Table of Contents
List of Contributors viii
Acknowledgments x
Introduction 1 R. S. Sugirtharajah
Part I: Theoretical Practices 3
Introduction: Theoretical Practices 5 R. S. Sugirtharajah
1 Charting the Aftermath: A Review of Postcolonial Criticism 7 R. S. Sugirtharajah
2 Biblical Criticism and Postcolonial Studies: Toward a Postcolonial Optic 33 Fernando F. Segovia
3 Making the Connections: Postcolonial Studies and Feminist Biblical Interpretation 45 Kwok Pui-lan
Part II: Empires Old and New 65
Introduction: Empires Old and New 67 R. S. Sugirtharajah
4 Renewal Movements and Resistance to Empire in Ancient Judea 69 Richard A. Horsley
5 Postcolonialism and Imperial Motives for Canonization 78 Jon L. Berquist
6 Roman Imperialism and Early Christian Scribality 96 Werner H. Kelber
7 Desiring War: Apocalypse, Commodity Fetish, and the End of History 112 Erin Runions
Part III: Empire and Exegesis 129
Introduction: Empire and Exegesis 131 R. S. Sugirtharajah
8 The Implications of the Text of Esther for African Women’s Struggle for Liberation in South Africa 134 Itumeleng J. Mosala
9 Rahab Says Hello to Judith: A Decolonizing Feminist Reading 142 Musa W. Dube
10 The Sign of Orpah: Reading Ruth through Native Eyes 159 Laura E. Donaldson
11 On Naming the Subject: Postcolonial Reading of Daniel 1 171 Philip Chia
12 Decolonizing Yahweh: A Postcolonial Reading of 2 Kings 24–25 186 Kari Latvus
13 Mark and Empire: ‘‘Zealot’’ and ‘‘Postcolonial’’ Readings 193 Stephen D. Moore
14 Tyranny, Boundary, and Might: Colonial Mimicry in Mark’s Gospel 206 Tat-siong Benny Liew
15 Maori ‘‘Jews’’ and a Resistant Reading of John 5.10–47 224 Mary Huie-Jolly
16 God at the Crossroads: A Postcolonial Reading of Sophia 238 Mayra Rivera
Part IV: Postcolonial Concerns 255
Introduction: Postcolonial Concerns 257 R. S. Sugirtharajah
17 How Local Divine Powers were Suppressed: A Case of Mwari of the Shona 259 Dora R. Mbuwayesango
18 Cutchery Tamil versus Pure Tamil: Contesting Language Use in the Translated Bible in the Early Nineteenth-Century Protestant Tamil Community 269 Hephzibah Israel
19 Canonization and Marginalization: Mary of Magdala 284 Karen L. King
20 Exodus-toward-Egypt: Filipino-Americans’ Struggle to Realize the Promised Land in America 291 Eleazar S. Fernandez
Index of Biblical References 305
Index of Names and Subjects 313