If we want to read the Bible as a resource for liberative fights against systemic oppression, how can we learn to interpret it differently? Liberating Our Imaginations presents an answer. David Janzen demonstrates the possibilities for liberation produced by reading biblical texts alongside works of contemporary literature by minoritized authors. While contemporary examples of oppression are not identical, the process of reading ancient and contemporary texts together can nonetheless open up imaginative and liberative interpretations of biblical texts. This approach allows people from any community to use the Bible as a resource in different struggles against oppression.

David Janzen is a Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University in the United Kingdom. He is the author of numerous academic monographs on the Deuteronomistic History and Persian period biblical literature, including Trauma and the Failure of History: Kings, Lamentations, and the Destruction of Jerusalem (2019), an exploration of biblical texts through the lens of trauma theory.