Doing theology requires dissension and tenacity. Dissension is required when scriptural texts, and the colonial bodies and traditions (read: Babylon) that capitalize upon those, inhibit or prohibit "rising to life." With "nerves" to dissent, the attentions of the first cluster of essays extend to scriptures and theologies, to borders and native peoples. The title for the first cluster - "talking back with nerves, against Babylon" - appeals to the spirit of feminist (to talk back against patriarchy) and RastafarI (to chant down Babylon) critics. The essays in the second cluster - titled "persevering with tenacity, through shitstems" - testify that perseverance is possible, and it requires tenacity. Tenacity is required so that the oppressive systems of Babylon do not have the final word. These two clusters are framed by two chapters that set the tone and push back at the usual business of doing theology, inviting engagement with the wisdom and nerves of artists and poets, and two closing chapters that open up the conversation for further dissension and tenacity. Doing theology with dissension and tenacity is unending.

Regional concerns-climate change, conquest, migration, displacement, resettlement, asylum, discipleship, and others-challenge authors currently situated in Oceania to reflect on the practices of biblical interpretation and to consequently reread biblical texts with fluid understandings of borders and belonging(s).

This book offers engagements with topics in mainline theology that concern the lifelines in and of the Pacific (Pasifika). The essays are grouped into three clusters. The first, Roots, explores the many roots from which theologies in and of Pasifika grow - sea and (is)land, Christian teachings and scriptures, native traditions and island ways. The second, Reads, presents theologies informed and inspired by readings of written and oral texts, missionary traps and propaganda, and teachings and practices of local churches. The final cluster, Routes, places Pasifika theologies upon the waters so that they may navigate and voyage. The 'amanaki (hope) of this work is in keeping talanoa (dialogue) going, in pushing back tendencies to wedge the theologies in and of Pasifika, and in putting native wisdom upon the waters. As these Christian and native theologies voyage, they chart Pasifika's sea of theologies.

Theologies, no matter their designations, are public measures - they disclose as well as gauge the publics (near and far) on which they stand, sit, lie, or fall. Because publics shift and mingle, theologies require reimagining and relocating, and embracing fresh insights and energies. The insights and energies embraced in this work are in three clusters: spaces, bodies, technologies. The spotlighted spaces are in Africa, Asia, Black America, Caribbean, and Pasifika - beyond the eyes of mainline theologies; the privileged bodies have survived, with scars from, empire and missionary positionings; and the welcomed technologies include Dalit, indigenous, art, poetry, cyborg, and the novel. This collection is troubling in several ways: first, reimagining and relocating are troubling acts upon their subject matter - here, public theologies. On that note, what theology is not public? Second, this work takes theologies in general, and not just the theologies that carry the "public" designation, to be public theologies. Third, this work takes theologies (in general) to be inherently troubling. In other words, theologies that are not troubling are not public enough.

"This is required reading for all students, researchers, and scholars in theology, as well as for ministers and lay leaders engaged in ministry." - Black Theology Out of Place looks at the ways in which theology, as a discipline and a practice, is out of place at several locations: churches, nations, communities, disciplines, institutions, and in public space. It contains several reflections on what it means to be out of place in both theory and in reality, from views and realities that are out of place from the dominant theological stream. Together the contributions in this volume aim to show that for theology to transform and be transformative, it must come out of place and attend to peoples and cultures (understood broadly) that have thus far been out of place. The contributions in this book uphold the key convictions that theologies are shaped by place and they are unavoidably contextual so that no theology can encompass all places and contexts. Therefore it is necessary for our spatially-defined theologies to cross, intersect and interweave and thus seek to embrace places that have not been acknowledged or expressed.

This book offers engagements with topics in mainline theology that concern the lifelines in and of the Pacific (Pasifika). The essays are grouped into three clusters. The first, Roots, explores the many roots from which theologies in and of Pasifika grow - sea and (is)land, Christian teachings and scriptures, native traditions and island ways. The second, Reads, presents theologies informed and inspired by readings of written and oral texts, missionary traps and propaganda, and teachings and practices of local churches. The final cluster, Routes, places Pasifika theologies upon the waters so that they may navigate and voyage. The 'amanaki (hope) of this work is in keeping talanoa (dialogue) going, in pushing back tendencies to wedge the theologies in and of Pasifika, and in putting native wisdom upon the waters. As these Christian and native theologies voyage, they chart Pasifika's sea of theologies.

Jione Havea analyses the Book of Jonah through the lens of climate change, using this present situation to reconsider the significance of Jonah for contemporary struggles and contexts, and tapping into traditional practices of commentary to draw out the meaning of the biblical text. Havea takes Jonah 3:10 as a starting point, in which God repents and rethinks (decides not to destroy), taking this as a challenge and an opportunity for biblical scholars to reflect on the realities of climate change. Havea builds on this opportunity in two ways: first, by reading Jonah forward, giving special attention to the orientation of the narrative toward the sea and Nineveh, and then backward, highlighting the significance of sea and (is)land lives to the flow of the narrative. Second, by looking at the other figures in the narrative, rather than focusing on the narrator's obsession with Jonah and his God. Havea reminds readers that the fish, plant, worm and other beasts are also crucial in this narrative, and considers how this can change our reading of the text.

Regional concerns-climate change, conquest, migration, displacement, resettlement, asylum, discipleship, and others-challenge authors currently situated in Oceania to reflect on the practices of biblical interpretation and to consequently reread biblical texts with fluid understandings of borders and belonging(s).