The Bible and Art, Perspectives from Oceania - (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies) by Caroline Blyth & Nasili Vaka'uta (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This volume takes readers on a fascinating journey through the visual arts of Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands, contemplating the multivocal dialogues that occur between these artistic media and the texts and traditions of the Bible. With their distinctively antipodean perspectives, contributors explore the innovative ways that both creators and beholders of Oceanic arts draw upon their contexts and cultures in order to open up creative engagements with the stories, themes and theologies of the biblical traditions.

Various motifs weave their way throughout the volume, including antipodean landscapes and ecology, (post)colonialism, philosophy, Oceanic spiritualities and the often contested engagements between western and indigenous cultures. Within this weaving process, each essay invites readers to contemplate these various forms of visual culture through Oceanic eyes, and to appreciate the fresh insights that this process can bring to reading and interpreting the biblical traditions. The result is a rich and interdisciplinary array of conversations that will capture the attention of readers within the fields of biblical reception studies, cultural studies, theology and art history.

Review Quotes

Takes readers on a fascinating art-historical journey ... Richly illustrated ... [it] is recommended to all who are interested in the impact of historical aspects of the Bible outside the "Western tradition".
Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (Bloomsbury Translation)

This unique volume in the Scriptural Traces series invites readers to engage with the reception of the bible in and through antipodean eyes.
The Expository Times

About the Author

Caroline Blyth is a lecturer of Religious Studies in the School of Humanities at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Nasili Vaka'uta is the Principal of Trinity Theological College, Auckland, and Ranston Lecturer in Biblical Studies, New Zealand.