The Bible, Centres and Margins: Dialogues Between Postcolonial African and British Biblical Scholars

by Johanna Stiebert (Editor), Musa W. Dube (Editor)

Overview

There has rarely been an effort to address the missing dialogue between British and African scholars, including in regard to the role of British missionaries during the introduction ofthe Bible and Christianity to many parts of Africa. To break this silence, Musa W. Dube and Johanna Stiebert collect expressions from both emerging and established biblical scholars in the United Kingdom and (predominantly) southern African states.

Divided into three sets of papers, these contributions range from the injustices of colonialism to postcolonial critical readings of texts, suppression and appropriation; each section complete with a responding essay. Questioning how well UK students understand Africancentred and generated approaches of biblical criticism, whether African scholars consider UK-centric criticism valid, and how accurately the western canon represents current UK based scholarship, these essays illustrate the trends and challenges faced in biblical studies in the two centres of study, and discusses how these questions are better answered with dialogue, rather than in isolation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780567693266
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/23/2020
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.38(d)

About the Author

Johanna Stiebert is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Leeds, UK.

Musa Dube is affiliated to the University of Botswana and member of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Abstracts
Contributors
Foreword, by Vincent Wimbush, Founding Director of the Institute for Signifying Scriptures, USA
Introduction, by Musa W. Dube, University of Botswana, Botswana and Johanna Stiebert, University of Leeds, UK
Border Crossing in Diasporic Academic Space, by Musa W. Dube, University of Botswana, Botswana
Of Borders, Crossings, Colours and Botswana, by Johanna Stiebert, University of Leeds, UK
Part I
Paddling the Bellowing Waters Away From the Margins: African Perspectives of Proverbs 31, by Mmapula D. Kebaneilwe, University of Botswana, Botswana
White is Purity: Christian Imagery, Popular Culture and the Construction of Whiteness, by Katie Edwards, University of Sheffield, UK
Between Resisting White and Reflecting Black: A Hong Kong Resident's Response and Perspective, by Nancy N. H. Tan, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Part II
Empire and Identity Secrecy: A Postcolonial Reflection on Esther 2.10, by Tsaurayi K. Mapfeka, King's College London, UK
'My Words Dropped Upon Them Like Dew': Toward Reimaging the Identity of African Biblical Interpreters, by Mark S. Aidoo, Trinity Theological Seminary, Ghana
Locating African Biblical Scholarship as Another Generation of African Biblical Scholars Takes up the Work, by Gerald O. West, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Part III
The Dark Heart of Biblical Scholarship: Western Readers and African Readings, by Hugh S. Pyper, University of Sheffield, UK
Mwari and the Shona Bible: Colonial and Patriarchal Ideology in Translation, by Elizabeth Vengeyi, University of Bamberg, Germany
The Politics of Appropriation, by Adriaan van Klinken, University of Leeds, UK
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

This collection of essays is a wonderful testimony of one-world biblical studies; the editors, both authorities in contextual biblical studies, present a high-level interchange between scholars from the global South and West about highly relevant topics of academy and life: power, gender and religion. This book is a true 'must-read' for scholars and students in contemporary biblical studies.” —Joachim Kügler, University of Bamberg, Germany

“Our globalised time has called forth this collection. [All those] who have contributed to this volume received their Bibles via European colonialism. But this is only part of the story, for what is clear from these essays is that the Bible is now, generations later, a thoroughly African and Asian book, albeit also a contentious post-colonial book. So while it is true that there is some 'talking back' to empire, there is as much talking among ourselves. We have been joined by collaborative European dialogue partners and our intersecting conversations make it clear that we are all working in a globalised world, where imperial understandings of “centre” and “margin” are being deconstructed and reimagined.” —Gerald West, University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

From the Publisher