Reading In-Between: How Minoritized Cultural Communities Interpret the Bible in Canada

This volume presents a tapestry of narratives in which the lived experiences of eight racially minoritized theologians and biblical scholars are woven together to present an interdisciplinary exploration of the direct impact that ethnocultural traditions have in shaping the way people read and interpret the biblical text. Moving beyond traditional approaches to biblical hermeneutics steeped in Euro-normativity Canadian scholars from Latino/a Chinese Korean Indian Cree and AfriCaribbean backgrounds draw on their respective locations to articulate how their communities engage the Bible. Together they show that ethnicity and cultural tradition enrich how different communities weave their life stories with the biblical text in hope of finding wisdom within it. By focusing on questions rooted in their particular traditions these diverse hermeneutical engagements show narrative to be central to the interpretive task within diverse ethnocultural communities. This volume represents the first attempt to present and analyze the vision and mission of minoritized reading and criticism of the Bible in Canada. It is a volume that was sorely needed and it is a volume that is keenly welcomed. On the one hand the project brings to the fore the ways in which minoritized communities from Asia Latin America and the Caribbean approach and deploy the biblical texts in their lives as migrants. On the other hand the project points to the way in which minoritized critics from these communities can employ such ethnocultural models and strategies to unsettle and transform the way of dominant biblical criticism in Canada. In a national situation marked by immigrant diversity and immigrant marginalization the volume raises a cry for the value of minoritized community reading and minoritized biblical criticism. It is to my mind an excellent contribution to the ever-expanding critical literature on minoritized reading and criticism on a global level. Well done indeed. --Fernando F. Segovia Vanderbilt University A reading of the biblical narrative that forefronts racialized marginalized and immigrant Christians in the Canadian context is timely within multi-cultural Canada in the wake of the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that focused on our mistreatment of Indigenous peoples. This hermeneutic of reading in-between with its rich compendium of ethno-cultural voices each reading the Bible within a specific context is equally timely for the cultural mosaic within the whole of North America and beyond. --Dorcas Gordon University of Toronto Nestor Medina is Visiting Scholar at Emmanuel College Centre for Religion and Its Context in Toronto. He has written journal articles and book chapters on liberation contextual and Latina/o theologies. He is the author of Christianity Empire and the Spirit (2018). Alison Hari-Singh is Administrator of the Doctor of Ministry program at the Toronto School of Theology and Assistant Curate of the Anglican parish of St. Martin in-the-Fields Toronto. . HyeRan Kim-Cragg is Lydia Gruchy Professor of Pastoral Studies at St. Andrews College Saskatoon Saskatchewan. She is the author of Story and Song (2012) and Interdependence (Pickwick Publications 2018).