Biblical Studies: Alternative Views / Australia and the Pacific Islands

While biblical scholars increasingly use insights from postcolonial theory to interpret the Bible, the Bible itself is often neglected by postcolonial criticism, with the result that there is little influence in the other direction: from the Bible to postcolonial criticism. This second edition of Last Stop before Antarctica begins to repair the imbalance by pointing to the vital role that the Bible played in colonization, using Australiaone of the first centers of postcolonial criticismas a specific example. Drawing upon colonial literature, including explorer journals, poetry, novels, and translations, it creates a mutually enlightening dialogue between postcolonial literature and biblical texts on themes such as exodus and exile, translation, identity, and home.

In this collection of sixteen essays, the authors-islanders who are rooted in Asia, America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Oceania-focus on contextual, cultural, and postcolonial criticisms. Each essay invites a conversation on how being islanders, and the various ruminations of islandedness, condition the way islanders read biblical texts.

Regional concerns-climate change, conquest, migration, displacement, resettlement, asylum, discipleship, and others-challenge authors currently situated in Oceania to reflect on the practices of biblical interpretation and to consequently reread biblical texts with fluid understandings of borders and belonging(s).

An alternative approach to biblical interpretation from a Tongan standpoint In Reading Ezra 9-10 Tu'a-wise, Nasili Vaka'uta establishes a theoretical framework for reading that is informed by Tongan cultural perspectives--in this case the "eye-/I-s" of a Tongan commoner (tu'a). She applies a methodology for analysis of biblical texts based on the established theoretical framework and tests the methodology on Ezra 9-10. The book emphasizes contextualizing the task of biblical interpretation (using contextual or specifically indigenous categories of analysis) rather than contextualizing the Bible (applying the insights from one's reading to one's situation). Features Oceanic way of reading the Biblical texts Critical engagement with contextual biblical interpretation Practice-based interpretation