Abstract
How might the Bible help readers identify and challenge different forms of injustice? What texts and ideas infuse the work of scholars, artists, and activists who envision and enact social change? Whose stories express both the gravity of the reality of social, political, and/or economic oppression and a bold, creative, and liberative vision and mission? Liberating Biblical Study answers with a truly collaborative work that successfully blends the academic with the practical and the religious with the secular. In content and form, the book resists the very notion that these realms should or can be separated and attempts to reshape how and from what and whose perspectives the Bible is read. The title, presumably a double entendre, addresses both the potential of biblical study to inspire and support the work of liberation and the imperative to unshackle the study of the Bible from assumptions and methods of interpretation that (unintentionally or not) breed systemic oppression and indifference to human suffering.
The volume celebrates the inauguration of the Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice and, as such, includes biblical scholars whose works have long informed and supported social action and specifically honors three who graciously donated their libraries to the center. The book comprises three parts that contain a total of eight sections. Each section includes a contribution from a scholar, an activist, and an artist and focuses on a particular topic or biblical theme. Most of the essays from biblical scholars are reprints or revisions of previously published works and act as springboards for critical and practical engagement. Often aided by social-scientific analysis, these scholars reject interpretive methods that downplay the extent to which socio-political realities both shaped the ancient texts and complicate modern hermeneutics. Each activist explicitly interacts with the scholar's work and describes a related experience with or act of resistance against injustice. Sections typically conclude with an aesthetic blend of text and image (e.g., poetry, illustration, photography) that emanates from the ideas and concerns expressed in the section.
The first part, the Hebrew Bible, raises the topics of empire, economic class, and environmental justice as it considers the emergence of Israel as a nation, the exodus, and creation. The second part, Jesus and the Gospels, finds Jubilee consciousness at work in biblical parable and modern ecumenical movements; reflects on the role and power of words to create or subvert dominant views on race, gender, theology, poverty, etc.; and considers the imbalanced relationship between those at society's center and margins. The third part, Epistles, discusses the negative and systemic impact of greed on global and local economies as well as the import of hospitality and sanctuary, especially vis-à-vis policies regarding immigrants and war resistors. The book concludes with a working bibliography compiled and annotated by Dykstra of the top one-hundred books on the Bible and social justice, chosen according to principles that ensure a broad, diverse, inspiring, and accessible list of resources.
The volume is directed toward a very broad readership, one that encompasses “the seminary, the sanctuary, and the streets” (p. xxiii). Each individual section begins with a brief introduction to the contributors, their works, and the topic at hand, which personalizes the conversation generated while summarizing its emphases. On the whole, the scholarly essays are rather light on jargon and footnotes. The topics they raise would yield few surprises for those well versed in postmodern scholarship, yet even these could find benefit in the volume's diversity and breadth. The book's short yet pithy sections make its messages very accessible and especially conducive to a wide range of applications—to illuminate ancient and modern social contexts; to present localized examples of injustice in order to make a difficult and diffuse topic more concrete for sermons, classes, or studies; and to spur ideas that could spark individual and collective involvement in the pursuit of a just society.
While the text contains a handful of typographical errors, the only real misfortune relates to the quality of reproduced images, which is always a technical challenge given the limits of paperback publishing. Much of the visual art contains unnaturally small handwriting; however, in the least legible cases the content is helpfully reiterated in the text. Poster art and illustrations are clear and crisp while, unfortunately, photography and a mural appear in extremely high contrast. As one might expect, the impact and details of an ostensibly twenty-foot tall and colorful mural are muted considerably when represented in limited shades of gray in a five-inch tall format. Since these consequences are often unavoidable, the absence of descriptions of media and size of original art, which usually accompany reproductions, is regrettable.
Any shortcomings are relatively minor in comparison to the volume's strengths, perhaps the greatest of which lies in its ability to educate, unsettle, and motivate the reader. Even the eclectic mix of different textual and visual genres helps facilitate and encourage the shift from theory to practice that the work demands. The outcome is a refreshing and provocative compilation that opposes “interpretation without representation” (the words of Hendricks, p. 129) and nurtures insight and action while highlighting the positive and political role biblical study can play in the struggle against social injustice.