Sociological reading of the Bible: the post/de-colonial perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to propose a sociological reading that includes the pós/des-colonial perspective in the Bible interpretation process. One of the main critics accomplished by the pós/des-colonial perspective is the Eurocentrism’s influence. It affirms that European methods should not be used as a rule for the Latin-American’s context and that the sociological reading, mainly developed based on Marx and Weber, was enough to explain our reality. Then, I present a short historical of Bible’s sociological reading and the absence of relevant elements to be included by the pós/des-colonial perspective. In a second moment, it will be presented the pós/des-colonial reflection and their main contributions for the sociological method of reading the Bible. The intention is to propose a sketch of pós/des-colonial hermeneutics. In conclusion, I present a sociological interpretation’s exercise of the Bible in a post/de-colonial perspective.