Current introductions to the New Testament tend to employ one or more of the
following methodologies: historical-critical, canonical, literary or
socio-scientific. None so far has systematically employed
postcolonial criticism which has introduced many challenging ways
in which the Bible and biblical interpretation are perceived and presented.
In spite of the literature on postcolonialism which, among other things,
has exposed the link between representation and power, the results of this
scholarship has yet to be incorporated into an accessible New Testament introduction. The books on the New Testament continue to marginalize
the presence of the empire and the logic of colonialism embedded in the
texts. This volume intends to introduce the study of postcolonial theory and apply it to the New Testament in an appealing way for students.
The volume will look at the new Testament texts, investigating how they relate to the colonial context out of
which they emerge; how they advocate and foster colonial practices; how they
transgress colonial notions of the time; how these texts in turn were
employed to sustain and legitimise modern colonialism; how translation
practice reinforced colonial expansion and domination, and how these texts
might be re-read in relation to postcolonial concerns such as diaspora,
nationality, etc. What this volume seeks to do is to bring together in one
volume the twin tasks of biblical interpretation, namely, historical and
hermeneutical questions rather than treating them separately as current
books tend to do.
The result will be a lively and engaging book which will introduce students to postcolonial criticism and show them concrete ways to apply the theory in examining key New Testament texts.
