ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines that both "on the ground" and within Caribbean social history biblical hermeneutical practices within a Caribbean context are influenced more by the need to contextualize biblical texts than by examining them as socio-ideological productions and products of social practice. In order to develop a clearer picture of biblical hermeneutical practices "on the ground" or prevalent within a Caribbean context, the results of exercises carried out in some six Caribbean islands, Antigua, Dominica, St Lucia, Barbados and St Thomas (United States Virgin Islands) are shared. The results of these exercises are discussed in light of the issues arising from the reading strategies and their consequences from the Colonial, Post-"emancipation" and Post-"independence" periods of Caribbean social history. Furthermore, from the reading strategies extrapolated from Caribbean biblical hermeneutical practices, one sees no homogeneity of reading strategy. One reason for the reading strategies highlighted in the findings of the empirical study is not seeing texts as products.
