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.
Fernando F. Segovia is Oberlin Graduate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, at the Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. His recent publications include Postcolonial Biblical Criticism (T&T Clark, 2005), coedited with Stephen Moore; Toward a New Heaven and a New Earth: Essays in Honor of Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza (Orbis Books, 2003). Stephen D. Moore is Edmund S. Janes Professor of New Testament Studies at the Theological School, Drew University, USA.
The volume will consist of six major essays, prefaced by a general introduction by the two editors. The contributors are all seasoned scholars and well-known figures in contemporary biblical studies. The essays are as follows: Stephen D. Moore (Drew University) and Fernando F. Segovia (Vanderbilt University) 'Postcolonial Biblical Criticism: Meanderings and Intersections' Fernando F. Segovia (Vanderbilt University) 'Mapping the Postcolonial Optic for Biblical Criticism: Meaning and Scope' Stephen D. Moore (Drew University) 'Questions of Biblical Ambivalence and Authority under a Tree outside Delhi; or, the Postcolonial and the Postmodern' Laura E. Donaldson (Cornell University) 'Gospel Hauntings: The Postcolonial Demons of New Testament Criticism' Tat-siong Benny Liew (Chicago Theological Seminary) 'Margins and (Cutting-) Edges: On the (II)Legitimacy and Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, and (Post)Colonialism' Roland Boer (Monash University) 'Marx, Postcolonialism, and the Bible' David Jobling (The University of Saskatchewan) 'Postcolonialism and Marxism'
Review in International Review of Biblical Studies, Vol 51: 2004/05