Empire as material setting and heuristic grid for New Testament interpretation: Comments on the value of postcolonial criticism

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Empire as material setting and heuristic grid for New Testament interpretation: Comments on the value of postcolonial criticism
 
Creator Punt, Jeremy
 
Subject Theology; Biblical Studies postcolonial; empire; Paul; biblical hermeneutics; Roman
Description Using postcolonial analysis to account for the Roman Empire’s pervasive presence in and influence on early Jesus-follower communities (early Christians), as depicted in New Testament texts, is both evident (given its usefulness for analysing situations of unequal power relationships) and complicated. The complications are due partly to the material and conceptual potential and constraints inherent in postcolonial biblical studies, as well as to the complexities involved in dealing with empire and imperialism. The study of the Roman Empire, as far as its impact on early Christianity and (in this article) on the letters of Paul is concerned, requires attention to Empire’s material manifestation, ideological support for Empire, and religious aspects – issues that are identified and briefly discussed. Empire can be understood in many different ways, but it was also constantly constructed and negotiated by both the powerful and the subjugated and therefore attention is required for its possible reach, uses and the purposeful application of discursive power in New Testament texts that were contemporary with Empire.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2010-06-17
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Exegesis
Format text/html text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v66i1.330
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 66, No 1 (2010); 7 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/330/762 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/330/774 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/330/749
 
Coverage Mediterranean First century CE —
Rights Copyright (c) 2010 Jeremy Punt https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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