Claiming Space in the Bible and Beyond: Exploring the Intersection of Gender, Sexuality and Economic Realities

This collection of essays explores the way individuals and communities navigate complicated spaces which have been dominated by econo-heteropatriarchal powers to find their voice and claim their space. Using concepts of space from development studies, the volume explores the power of biblical narratives for communities to navigate the complex and multifaceted intersections between gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and economics in the biblical text as well as within the diverse interpretive communities the chapter authors represent. In particular, these contributions are interested in the role of art as a way for individuals and communities to exhibit their agency and so transform hostile spaces in which they inadvertently find themselves. The work is divided into three sections: Claiming Space in the Community, Claiming Space in the Text, Claiming Space in/through Art. The contemporary contexts engaged with include South Africa, India, Brazil, Aotearoa New Zealand, the margins of the United States of America, and Australia. Within these contexts a diverse range of communities struggle "to claim space," including unemployed young people, LGBTIQA+ communities, women migrant workers, survivors of sexual violence, women struggling to survive economically, ethnic others, women at home and at work, women lamenting and resisting imperialisms, colonial settlers, aboriginal people, LGBTQIA+ Christians, black women and children.

L. Juliana Claassens is Professor in Old Testament and Head of the Gender Unit at the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University.

Steed Davidson received his Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary, New York. He is an Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley California. His teaching centers on prophetic books, paying attention to ancient empires and responses to empires in the formation of texts.


Steed Vernyl Davidson is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at McCormick Theological Seminary, USA.

Tat-siong Benny Liew is Class of 1956 Professor in New Testament Studies at the College of the Holy Cross.

David Tombs is Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at University of Otago, New Zealand.

Gerald West is Professor and Director of the Institute for the Study of the Bible, School of Theology, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.