Shaping Politics in the Bible and its Receptions. Introductory Note

Over the past four decades, considerable attention has been devoted in biblical studies to the emergence of literature within the matrix of imperial domination and/or resistance to constituted powers as a lens for understanding biblical narratives, their origins, purposes, and audiences. Additionally, studies examining how the Bible(s) reshaped Jewish and later Christian language and theology (Wirkungen) have highlighted how biblical literature played a key role in forming and solidifying specific political imaginations within dynamic, diverse communities of readers. Their authority figures or groups have used/misused specific interpretations of biblical narratives to address central issues of the sociopolitical sphere, to assert one or the other right in public debate, and to establish boundaries of acceptability in the society they were creating or in which they lived. This means that the Bible can (also) be considered a political document, which has been used throughout the centuries in diverse communities and for different goals as a source of political authority. Put another way, politics has shaped and been shaped by biblical texts.