Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I
- 1 A Brief Introduction to Edward W. Said: A Review of Said's Concepts of Subjectivity, Power, Intellectual Responsibility, and the Secular
- 2 Reading Contrapuntally: Adapting Said's Concept of Contrapuntal Reading to the Field of Biblical Hermeneutics
- 3 Attempting to Bridge the Gap: A Review of Contemporary Efforts to Integrate Academic and Vernacular Voices in Biblical Hermeneutics
- Part II Interlude: Why Job?
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index of Biblical References
- Index of Key Terms
- Index of Authors
1 - A Brief Introduction to Edward W. Said: A Review of Said's Concepts of Subjectivity, Power, Intellectual Responsibility, and the Secular
from Part I
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I
- 1 A Brief Introduction to Edward W. Said: A Review of Said's Concepts of Subjectivity, Power, Intellectual Responsibility, and the Secular
- 2 Reading Contrapuntally: Adapting Said's Concept of Contrapuntal Reading to the Field of Biblical Hermeneutics
- 3 Attempting to Bridge the Gap: A Review of Contemporary Efforts to Integrate Academic and Vernacular Voices in Biblical Hermeneutics
- Part II Interlude: Why Job?
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index of Biblical References
- Index of Key Terms
- Index of Authors
Summary
At the outset, it will be useful to ground our study and interpretation of Edward W. Said's hermeneutical praxis. As a basis for our explorations of Said's contrapuntal approach, this chapter endeavours to lay a conceptual groundwork upon which to build our understanding of Said. To that end, those concepts that are considered most important to his unique perspective and the approaches arising out of it are introduced here, together with relevant criticism of Said's work. This chapter will also treat those aspects of Said's personal, political and existential commitments that are relevant to the issues at hand. At the conclusion of this chapter, the reader will have a solid foundation from which to venture into more specific considerations of Said's thought.
The Foundation: Orientalism and Objectivity, Knowledge and Power
In his widely acclaimed and controversial book Orientalism, Edward W. Said lays the foundations for his theory of the inherent relationship between knowledge and power, particularly in colonial contexts. Said asserts that all knowledge is, at bottom, interested, and that objective knowledge, no matter what the subject under consideration, is impossible. Intellectual debate carries on under a false dichotomy between objectivity and subjectivity, and “whereas we are right to bewail the disappearance of a consensus on what constitutes objectivity, we are not by the same token adrift in self-indulgent subjectivity”.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Power and Responsibility in Biblical InterpretationReading the Book of Job with Edward Said, pp. 19 - 52Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2012