|
Postcolonial Reconfigurations: An Alternative Way of Reading the Bible and Doing Theology
|
| List Price: | £14.99 |
| Price: | £12.74 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery on orders over £5. Details |
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk
19 new or used available from £0.03
Average customer review:
Product Description
Collected essays exploring how to do theology (part one) and read the Bible (part two) when viewed through the eyes of oppressed peoples who have suffered - and continue to suffer - from western colonialism.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #839652 in Books
- Published on: 2003-11-01
- Original language: English
- Binding: Paperback
- 160 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
R. S. Sugirtharajah is Professor of Biblical Hermeneutics, University of Birmingham. His most recent publications include: Postcolonial Criticism and Biblical Interpretation (2002), and The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters (2001).
Customer Reviews
Unlocking the Truth for Oneself
Beginning with the development of postcolonial thinking in the 90s Sugirtharjah re-examines texts and stories which undergirded and colluded with colonial attitudes. He notes how once the narrative of the Prodigal Son passes outside the western colonial environment into the hands of other interpreters, other religious traditions and secular writers, the thinking is re-directed; familiar concepts such as guilt and forgiveness are taken for granted and issues western Christians have never thought of are introduced.
Whilst fully respecting the values of western historical criticism, he is very sensitive to any suggestion that this is the only way we can arrive at the `right' reading and worries about the dangers when these tools are exported to the Third World in a way which prevents people in other cultures from unlocking the truth of scripture for themselves, as well as the attitude which dismisses all other interpretations as `emotional and sentimental'.
British theology, he believes, is class-based, and written mainly from the victor's point of view, with lecturers touring the world telling everybody how theology ought to look but reluctant to listen. Liberation theology, on the other hand, is about the victims and is borne of listening to the cries of the people.
A serious book on a serious subject. His evidence as well as his conclusions will be questioned. Lay people will find it stimulating. Academics will want to argue with it. Few will deny that where it is taken seriously it offers a useful contribution to thinking and a wise corrective to unhealthy attitudes.
Alec Gilmore, University of Sussex
