In this collection, scholars from diverse geographical locations revisit a cluster of five biblical texts: Ruth, Song of Songs, Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes), Lamentations and Esther. The volume presents various viewpoints and contexts-geographical, communal, religious, social, economical and ethical. Matching scholarship with social awareness, the contributors keep asking themselves and their readers a dual-faced question: how does our life context influence our scholarly and non-scholarly readings of the Bible, and how does reading the Bible critically influence our life? To answer this question and to show it at work the contributors employ a range of contextual lenses. Geography is a major factor of the contributors' contexts - with contributors from South Africa, Argentina, Israel, the Pacific Islands - but not the only one to influence their readings. Issues of society, culture and community are at the foreground for all contributors and their reading agendas with specific focus on the AIDs crisis in Africa, issues of migration and asylum, and feminist approaches to biblical texts.

Introduction AbbreviationsRuth1. Ruling From Their Graves? Reading Naomi within the African Religio-Cultural Context - Madipoane Masenya (ngwan'a Mphahlele), University of South Africa, South Africa2. The Boaz Solution: Reading Ruth in Light of Australian Asylum Seeker Discourse - Anthony Rees, Charles Sturt University, Australia3. Finding Korean Goose Moms Home: Contextual Re-reading of Ruth - Hyun Woo Kim, Emory University, USA4. Boaz as 'Sugar Daddy': Re-reading Ruth in the Context of HIV in Southern Africa - Gerald O. West and Beverley G. Haddad, University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa5. Racial Melancholia and the Book of Ruth - Gale A. Yee, Episcopal Divinity School, USA6. Poor and Landless Women: An African Reading of Leviticus 25 and Ruth 4 with Latino/a Critical Tools - Ndikho Mtshiselwa, University of South Africa, South Africa Song of Songs7. A Womanist Reading of the Song of Songs in the Age of AIDS - Cheryl B. Anderson, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, USA8. Where Love and Death Meet: Reading the Old Testament in a Context of Gender Violence - Mercedes L. García Bachmann, Instituto para la Pastoral Contextual, Iglesia Evangélica Luterana Unida, Argentina Qoheleth9. 'What Gain Have the Workers from their Toil': (Con)texting Ecclesiastes 3.9-13 in Pasifika - Jione Havea, Charles Sturt University, Australia 10. He?el and Kong: A Cross-Textual Reading Between Qoheleth and the Heart SutraHuang Wei, Shanghai University, China11. Dealing with Death: Reading Qoheleth in Different Contexts - Klaas Spronk, Protestantse Theologische Universiteit, The NetherlandsLamentations12. Reading Daughter Zion and Lady Meng: Tears, Protest and Female Voices - Archie C. C. Lee, Shandong University, China13. Lamentations as Musical Performance, its Origins and Life Occasions: Some Reflections - Athalya Brenner-Idan, Stellenbosch University, South Africa and Universiteit van Amsterdam, The NetherlandsEsther14. Women's Banquets and Gatherings in Text and Context: the Queens Banquets in Esther and Contemporary Women-Only Israeli/Jewish Ceremonies - Ora Brison, Tel Aviv University, Israel15. Esther, Pious and Brave: Reading Children's Bibles as Commentary on Twentieth Century Afrikaner Culture - Jaqueline S. du Toit, University of the Free State, South AfricaIndex of PassagesIndex of Authors