Madipoane Masenya (Ngwan’a Mphahlele)

A Hermeneutic of Imagination

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“By exploring the Bible’s literary quality, figurative language, affective dimensions, and humorous capacity, the authors unveil the hermeneutic of imagination’s impact on translation theory and practice, the intellectual and theological enrichment of the academic study of the Bible, and the embodiment of Scripture’s moral imagination, thus enabling Scripture’s readers to excavate its power to transform. Persuasive and compelling, this book is a must-read for all who employ their imaginative capabilities to authentically unlock the Bible’s imaginative nature.”

Jonah

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Claassens traces the trauma lived out by the book’s first readers who navigated the ongoing effects of the Persian Empire in their daily lives. Marginalized readers who continue to be the subjects of the persisting trauma from past and present empires may find the Jonah narrative a helpful and thus needed resource. Claassens’s deliberate reading through the lenses of the marginalized lends greater complexity and depth to a narrative that could just be simplified as a story of a wayward prophet and his God who acts out of free will. A must-read for Hebrew Bible scholars, especially in the field of trauma studies, as well as for clergy and religion scholars committed to the continued plight of marginalized readers in our postcolonial and anticolonial contexts.”

Let My People Live

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“The author ably foregrounds Africana hermeneutics as being about life. Forces of erasure, alienation, and singularization are resisted in favor of liberation for the communal flourishing of the Africana. An invaluable resource for Hebrew Bible scholars and students alike.”