Reading the Bible in Australia
Edited by Deborah R. Storie, Barbara Deutschmann and Michelle Eastwood
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
Reading the Bible in Australia invites reflection about how the Bible matters to Australia. Contributors probe intersections between vital debates about Australian identity (who we have been, are, and aspire to become) and the Bible, bringing a range of perspectives to critical themes--indigeneity, colonization, and migration; landscape, biodiversity, and climate; gender and marginality; economics, ideology, and rhetoric. Each chapter explores the past and present influence of a biblical text or theme. Some offer fresh contextually and ethically informed readings. All interrogate the wider outcomes of reading the Bible in different ways. Given the tragic consequences of how it has been used historically, and sometimes still is, some Australians would exclude the Bible and its interpreters from public debate. Yet, as Meredith Lake's The Bible in Australia demonstrates, "a degree of biblical literacy--along with critical skill in evaluating how the Bible has been taken up and interpreted in our history--can only help Australians grapple well with the choices Australia faces." Love it or hate it, there is no getting around the reality that the Bible, and how it is read, still matters.
Deborah R. Storie is senior pastor at East Doncaster Baptist Church and lecturer in New Testament with the University of Divinity. She seeks to read and respond to the Bible in ways that build peace and promote ecological, social, and economic justice.
Barbara Deutschmann is a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Divinity in Melbourne. Her interests include gender in the Hebrew Bible and early Australian feminism, and she is the author of Creating Gender in the Garden (2022).
Michelle Eastwood is director of research at Australian Lutheran College. Her research interests include gender and sexuality, Hebrew Bible, and worship and liturgy. She has degrees in psychology, history, education, and theology, and enjoys working at the intersections of these areas of interest.
“What does it mean to read the Bible on the Country of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations? This question remains largely unanswered nearly 250 years after the colonization of Australia. In this significant new work, a diverse group of authors, beginning with leading First Nations scholars, respond to this question in challenging, and innovative ways. This is a critically important contribution to Australian scholarship.”
—Joanna Cruickshank, associate professor in history, Deakin University
“I am excited about this book. Why? As an Australian Christian who has read the Bible all his life, it never occurred to me to ask what it means to read it in Australia. I had read it devotionally. I have tried to read it internationally. I have read it as a church member. This book helps me to read it as an Australian in the light of our tragic history with Indigenous people and our response to this continent’s natural environment. I commend it.”
—Tim Costello, executive director, Micah Australia
“This astonishingly rich collection of essays is both a compelling introduction for Australians as to how they engage with the Bible, and for the world of biblical scholarship to the exceptional context of Australia. The first three chapters by First Nations Australians are essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the Bible in Australia.”
—Peter Sherlock, vice-chancellor, University of Divinity
“What an exciting collection of ideas are gathered in this book! Here are readers of the Bible from Australia who pay close attention to their important (and fascinating) social, cultural, and geographic ‘contexts’—both past and present. Included here are insights on Scripture from Indigenous scholars, critiques of politicized uses and abuses of the Bible, and frank confrontations with the challenges of history and contemporary issues. If you are curious about why many of us maintain a keen interest in biblical scholarship in Australia, start here.”
—Daniel L. Smith Christopher, professor of theological studies, Loyola Marymount University
“This rich mix of scholars and practitioners brings unique stories and experience of the biblical text. The result is a book that dives deeply into the defining issues of our time and reveals themes that colonization, settler theology, and capitalist economic interests have suppressed. I highly recommend this book to all who long for new and hopeful insights into the biblical text as they grapple with the consequences and implications of our colonial, capitalist world.”
—Sylvia C. Keesmat, adjunct professor of biblical studies and hermeneutics, Institute for Christian Studies
“This fascinating collection of essays explores the biblical text in the context of a colonizing history of appropriation. It offers new ways of reading and responding to the Bible from within the Australian context, with its complex cultures and its ancient landscape. The book is invaluable both for its innovative interpretations and for raising acutely the question of what it means to interpret the Bible for today within particular cultural contexts.”
—Dorothy A. Lee, research professor of New Testament, University of Divinity
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