Though outright imperialism has been declared passé, the present era of globalization nonetheless remains implicated in the colonial project, as do the Church and the Bible. Within such conditions Christian theology and biblical interpretation must be(come) actively postcolonial, or else remain culpably, if passively, neocolonial. Thus Musa Dube asks, “Given the role of the Bible in facilitating imperialism, how should we read the Bible as postcolonial subjects?” In answering her own question, Dube develops a postcolonial feminist “reading prism” with and from the ordinary reading practices of African women. This essay explicates her hermeneutics and explores the possibilities of reading the Bible with and through Dube’s prism as a white Western male. In so doing, it argues that white Western Christians must attempt such readings and engage in postcolonial struggle.
The Institute for Cultural Engagement, an official program of Multnomah University and Biblical Seminary