What does global biblical studies look like in the early decades of the twenty-first century, and what new directions may be discerned? Profound shifts have taken place over the last few decades as voices from the majority of the globe have begun and continue to reshape and relativize biblical studies. With contributors from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America, this volume is a truly global work, offering surveys and assessments of the current situation and suggestions for the future of biblical criticism in all corners of the world.

Since its emergence a few years ago, postcolonial biblical criticism has witnessed swift expansion and development in Biblical Studies. This critical approach has been increasingly applied to biblical texts as well as modern and postmodern interpretations and interpreters of these texts, yielding an ever-growing body of dissertations, scholarly articles, and volumes. In the process, this approach has become increasingly sophisticated as well in matters of method and theory.
This Postcolonial Commentary on the New Testament Writings represents a critical benchmark in postcolonial biblical criticism. Indeed, the Commentary stands as the most comprehensive application to date of postcolonial criticism to the biblical texts, with its focus on the entire corpus of the New Testament. It places the reality and ramifications of imperial-colonial frameworks and relations at the centre of biblical criticism. The various entries pursue their analysis across a broad range of concerns and through a number of different approaches.
They show, among other things, how texts and interpretations construct and/or relate to their respective imperial-colonial contexts; foreground literary, rhetorical, and ideological marks of coloniality and postcoloniality in both texts and interpretations; reveal how postcolonial reading strategies disrupt and destabilize hegemonic biblical criticism; and engage in critical dialogue with the visions and projects identified in texts as well as in interpretations. Toward this end, the Commentary has recourse to a highly distinguished and diversified roster of scholars, making this a definite point of reference for years to come.

Postcolonial studies has recently made significant inroads into biblical studies, giving rise to numerous conference papers, articles, essays and books. 'Postcolonial Biblical Criticism' is the most in-depth and multifaceted introduction to this emerging field to date. It probes postcolonial biblical criticism from a number of different but interrelated angles in order to bring it into as sharp a focus as possible, so that its promise - and potential pitfalls - can be better appreciated. This volume carefully positions postcolonial biblical criticism in relation to other important political and theoretical currents in contemporary biblical studies: feminism; racial/ethnic studies; poststructuralism; and Marxism. Alternating between hermeneutical and exegetical reflection, the essays cumulatively isolate and evaluate the definitive features of postcolonial biblical criticism. Such a mapping of postcolonial biblical criticism as a whole has never before been undertaken in such explicit and detailed terms. The contributors include Roland Boer, Laura E. Donaldson, David Jobling, Tat-siong Benny Liew, Stephen D. Moore and Fernando F. Segovia.

The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries provided a number of new paradigms for reading the Bible that challenged the then prevailing literal or allegorical model of reading the Bible. This new biblical criticism, whose influence has fostered common ways of talking about readings of Scripture, demonstrated the ways that the biblical texts were pastiches of literary sources and forms, often edited by later hands to form the biblical book now in the canon. In the late twentieth century, the number of methods for reading the Bible proliferated and by the end of the century there were almost as many models for reading Scripture as there were readers of Scripture. These models arose mostly out of literary criticism of the Bible and thus there were a variety of deconstructionist readings that focused closely on the text, as well as rhetorical readings that focused on literary forms of particular units of Scripture. The greatest difference between biblical criticism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the criticism of the late twentieth century was the latter's increasing focus on politics and historicism. Thus, in the last decades of the twentieth century, feminist criticism, postcolonial criticism, and new historicism became models of reading Scripture. The editors have gathered essays by a number of internationally recognized scholars, ranging from evangelical biblical critics to postmodern biblical critics, who explore a variety of models for reading the Bible in the Third Millennium.

