Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2 - Oceania

While biblical scholars increasingly use insights from postcolonial theory to interpret the Bible, the Bible itself is often neglected by postcolonial criticism, with the result that there is little influence in the other direction: from the Bible to postcolonial criticism. This second edition of Last Stop before Antarctica begins to repair the imbalance by pointing to the vital role that the Bible played in colonization, using Australia one of the first centers of postcolonial criticism as a specific example. Drawing upon colonial literature, including explorer journals, poetry, novels, and translations, it creates a mutually enlightening dialogue between postcolonial literature and biblical texts on themes such as exodus and exile, translation, identity, and home.