At a time when there is a renewed interest in Empire, this volume explores the complex relationship between the Bible and the colonial enterprise, and examines some overlooked aspects of this relationship. Topics include the unconventional retellings of the gospel story of Jesus by Thomas Jefferson and Raja Rammohun Roy, and the fate of biblical texts when marshalled by Victorian preachers after the Indian uprising of 1857. The innovative book features practical as well as theoretical insights, providing compelling evidence of the continuing importance of postcolonial discourse for biblical studies.

R. S. Sugirtharajah is Professor of Biblical Hermeneutics at the University of Birmingham. His publications include Postcolonial Criticism and Biblical Interpretation (2002) and The Bible and the Third World (2001).

Introduction; 1. Textually conjoined twins: Rammohun Roy and Thomas Jefferson and their Bibles; 2. Salvos from the Victorian pulpit: conscription of texts by Victorian preachers during the Indian rebellion of 1857; 3. Thorns in the crown: the subversive and complicit hermeneutics of John Colenso of Natal and James Long of Bengal; 4. Texts and testament: the Hebrew Scriptures in colonial context; 5. Imperial fictions and biblical narratives: entertainment and exegesis in colonial novels; Afterword.