This book addresses a fundamental reality of our time: the great movement of people, for a variety of reasons, within and across countries and cultures. From this migration has emerged the 'diasporic intellectual': the state of dislocation and displacement has become a vantage point for reflection and interpretation. The same is true of theological studies in general and biblical criticism in particular. In this masterly treatment, Fernando Segovia focuses on the emerging transborder biblical interpreters from the Two-Thirds World now residing and working in the West, both in the United States and in Europe, and examines their multiple identities. He also explores how this state of 'in-betweenness' and homesickness affects, influences and informs biblical interpretation.

This book explores the use of the Bible among Latino/a theologians today. Latino/a Theology emerged in the 1980s, alongside a broad variety of contextual theological movements and discourses following the Latino/a movement and the formation of Latino/a Studies in the 1960s and 1970s. While much work has been done on biblical interpretation in Latino/a biblical criticism, little can be found regarding interpretation in Latino/a theological reflection. To address this gap in the literature, the contributors, from various ecclesial affiliations and religious traditions, examine the status and role of the Bible in Latino/a Theology.

Going against the false perception that all Latinx views on the Bible are homogeneous, the contributors in this book use different hermeneutic perspectives to interpret the New Testament. Each chapter examines one of the 27 documents thematically instead of following the traditional verse-by-verse commentary format.

This book explores the use of the Bible among Latino/a theologians today. Latino/a Theology emerged in the 1980s, alongside a broad variety of contextual theological movements and discourses following the Latino/a movement and the formation of Latino/a Studies in the 1960s and 1970s. While much work has been done on biblical interpretation in Latino/a biblical criticism, little can be found regarding interpretation in Latino/a theological reflection. To address this gap in the literature, the contributors, from various ecclesial affiliations and religious traditions, examine the status and role of the Bible in Latino/a Theology.

This volume addresses the problematic relationship between colonialism and the Bible. It does so from the perspective of the Global South, calling upon voices from Africa and the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The contributors address the present state of the problematic relationship in their respective geopolitical and geographical contexts. In so doing, they provide sharp analyses of the past, the present, and the future: historical contexts and trajectories, contemporary legacies and junctures, and future projects and strategies. Taken together, the essays provide a rich and expansive comparative framework across the globe.

This volume addresses the problematic relationship between colonialism and the Bible. It does so from the perspective of the Global South, calling upon voices from Africa and the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The contributors address the present state of the problematic relationship in their respective geopolitical and geographical contexts. In so doing, they provide sharp analyses of the past, the present, and the future: historical contexts and trajectories, contemporary legacies and junctures, and future projects and strategies. Taken together, the essays provide a rich and expansive comparative framework across the globe.

Teaching the Bible Coming to terms with the interpretive revolution- "Although the field of biblical studies is bursting with new methods and fresh interpretations, there has been surprisingly little discussion of what these changes mean for the actual task of teaching the Bible. Happily, this volume takes significant first steps in addressing the shifts in classroom pedagogy that the new day in biblical studies urgently demands." Norman K. Gottwald Author of The Hebrew Bible: A Brief Socio-Literary Introduction "An absolutely indispensable compendium of resources for charting the changes in the discipline of biblical studies, for exposing the operations of power in past and present interpretations and uses of the Bible, and for discovering a variety of postmodernist and postcolonial pedagogies in the reading and teaching of the Bible in a radically pluralistic age." Abraham Smith Perkins School of Theology, S.M.U. "A superb collection of essays on a topic centrally important to theological education and biblical studies. It is an invaluable contribution to the new emancipatory paradigm emerging in biblical studies. Highly accessible, a must reading for anyone in the field." Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity Harvard University Divinity School "Teaching the Bible engages the problem and opportunity of theological education in the twenty-first century head on. In a tightly crafted series of provocative essays, the work clearly defines the postmodern, postcolonial, culturally enriched challenges facing the academy today. For any student or scholar who wants to engage the postmodern challenge as an innovative opportunity rather than a debilitating crisis, Teaching the Bible is required reading." Brian K. Blount President, Union Theological Seminary-PSCE Fernando F. Segovia is Oberlin Graduate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School. He is author, with Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, of Hispanic Latino Theology: Challenge and Promise (Fortress Press, 1996). Mary Ann Tolbert is George H. Atkinson Professor of Biblical Studies at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. She is author of Sowing the Gospel: Mark's World in Literary-Historical Perspective (Fortress Press, 1996). Biblical Studies / Hermeneutics Fortress Press FortressPress.com

