While hermeneutics involves comprehensive study of the biblical text, whether through historical or literary or reader-focused approaches, homiletics is concerned with a selected theme/message and on the composition and delivery of sermonic discourse aimed at a particular audience. But the border between hermeneutics and homiletics is blurry because both disciplines require readers to engage the biblical text from their own contexts. This collection deals with the intersection of hermeneutics and homiletics by exploring two revelatory texts—one from the Hebrew Bible and the other from the New Testament: the book of Ruth and Matthew 15:21–28 (a Canaanite woman’s encounter with Jesus). Both reflect agonizing issues that readers must tackle: (im)migration, family/community, identity/agency, race/ethnicity, gender, class, culture, economy, and religion. A diverse group of scholars brings their transgressive perspectives to the above texts. Unfolding new areas of interest, inquiry, and insight, they will transgress authoritative readings of biblical texts, fashion hermeneutic horizons in dialogue with the text, and forge homiletic trajectories toward contemporary audiences. Without limiting interpretation to a box, this volume looks to register bold voices to perennial issues in our day. Homiletic transformation occurs through the relentless, resistant reading of the text and through reimagining our world.
