: 333
- Resource Type: Commentary
- Topic: Old Testament