This stimulating study explores the implications of postcolonial criticism for biblical studies. Sugirtharajah provides a comprehensive overview of the origins, definitions, and procedures of postcolonial criticism, followed by a discussion of its significance in biblical interpretation. He reveals how postcolonial criticism can offer new perspectives to our understanding of the Bible and of how Western Imperialism has shaped Christianity.

Postcolonial Criticism and Biblical Interpretation

Literature & Fiction

Sugirtharajah, R.S.

History & Criticism

Oxford University Press

Contributors to this collection have been asked to re-read the book that inspired them the most at the outset of their career, or earlier, and then describe what that book offers them now, and how the book and the reader have changed - be it theologically, culturally, politically, personally or professionally - since that first inspiring read. Each chapter reads differently, the tone changing from author to author depending on their various social and political locations, their gender and ethnic differences. Contributors represent different disciplines - Systematic Theology, Biblical Studies, Cultural and English Studies. The selection also reflects male and female, centre and margin, Black and White representations. Each is a very well-established figure in their field and, more crucially, they are at the stage in their career to undertake the type of exercise envisioned in this exciting and unusual project.Autobiographical criticism is a growing tool in most academic fields and here for the first time, a group of eminent theologians ask themselves about the relationship between the reader and the book. Each scholars addresses the book's original context and the present context; their theological and hermeneutical journey; how the theological landscape has changed over the years for them; the memories these re-readings bring; their prejudices, theological likes and dislikes, and how these have shaped their theological thinking today. Contributions from dynamic thinkers from around the globe, include: Stephen Moore, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Regina Schwartz, Fernando Segovia, Laura Donaldson, Kwok Pui-Lan, Alice Bach, Roland Boer, Archie Lee, Elsa Tamez, Christopher Rowland, Yvonne Sherwood, Sharon Ringe, Tina Pippan, Randall Bailey and more.

Caught Reading Again: Scholars and Their Books

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

SCM Press

The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters

This volume is the first attempt at a comprehensive history of how the Bible has fared in the Third World, from precolonial days to the postcolonial period. It closely examines the works of biblical interpreters from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and North America, bringing to the fore the obscure as well as the better-known interpretations, and investigating the Bible's reclamation by indigenous peoples in the postcolonial world. The volume will be an invaluable guide to anyone interested in learning about the impact of the Bible on non-Western cultures.

History

World

Cambridge University Press

The Bible and Empire: Postcolonial Explorations

At a time when there is a renewed interest in Empire, this volume explores the complex relationship between the Bible and the colonial enterprise, and examines some overlooked aspects of this relationship. Topics include the unconventional retellings of the gospel story of Jesus by Thomas Jefferson and Raja Rammohun Roy, and the fate of biblical texts when marshalled by Victorian preachers after the Indian uprising of 1857. The innovative book features practical as well as theoretical insights, providing compelling evidence of the continuing importance of postcolonial discourse for biblical studies.

This volume is the first attempt at a comprehensive history of how the Bible has fared in the Third World, from precolonial days to the postcolonial period. It closely examines the works of biblical interpreters from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and North America, bringing to the fore the obscure as well as the better-known interpretations, and investigating the Bible's reclamation by indigenous peoples in the postcolonial world. The volume will be an invaluable guide to anyone interested in learning about the impact of the Bible on non-Western cultures.

Brahmin and his Bible, The: Rammohun Roy’s Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On

On the bicentenary of the publication of Raja Rammohun Roy's Precepts of Jesus, R. S. Sugirtharajah situates Roy's compilation of the moral teachings of Jesus in its social, cultural and political context and analyses the hermeneutical issues it generated. In doing so, he documents the often acrimonious exegetical exchanges between Roy and the missionaries over the standing and status of the Bible; their often differing hermeneutical suppositions and strategies; their contradictory consturals of Jesus; and disputes about translations. Sugirtharajah addresses issues such as the place of the Precepts among earlier Gospel Harmonies, Roy's use of the Improved Version, a highly contentious Unitarian Bible, and his motives for translating his own Hindu texts. Sugirtharajah also demonstrates how Roy's work was a precursor to de-mythologization which the West took up later, and how Roy's identification of Jesus as an Asiatic, and his idea of a moral union between Father and Son, were routinely reused by later Indian writers. An additional feature is a critical look at Thomas Jefferson's The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, which appeared in the same year and which had a similar interpretative aim and aspiration. This volume also includes Roy's Precepts in full. 
There have been popular perceptions of Roy as someone who strongly disapproved of various Christian doctrines and was highly rationalistic in his outlook. Sugirtharajah demonstrates that Roy was much more complex in his writings. His initial rationalistic energy and passion, displayed in his Precepts, gave way to something much more intuitively and emotionally based which, ironically, did not disturb the foundations of Christianity but made them stronger and safer for Christians. 
Sugirtharajah brings to the fore a forgotten but significant work which raised important issues for biblical studies and the power relations between colonized and colonizer over the control of texts and interpretation. He draws lessons from this 19th-century colonial religious controversy for a postcolonial world where religious texts are manipulated to provoke religious hatred and violence.

