The Bible And The Hermeneutics Of Liberation

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 book is the first comprehensive attempt to study and develop a hermeneutic of liberation in the context of the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian land. It analyses the importance of culture, ethnicity, race, gender, ideology, theology, and politics vis-a-vis the processes of comprehension, analysis, interpretation, and contextualization of the Bible. The scholars from 16 countries bring not only an international scope of persuasions and perspectives, but also foster ecumenical, inter-disciplinary, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural dialogue and philosophy. the book identifies a new path for theology that is responsible to its original source and that is relevant to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

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.

Considering that the Bible was used to justify and perpetuate African American enslavement, why would it be given such authority? In this fascinating volume, Powery and Sadler explore how the Bible became a source of liberation for enslaved African Americans by analyzing its function in pre-Civil War freedom narratives. They explain the various ways in which enslaved African Americans interpreted the Bible and used it as a source for hope, empowerment, and literacy. The authors show that through their own engagement with the biblical text, enslaved African Americans found a liberating word. The Genesis of Liberation recovers the early history of black biblical interpretation and will help to expand understandings of African American hermeneutics.

In this work West critically examines a range of liberationist approaches to the Bible--including those by black, feminist and Latin American liberation theologians. His concern is to demonstrate that what binds these approaches is a hermeneutical which consciously adopts some fundamental commitment to the poor and oppressed.

Since its origins in the women's liberation movement, feminist exegesis has been subject not only to the demand to identify the oppressive functions of biblical texts but also to contribute to the liberation of women. What biblical texts can serve this process of liberation-for which women, under what conditions, and in what manner? What roles do categories such as woman, gender, liberation, freedom, Holy Scripture, church, and theology play? This book originated from a symposium with feminist biblical experts from over twenty countries from five continents. It provides a striking and imaginative depiction of the questions central to feminist exegesis and the hermeneutics of liberation. It also provides a lively example of the kind of global discussion of the Bible and liberation that can take place among women from around the world. Typical of this discussion is the confrontation with questions such as contextuality or the diversity of feminist biblical interpretation (whether of theological or non-theological nature), and clear positions are taken with regard to issues such as the termination of anti-Judaism in feminist biblical interpretation or the dangers of neo-colonial domination in feminist-theological studies.

This book was passed as a PhD thesis at Bayreuth University, Germany. The author challenges African Biblical scholars and Christian leaders to premise Biblical interpretation on the experiences of the often neglected underclasses. The author argues that from a comparative historical, cultural and material methodological point of view, the experiences of the Zimbabwean underclasses whose collective ordeal is represented by the experiences of domestic workers are strikingly similar to those suffered by slaves among other underclasses in the biblical world. In the same way religion was appropriated by the elite to validate oppression of the underclasses in the biblical world, the author shows that since the colonial era, Christianity in Africa, through biblical interpretation among many other tactics has been an influential force on the side of the dominant class to advance their racial, class and gender interests. To date, in Zimbabwe for example, the Bible (and religion in general) is manipulated by the dominant minority to justify and entrench the exploitation of the majority underclasses. On the other hand, the author observes that the history of ancient Israel, Roman colonial Palestine and colonial Zimbabwe evidences that when religion is appropriated (and/or the Bible is read and interpreted) from the historical cultural and material conditions of the underclasses, it can be a valuable resource not only for their mobilization to overthrow oppressive systems but also for justifying their resistance tactics. Aluta Continua!!(The Struggle goes on!!).

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.