The Play of Signifiers

Book excerpt: This volume presents a brief introduction to the scholarly methodology known as "poststructuralism." The first two chapters discuss basic concepts in poststructuralist study in general, as well as major concerns involved in poststructural study of any text. The focus is on the importance of the materiality of the signifier and how that materiality both plays a part in and disrupts the construction of meaning. The second two chapters show more specifically how these concepts and concerns come to bear on the study of biblical texts and related material. The focus is on a poststructural methodology that questions and challenges the meanings that readers assign to biblical texts. These four chapters are followed by a brief conclusion.