Review of Hans Leander, Discourses of Empire: The Gospel of Mark from a Postcolonial Perspective, Atlanta, Society of Biblical Literature, 2013

Abstract

In Discourses of Empire, Hans Leander examines the Gospel of Mark from two discrete imperial contexts: European colonialism and Roman imperialism. After an introductory unit (Part I) outlining the intersection between postcolonial criticism and biblical studies, as well as highlighting the core heuristic concepts within postcolonial theory that prove methodologically significant, Leander moves through seven Markan pericopes from the vantage of the two aforementioned settings (Part II & III). A selection of German and English nineteenth-century commentators facilitates Leander’s study of the intersection between biblical studies and identity constructions moulded by European colonialism (Part II), which is then, in turn, juxtaposed with a reading of Mark’s own location and selfunderstanding vis-à-vis the Roman Empire (Part III). Leander’s aim in this dual focus is to “uninherit” (72) the nineteenth-century colonial heritage from modern scholarship.