Introduction: Decolonizing New Testament Studies? Beyond Eurocentrism to Reshaping the Discipline

Abstract

Set in the context of current calls for the decolonization of universities, curricula, and academic disciplines, this essay first outlines what this might mean in the discipline of New Testament studies, highlighting both the formation of the discipline within a particular western European context and the need to move beyond the disciplinary practices shaped by this history. It then introduces the papers collected in this special issue, not by summarizing each paper individually (the abstracts of each provide this summary) but by identifying certain themes and issues that emerge from the collection. Both the contextualized character of these various studies and their modes of ethical, political, and theological engagement raise challenges for the discipline as a whole.