Transforming Dominant Discourses Through and in Asian American Biblical Criticism

Abstract Abstract and Keywords This chapter traces the emergence, development, and ongoing transformation of Asian American biblical criticism as both a challenge to and reconfiguration of dominant modes of biblical studies. It begins by situating the field in relation to the Enlightenment’s historical-critical method and the civil rights and ethnic studies movements of the 1960s, showing how Asian American scholars expose the ideological presuppositions of neutral criticism and foreground the embodied experiences of racialized readers. The chapter then examines the goals, repertoires, and practices of Asian American biblical criticism, including its focus on ethical responsibility, community engagement, postcolonial criticism, and intersectional approaches, and its use of literature, cultural traditions, and interdisciplinary insights to interrogate power and generate new readings. It also highlights critical questions for the field’s future, especially the need to engage queer and Marxist studies, address complicity in racial capitalism and settler colonialism, and consider solidarity across racial and global struggles, especially in debates on Israel and Palestine. Finally, the chapter underscores that Asian American biblical criticism must resist becoming a mere diversity showcase or falling into complacency, insisting instead on its revolutionary task of transforming dominant scholarship while continually adapting to the shifting realities of race, power, and empire.