Troubling Women and Land: Reading Biblical Texts in Aotearoa New Zealand
Published: Apr 2014
£60.00
What do women have to do with land? Biblical women such as Rahab, Achsah, and the daughters of Zelophehad have a great deal to do with Israel's land concerns, and their roles are indeed found troubling. And there are also questions to be asked of Miriam's role in the move from Egypt towards the 'promised' land; of Deborah, involved in a battle with a Canaanite commander; and of Huldah, whose troubling role in Josiah's reform is exposed in a queer-critical reading.
Reading such land-focused narratives from the context of Aotearoa New Zealand brings to the surface disturbing connections with that country's own quite particular experience of colonialism. Such findings call for feminist postcolonial scrutiny. Here, in response, the critical scope is widened by reading these texts contrapuntally with others concerning New Zealand's colonial and postcolonial experiences, both past and present.
Troubling Women and Land has a personal edge, with the author's voice frequently intruding, without apology, sometimes even holding imaginary conversations with characters and scholars, complementing the use of more traditional critical approaches. What underlies the book is a conviction that reading biblical texts matters in the politics of today's world.
Troubling Women and Land: Reading Biblical Texts in Aotearoa New Zealand
£60.00
What do women have to do with land? Biblical women such as Rahab, Achsah, and the daughters of Zelophehad have a great deal to do with Israel's land concerns, and their roles are indeed found troubling. And there are also questions to be asked of Miriam's role in the move from Egypt towards the 'promised' land; of Deborah, involved in a battle with a Canaanite commander; and of Huldah, whose troubling role in Josiah's reform is exposed in a queer-critical reading.
Reading such land-focused narratives from the context of Aotearoa New Zealand brings to the surface disturbing connections with that country's own quite particular experience of colonialism. Such findings call for feminist postcolonial scrutiny. Here, in response, the critical scope is widened by reading these texts contrapuntally with others concerning New Zealand's colonial and postcolonial experiences, both past and present.
Troubling Women and Land has a personal edge, with the author's voice frequently intruding, without apology, sometimes even holding imaginary conversations with characters and scholars, complementing the use of more traditional critical approaches. What underlies the book is a conviction that reading biblical texts matters in the politics of today's world.
Reframing Her: Biblical Women in Postcolonial Focus
Published: Jun 2006
£15.95 – £35.00
How does one read the story of Sarah and Hagar, or Jezebel and Rahab today, if one is a woman reader situated in a postcolonial society?
This is the question undergirding this work, which considers a selection of biblical texts in which women have significant roles. Employing both a gender and a postcolonial lens, it asks sharp questions both of the interests embedded in the texts themselves and of their impact upon contemporary women readers.
Whereas most postcolonial studies have been undertaken from the perspective of the colonized this work reads the texts from the position of a settler descendant, and is an attempt to engage with the disquietening and challenging questions that reading from such a location raises. Letters from early settler women in New Zealand, contemporary fiction, and personal reminiscence become tools for the task, complementing those traditionally employed in critical biblical readings.
Reframing Her: Biblical Women in Postcolonial Focus
£15.95 – £35.00
How does one read the story of Sarah and Hagar, or Jezebel and Rahab today, if one is a woman reader situated in a postcolonial society?
This is the question undergirding this work, which considers a selection of biblical texts in which women have significant roles. Employing both a gender and a postcolonial lens, it asks sharp questions both of the interests embedded in the texts themselves and of their impact upon contemporary women readers.
Whereas most postcolonial studies have been undertaken from the perspective of the colonized this work reads the texts from the position of a settler descendant, and is an attempt to engage with the disquietening and challenging questions that reading from such a location raises. Letters from early settler women in New Zealand, contemporary fiction, and personal reminiscence become tools for the task, complementing those traditionally employed in critical biblical readings.