The Brahmin and his Bible: Rammohun Roy’s Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On

T&T Clark

On the bicentenary of the publication of Raja Rammohun Roy's Precepts of Jesus, R. S. Sugirtharajah situates Roy's compilation of the moral teachings of Jesus in its social, cultural and political context and analyses the hermeneutical issues it generated. In doing so, he documents the often acrimonious exegetical exchanges between Roy and the missionaries over the standing and status of the Bible; their often differing hermeneutical suppositions and strategies; their contradictory consturals of Jesus; and disputes about translations. Sugirtharajah addresses issues such as the place of the Precepts among earlier Gospel Harmonies, Roy's use of the Improved Version, a highly contentious Unitarian Bible, and his motives for translating his own Hindu texts. Sugirtharajah also demonstrates how Roy's work was a precursor to de-mythologization which the West took up later, and how Roy's identification of Jesus as an Asiatic, and his idea of a moral union between Father and Son, were routinely reused by later Indian writers. An additional feature is a critical look at Thomas Jefferson's The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, which appeared in the same year and which had a similar interpretative aim and aspiration. This volume also includes Roy's Precepts in full.\nThere have been popular perceptions of Roy as someone who strongly disapproved of various Christian doctrines and was highly rationalistic in his outlook. Sugirtharajah demonstrates that Roy was much more complex in his writings. His initial rationalistic energy and passion, displayed in his Precepts, gave way to something much more intuitively and emotionally based which, ironically, did not disturb the foundations of Christianity but made them stronger and safer for Christians.\nSugirtharajah brings to the fore a forgotten but significant work which raised important issues for biblical studies and the power relations between colonized and colonizer over the control of texts and interpretation. He draws lessons from this 19th-century colonial religious controversy for a postcolonial world where religious texts are manipulated to provoke religious hatred and violence.

Hindus and Their Christian Bible

Though the Bible is a product of West Asia, its influence on Europe and the Americas has received far more attention than its complex career in the East. R. S. Sugirtharajah corrects this imbalance with an expansive new study of Asia's subversive and idiosyncratic relationship with the Bible. This is the story of missionaries, imperialists, exegetes, reformers, and nationalists who molded Biblical texts according to their own needs in order to influence religion, politics, and daily life from India to China.When the Bible reached east and south Asia in the third century CE, its Christian scriptures already bore traces of Asian commodities and Indian moral stories. In China, the Bible merged with the teachings of Buddha and Lao Tzu to produce the Jesus Sutras. As he recounts the history of how Christianity was influenced by other Asian religions, Sugirtharajah deftly highlights the controversial issue of Buddhist and Vedic influence on Biblical religion.Once used to justify European rule in Asia, the Bible has also served to promote the spiritual salvation of women, outcasts, and untouchables. The Bible has left a literary mark on Asia in two ways: through its influence on Asian writers and through the reinvigoration of modern Asian vernaculars when proselytizing missionaries introduced Western print culture to the East.

The Bible and Asia: From the Pre-Christian Era to the Postcolonial Age

Asia

Harvard University Press

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Books by Sugirtharajah, R.S.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sugirtharajah, R.S.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Postcolonial Criticism and Biblical Interpretation

Caught Reading Again: Scholars and Their Books

The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters

The Bible and Empire: Postcolonial Explorations

The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters

The Bible and Empire: Postcolonial Explorations

The Brahmin and his Bible: Rammohun Roy’s Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On

Brahmin and his Bible, The: Rammohun Roy’s Precepts of Jesus 200 Years On

Hindus and Their Christian Bible

The Bible and Asia: From the Pre-Christian Era to the Postcolonial Age