Reading the Hebrew Bible through Postcolonial Eyes

This course introduces postcolonial hermeneutic as a reading strategy that challenges the biblical texts especially the Hebrew Bible as metanarratives composed by the center for interpreting the empire. Viewing the text through this lens allows us to explore the dynamics of the relationships between the colonizer/colonized and alerts us to the powerful rhetorical instruments of imperialism. However, this course will also explore how the Hebrew Bible also proclaims prophetic voices which tell us the story of the liberation of a colonial situation that envisions justice as the antithesis of injustice. This course also focuses on aspects of the present, emphasizing the actual context in which the biblical text has been used to promote, both as a tool of domination and as a resource for resistance to, the unjust excesses of empire. We will also learn how indigenous Christians in Third World countries use and interpret the Hebrew Bible that has been used to justify their oppression.  Close attention will be paid to women’s attempts to resist imperial and patriarchal oppressive structures and ideologies and to create “a third space” where they can reconstruct their identities in order to become powerful, dynamic agents of change in their worlds.

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