Contextual Reading of Judges 19 in the Framework of the Participatory Action Research by Two Groups of Colombian Women Living in Vulnerable Conditions

Abstract

Contextual Bible reading (CBR) is a communitarian way to interpret Biblical texts starting from a reality to be changed. This manner to read texts and contexts promotes justice by empowering marginalized groups which transform reality with their own capabilities. The article highlights the social dimension of biblical hermeneutics as well as its necessary resort to interdisciplinary and shows some aspects of the interpretation of chapter 19 of The Book of Judges, in the framework of a participatory action research project, by two groups of Colombian women in vulnerable condition. The story, in which a Levite's concubine is raped and dismembered, reflects some aspects of the reality experienced by the female readers of the text, whose interpretation let them realize possibilities to transform their own contexts.