Since its emergence a few years ago, postcolonial biblical criticism has witnessed swift expansion and development in Biblical Studies. This critical approach has been increasingly applied to biblical texts as well as modern and post-modern interpretations and interpreters of these texts, yielding an ever-growing body of dissertations, scholarly articles, and volumes. In the process, this approach has become increasingly sophisticated as well in matters of method and theory. This "Postcolonial Commentary on the New Testament Writings" represents a critical benchmark in postcolonial biblical criticism. Indeed, the Commentary stands as the most comprehensive application to date of postcolonial criticism to the biblical texts, with its focus on the entire corpus of the New Testament. It places the reality and ramifications of imperial-colonial frameworks and relations at the centre of biblical criticism. The various entries pursue their analysis across a broad range of concerns and through a number of different approaches. They show, among other things, how texts and interpretations construct and/or relate to their respective imperial-colonial contexts; foreground literary, rhetorical, and ideological marks of coloniality and postcoloniality in both texts and interpretations; reveal how postcolonial reading strategies disrupt and destabilize hegemonic biblical criticism; and engage in critical dialogue with the visions and projects identified in texts as well as in interpretations. Toward this end, the Commentary has recourse to a highly distinguished and diversified roster of scholars, making this a definite point of reference for years to come.

Ten years ago En la Lucha offered the first systematic presentation of mujerista theology -- the liberating religious reflection of Hispanic women -- giving voice to the everyday struggles and insights of Hispanic women and offering a new form of contextual theology.

Since that time, Isasi-Diaz's work has been widely praised, studied, and emulated in Hispanic and other contextual theologies, and she is widely acknowledged to be mujerista theology's major spokeswoman. This anniversary edition places the central thrust of mujerista theology in the ongoing context of North American society, brings a heightened sense of the specificity and complexity of Hispanic identity, and reflects further on the global implications of the North American Hispanic context. With a new Introduction, updates to each chapter, and new Spanish-language summaries of the chapters, the new edition is a sterling presentation of the sources, aims, and truths of mujerista theology.

Are some readings of the Bible more objective than others? More privileged? More true? How does one's own life situation shape one's reading of the text? What will acknowledgment of the validity of a variety of perspectives mean for historical-critical methods of interpretation? The present dizzying pluralism of "locations" - not only of ethnicity, class, and gender, but also of social and religious standpoints - presents a daunting challenge to older, mainstream interpretive schemes. In this landmark project, Segovia, Tolbert, and their fifteen other contributors have begun to measure the impact of social location on the theory and practice of biblical interpretation. This volume, and the international one to follow, signals the critical legitimation of reading strategies that supplement or modify or even in some ways dethrone the historical-critical paradigm that has dominated academic biblical studies for 200 years. It will provide immediate and enduring guidance to scholars and students sorting through the complex epistemological, social, historical, and religious questions that issue from this paradigm shift.

U.S. Hispanic/Latino voices have emerged in the last ten years to become one of the strongest and most creative theological movements in the Americas. Fully ecumenical and organized in systematic, collaborative framework, this major volume features Hispanic theology's sources (the Bible, church history, cultural memory, literature, oral tradition, pentecostalism), loci (urban barrios, Puerto Rico, exile, liberation, social sciences, Latina feminists), and rich and vigorous expressions (mujerista theology, popular religion, theopoetics). Hispanic/Latino Theology not only celebrates the full flowering of U.S. Latino work, it also splendidly reveals the exciting possibilities and future shape of contextual theologies in close touch with the daily realities of struggling people.