Abstract
The collaborative work showcased in this chapter builds on the experience and expertise of the Ujamaa’s Centre (at University of KwaZulu-Natal) in developing Contextual Bible Studies (CBS) to address gender-based violence (GBV). It describes the development of a CBS in 2019, in partnership with the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at the University of Otago, to address the uncomfortable, and at times unimaginable, GBV committed by men against other men. It focusses on a biblical passage—Matthew 27:26:31(the stripping and mocking of Jesus)—that is of central importance to the church, but which usually receives little critical attention in relation to GBV. The CBS explores how the passage can be read with closer attention to male power, dominance, and control exercised in sexual ways by ‘a whole cohort’ of soldiers against a vulnerable prisoner in the context of crucifixion.