Materialist/Marxist Interpretations and Postcolonial Biblical Criticism

Abstract

<p>Marxist theory provides a set of tools to analyze the material conditions and social forces behind biblical texts and the contexts of their interpreters. Although often overlooked within biblical studies, an important scholarly movement in Marxist and materialist biblical criticism continues to challenge liberal and capitalist assumptions in historical-critical, social-scientific, and literary approaches to the Bible. This study examines the broad parameters of Marxist biblical criticism and how it might enrich readings from the margins collected under the tent of postcolonial biblical criticism. The chapter also notes the divergence between postcolonial and Marxist criticism in recent decades and looks to the work of Fernando Belo and Itumeleng Mosala to find common ground. Their analyses may challenge the tendency in postcolonial biblical criticism not to engage Marxism criticism deeply.</p>