What is the future for the Bible, one of the most important books in the world? In this manifesto, Roland Boer explores the idea that the Bible is an unruly and uncontrollable text that has been colonized by church, synagogue, and state.

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• Powerfully argues that the Bible needs to be rescued from its abuse by the religious and political right
  


• Considers the history of revolutionary readings of the Bible, from Gerrard Winstanley to the present
  


• Urges a role for the Bible in a new "worldly left": an alliance between the religious and secular left that can promote more progressive readings of the text
  


• Concludes by offering a "political myth" from the Bible that condemns oppression, imagines a better society and celebrates the biblical themes of opposition and chaos.

Roland Boer is Reader in the Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies at Monash University in Australia. He has written seven books on biblical, political and philosophical subjects.

Preface.

Introduction.

1. The New Secularism.

2. The Worldly Left: Towards a Politics of Alliance.

3. Bad Conscience: Battles Over the Bible.

4. (Ab)using the Text: Conflicts in Politics and Science.

5. Making All Things New: The Revolutionary Legacy of the Bible.

6. Rescuing the Bible.

Conclusion.

Notes.

References.

Index of Subjects.

Index of Biblical References