Biblical Hermeneutics of Liberation analyzes the various elements of liberation

hermeneutics, focusing on the different ways in which the Bible is read in contexts of the struggle for liberation and life. The South African context is the primary context for the discussion, but there is constant dialogue with black theology in North America, liberation theology in Latin America, and feminist/womanist theology in both the First and Third World. Three questions shape the work:

what are the common commitments of liberation hermeneutics?

does any one mode of reading have a privileged relationship to the liberation struggle?

what role do ordinary readers of the Bible have in liberation hermeneutics?

From the foreword

"For an in-depth introduction to biblical hermeneutics, for a grasp of what is happening in South African biblical hermerieutical theory and practice, and for insigul guidance on doing truly liberative interpretation in groups of mixed readers in any context, this is a work of uncommon insight and practical instruction."

-Norman K. Gottwald

Extracts from reviews of the first edition

This book is a treasury of analyses and applications of interpretive methods. Its multicultural interdisciplinary strategy both expands the horizons of biblical interpreta- tion and integrates the insights gained from various critical approaches West's argu- mentation is well documented, and his bibliographical data are remarkable in their scope. Although the issues addressed, the positions critically discussed, and the con clusions developed are all quite sophisticated, West's literary style is quite engaging The layout itself facilitates reading. This is a book that anyone interested in liberative biblical hermeneutics will want to study."

-Diane Bergant in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

West's study, his several subsequent contributions in theological journals and his work at the Institute for the Study of the Bible (which continuously emphasises the value of ordinary readers for Biblical interpretation) clearly provide an important and necessary contribution both in academic hermeneutical debates and in the search for an appropriate way of reading the Bible in the South African context

-Ernst Conradie in the Journal of Theology for Southern Africa