A Postcolonial Commentary on the New Testament Writings

Since its emergence a few years ago, postcolonial biblical criticism has witnessed swift expansion and development in Biblical Studies. This critical approach has been increasingly applied to biblical texts as well as modern and postmodern interpretations and interpreters of these texts, yielding an ever-growing body of dissertations, scholarly articles, and volumes. In the process, this approach has become increasingly sophisticated as well in matters of method and theory.

This Postcolonial Commentary on the New Testament Writings represents a critical benchmark in postcolonial biblical criticism. Indeed, the Commentary stands as the most comprehensive application to date of postcolonial criticism to the biblical texts, with its focus on the entire corpus of the New Testament. It places the reality and ramifications of imperial-colonial frameworks and relations at the centre of biblical criticism.

The various entries pursue their analysis across a broad range of concerns and through a number of different approaches. They show, among other things, how texts and interpretations construct and/or relate to their respective imperial-colonial contexts; foreground literary, rhetorical, and ideological marks of coloniality and postcoloniality in both texts and interpretations; reveal how postcolonial reading strategies disrupt and destabilize hegemonic biblical criticism; and engage in critical dialogue with the visions and projects identified in texts as well as in interpretations. Toward this end, the Commentary has recourse to a highly distinguished and diversified roster of scholars, making this a definite point of reference for years to come.

Fernando F. Segovia (The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA) - Introduction: Configurations Approaches, Findings, Stances
Warren Carter (St. Paul’s School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri, USA) - The Gospel of Matthew
Tat-siong Benny Liew (Pacific School of Theology, Berkeley, California, USA) - The Gospel of Mark
Virginia Burrus (The Theological School, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, USA) - The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles
Fernando F. Segovia (The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA) - The Gospel John
Neil Elliott (United Theological Seminary, New Brighton, Minnesota, USA) - The Letter to the Romans
Richard Horsley (University of Massachusetts, Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA) - The First and Second Letters to the Corinthians
Sze-kar Wan (Andover-Newton Theological Seminary, Newton, Massachusetts, USA) - The Letter to the Galatians
Jennifer G. Bird (The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA) - The Letter to the Ephesians
Efrain Agosto (Hartford Theological Seminary, Hartford, Connecticult, USA) - The Letter to the Philippians
Gordon Zerbe (Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, Canada) and Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro (The Divinity School, Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Philippines) - The Letter to the Colossians
Abraham Smith (Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, USA) - The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians
Ralph Broadbent (University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK) - The First and Second Letters to Timothy and the Letter to Titus
Allan Dwight Callahan (Seminário Teológico Batista de Nordeste, Bahia, Brazil) - The Letter to Philemon
Jeremy H. Punt (Faculty of Theology, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, Republic of South Africa) - The Letter to the Hebrews
Sharon H. Ringe (Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C., USA) - The Letter of James
Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza (The Divinity School, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) - The First Letter of Peter
Cynthia Briggs Kittredge (Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, Texas, USA) - The Second Letter of Peter
R. S. Sugirtharajah - The First, Second and Third Letters of John
Rohun Park (The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA) - The Letter of Jude
Stephen D. Moore (The Theological School, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, USA) - The Revelation to John
R. S. Sugirtharajah (University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK) - Postcolonial and Biblical Interpretation: The Next Phase

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).

R. S. Sugirtharajah is Professor of Biblical Hermeneutics, University of Birmingham. Recent publications include: The Bible and Empire: Postcolonial Explorations (Cambridge, 2005), Postcolonial Criticism and Bibical Interpretation (Oxford, 2002), Postcolonial Reconfigurations: An alternative way of reading the Bible and doing Theology, SCM Press, London, 2003.