Reading and Nonspecialist Readers: Raising Consciousness

Chin Ming Stephen Lim

Jump to Content

Chapter 2 Reading and Nonspecialist Readers: Raising Consciousness

In: Contextual Biblical Hermeneutics as Multicentric Dialogue

Author:

Chin Ming Stephen Lim

Chin Ming Stephen Lim
Search for other papers by Chin Ming Stephen Lim in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 52–70

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004399259_004

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

€42.00€35.00 excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Redeem Access Token

Abstract

The main aim of this chapter is to plot out what it means to read in context which keeps in mind nonspecialist readers whom I identify as the Protestant church in Singapore. It is structured as a typology of four reading postures with respect to them: reading without, reading for, reading with and reading from. Reading without is largely those who read for particular academic guilds and thus have little or no interest in reaching out to Christian communities who share the same text. Reading for would reflect majority of biblical scholars who see themselves as reading on behalf of nonspecialist readers which tends to be patriarchal in nature. Reading with follows what Gerald West (1999) has proposed in contextual bible studies in South Africa that takes into consideration the lived experiences of nonspecialist readers and the perspectives they bring to the text. However I argue in Singapore by virtue of the fact the church demographic is mainly constituted by middle to upper class congregations that largely belong to the majority Chinese race, there is a high risk that reading the Bible would serve certain class aspirations and cultural values. Therefore as a corrective I propose reading from which first recognises that the reader is located within a certain epistemic terrain and then identifies standpoints that have been submerged and silenced within that space to bring to the Bible for reading. In short, I argue in this chapter that reading the Bible in Singapore needs to move from reading without/for to reading with/from.

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789004399259/BP000011.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

Contextual Biblical Hermeneutics as Multicentric Dialogue

Towards a Singaporean Reading of Daniel

Series: Biblical Interpretation Series, Volume: 175

Cover Contextual Biblical Hermeneutics as Multicentric Dialogue

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004399259

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 09 Apr 2019

Subjects

Front Matter

Back Matter

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	1278	411	18
Full Text Views	15	5	0
PDF Views & Downloads	13	3	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

Chapter 2 Reading and Nonspecialist Readers: Raising Consciousness

Abstract

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

Contextual Biblical Hermeneutics as Multicentric Dialogue

Towards a Singaporean Reading of Daniel

Table of Contents

Metrics

Metrics