Abstract
In this introductory chapter, the editors outline the rationale behind the volume and the importance of maintaining scholarly conversations around gender violence, rape culture, and religion within the wider biblical studies academy. They discuss the role of the Bible in the perpetuation of gender violence and rape culture, stressing the ethical responsibility of biblical scholars to engage critically with biblical “texts of terror.” Detailing the contents of each chapter, they outline the authors’ critical and creative engagements with the subjects of gender violence, rape culture, and the Bible, and the significance of such engagements for sustaining future conversations around this crucial topic.
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Notes
- 1.
For an overview of some of the key researchers in this field, see the chapter by Susanne Scholz in this volume.
- 2.
Eryl Davies echoes Fuchs in his discussion of the necessity of ethical criticism of biblical texts of terror: “To accept the value statements of the text in utter passivity, without allowing oneself the freedom to reflect critically upon its claims and to question its assumptions is merely to foster a sense of complacency” (2003, p. 46).
- 3.
Aotearoa is the most widely used Māori name for New Zealand and often precedes its English counterpart when the country is written or spoken about. The precise origins and meaning of Aotearoa are uncertain, but it is often translated as “land of the long white cloud.”
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Blyth, C., Colgan, E., Edwards, K.B. (2018). Introduction. In: Blyth, C., Colgan, E., Edwards, K. (eds) Rape Culture, Gender Violence, and Religion. Religion and Radicalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70669-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70669-6_1
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