target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_2579c648-4508-5af0-b713-d39589e49fef">133. For good examples of this attempt, see Rajak et al., Jewish Perspectives; Moore, Empire and Apocalypse. Moore’s comment shows well the necessity of these backgrounds for the clarification of the Johannine Jesus’ kingship: “And whereas the principal topic of Jesus’ dialogues with ‘the Jews’ was his relationship to the God of Israel, the principal topic of his dialogue with the Roman prefect will be his relationship to that other, more proximate, god, the Roman Emperor” (Moore, Empire and Apocalypse, 55).
134. For an introductory reading on postcolonialism from non-biblical critics, see Césairé, Discourse on Colonialism; Sartre, “Preface”, 7–26; Moore-Gilbert, Postcolonial Theory; Childs and Williams, Introduction; Gandhi, Postcolonial Theory; Loomba, Colonialism; Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin, Postcolonial Studies; Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin, Empire Writes Back; Young, Postcolonialism.
For important readings on postcolonialism from non-biblical critics, see Memmi, Colonizer and the Colonized; Fanon, Wretched of the Earth; Said, Orientalism; Bhabha, Location of Culture; Spivak, Critique of Postcolonial Reason. Said, Bhabha, and Spivak are regarded as the major figures in postcolonial criticism (for a critical survey of them, see Moore-Gilbert, Postcolonial Theory, 34–151).
On critical approaches of postcolonialism in biblical studies, see Donaldson and Sugirtharajah, Postcolonialism; Sugirtharajah, Asian Biblical Hermeneutics; Sugirtharajah, Postcolonial Bible; Sugirtharajah, Bible and the Third World, 244–75; Sugirtharajah, “Postcolonial Biblical Interpretation,” 64–84; Fiorenza, Jesus and the Politics; Segovia, Interpreting Beyond Borders; Segovia, Decolonizing Biblical Studies; Samuel, “Postcolonial Reading”; Dube and Staley, John and Postcolonialism; Moore, Empire and Apocalypse.
135. Segovia, “Interpreting,” 12.
136. See Segovia, “Interpreting,” 13–14.
137. Samuel, “Postcolonial Reading,” 3.
138. See Samuel, “Postcolonial Reading,” 12–17, esp. 14.
139. On the relationship between reality and ideology in detail, see Althusser, “Ideology,” 294–304; Eagleton, Literary Theory, 169–89; Younger, Ancient Conquest Account, 47–51. Younger argues that “ideology embraces both normative and allegedly factual elements; and these elements are not necessarily distorted” (Younger, Ancient Conquest Account, 48). Hoskins also argues, “Yet distortion is by no means inherent to every definition of the term. It can be defined in a neutral way that does not necessitate distortion” (Hoskins, Jesus as the Fulfillment, 8). However, Culpepper argues, “the influence of the perspective, the culture, and the social location of the interpreter is being recognized. No text, no interpretation, is ever completely unbiased or neutral. Some interests are advocated, privileged, or defended, while others are denied or subjugated” (Culpepper, “Gospel of John,” 118). Therefore, “there is no basic or neutral literary language uncolored by perception and response” (McKnight, “Reader-Response,” 231).
140. If reality could be reconstructed through reading the text or historical research, ideology in the text could be revealed more clearly, because reality influences to key points of the formation and development of ideology. Conversely, if ideology could be read more clearly in the text level, reality could be inferred more exclusively as well through reading the text.
141. Just as the real world to which the author belongs could have an effect on the placement of ideology through creative written works of the text by the author, those of the readers as well could have an effect on the interpretation of ideology, and on the reconstruction of the real world through interpretation of ideology by the readers.
142. All the readers through all the generations might have interpreted ideologies in the Gospel of John to justify their own ideologies reflecting their real worlds, i.e., reading the Gospel in their own ideological contexts. For example, in the period of modern colonialism, the Gospel has been read as an advocate of colonialism. Ideological readings of the text produce very different interpretations.
143. Segovia, “Journey(s),” 23–54.
144. On an analysis of myself as an interpreter, see chapter 5 of this book.
145. According to Samuel, “imperialism” refers to “the authority/power of a state over another territory” and “colonialism involves consolidation of such power either by creating military and civilian settlements in such a territory or by exploiting its people and resources or by lording over its indigenous inhabitants” (Samuel, “Postcolonial Reading,” 3). He uses these terms interchangeably.
146. See Bhabha, “Of Mimicry and Man,” 33; Bhabha, Location of Culture.
147. Said, Orientalism; Said, Culture and Imperialism.
148. Childs and Williams, Introduction, 122.
149. On the hybridization of ideas, images, languages, and political and cultural practices between the center and the margins, see Alexander, Images of Empire; Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism; Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora; Horsley, Paul and Empire.
150. See Segovia, “Interpreting Beyond Borders,” 11. On the disciplinary range of postcolonial studies (the study of imperialism and colonialism; the complicated relationship between the center and margins; the study of imposition and domination as well as of opposition and resistance; the study of the different phrases or periods within imperialism and colonialism [pre, post, neo]), see also, Segovia, “Interpreting Beyond Borders,” 13–14. On the four models of postcolonial reading practiced in biblical studies, see Samuel, “Postcolonial Reading,” 23–44.
151. See chapters 5 and 6 of this book. On the recognition of the significance of postcolonial theory in the study of Roman imperialism, see Webster and Cooper, eds., Roman Imperialism; Mattingly, Dialogues; Goodman, Roman World, 100–56; Horsley, Jesus and Empire.
152. Segovia, Decolonizing Bible, 140; see also Sugirtharajah, Asian Biblical Hermeneutic, ix–x.
153. Sugirtharajah, “Postcolonial Exploration,” 93.
154. Samuel, “Postcolonial Reading,” 48.
155. Childs and Williams, Introduction, 123–24