Christian hermeneutics in South Africa
Christian hermeneutics in South Africa

Author: Hendrik Goede

Publisher: AOSIS

Published: 2024-02-26

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1776342232

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Hermeneutics remains a divisive and polarizing topic within scholarly and ecclesiastical communities in South Africa. These tensions are not limited to theoretical differences but often crystallize on a grassroots level when local churches and church assemblies have to make important decisions on controversial ethical topics such as ordaining women in church offices, assessing the ethics of gay marriages, and taking a stance on the land debate in South Africa. This book makes a unique contribution in two ways: firstly, it focuses on the uniquely South African hermeneutical landscape; secondly, it relates theories to practical ethical application. The unique scholarly contribution of this consists in it relating hermeneutics to ethics within the South African landscape. A diverse group of scholars have been invited to partake in the project and the views expressed are often quite diverse. This allows readers to develop an understanding and sensitivity of the various angles employed and the interests at stake in addressing difficult societal problems.

African Hermeneutics
African Hermeneutics

Author: Elizabeth Mburu

Publisher: Langham Publishing

Published: 2019-02-28

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 1783685387

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Interpretation of Scripture occurs within one’s worldview and culture, which enhances our understanding and ability to apply Scripture in the world. However, few books address Bible interpretation from an African perspective and no other textbook uses the intercultural approach found here. This book brings both an awareness of how one’s African context gives a lens to hermeneutics, but also how to interpret texts with integrity despite our cultural influences. African Hermeneutics was born of Prof Elizabeth Mburu’s frustration at only having textbooks that predominantly followed a Western worldview to teach her African students. Mburu’s approach to hermeneutics is one that begins in Africa, moving from the known to the unknown as students learn to apply her ‘four-legged stool model’ to biblical texts, namely examining: the parallels to African contexts, the theological context, the literary context, and the historical and cultural context. This textbook will help students and pastors interpret Scripture with greater accuracy in their own context, allowing for faithful application in their local contexts.

Biblical Exegesis in African Context
Biblical Exegesis in African Context

Author: Frederick Mawusi Amevenku

Publisher: Vernon Press

Published: 2021-09-07

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 1648892833

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‘Biblical Exegesis in African Context’ explores how the Church in Africa can affirm its uniqueness in terms of the African identity and experiences, and at the same time, remain faithful to the gospel message. The volume begins with an explanation of exegesis and hermeneutics, and the agenda for the rest of the book is set. The second chapter deals with textual criticism, which is the task of determining the originality of a biblical text. In chapter three, issues related to the context of the text are considered, after which the volume proceeds to examine the various literary forms present in the Bible— prominent among them being— Narrative, Law, Poetry, Prophecy, Wisdom Literature, Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Epistles and Revelation. The authors then dedicate the next chapter to discussions on socio-rhetorical interpretation. The final chapters of the book deal with matters solely related to the context of Africa; this part intends to equip readers to be able to interpret the Bible from African cultural perspectives and then apply the gospel message meaningfully to the life of African Christians. Chapter seven deals with the emergence and historical development of African Biblical Studies (ABS), noting its relevance and how Africans can benefit from it. The main contention of the chapter is that Africans will better understand and apply God’s word to their lives if they read the Scriptures in an African way. The volume then explores how African languages can be used to derive the meaning of scripture and apply it to real-life situations. Here, the authors contribute to the development of MTBH by developing a methodological framework for this interpretative tool. The next chapter of the volume deals with mother-tongue theologizing in Ghana. The final chapter considers the legitimacy of female leadership in the Church within the African context through the examination of two Pauline texts. This volume will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate seminary students, students of Biblical Interpretation in religions departments, as well as practicing pastors.

The Bible in Africa
The Bible in Africa

Author: Gerald West

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2021-10-01

Total Pages: 846

ISBN-13: 9004497102

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Although the arrival of the Bible in Africa has often been a tale of terror, the Bible has become an African book. This volume explores the many ways in which Africans have made the Bible their own. The essays in this book offer a glimpse of the rich resources that constitute Africa's engagement with the Bible. Among the topics are: the historical development of biblical interpretation in Africa, the relationship between African biblical scholarship and scholarship in the West, African resources for reading the Bible, the history and role of vernacular translation in particular African contexts, the ambiguity of the Bible in Africa, the power of the Bible as text and symbol, and the intersections between class, race, gender, and culture in African biblical interpretation. The book also contains an extensive bibliography of African biblical scholarship. In fact, it is one of the most comprehensive collections of African biblical scholarship available in print. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

Navigating African Biblical Hermeneutics
Navigating African Biblical Hermeneutics

Author: Madipoane Masenya Ngwan’a Mphahlele

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2019-01-15

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1527525783

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This collection interrogates and engages the biblical text, colonial and postcolonial subjectivities and cultural assumptions, as well as lived experiences that encompass varying Africana contexts and Diasporas. In order to do this, it deploys methodologies, exegetical analyses and critical and constructive communal epistemologies. Framed by historical, literary, cultural and theological engagements of issues around wealth and power, gender, sexualities and masculinities, HIV and AIDS, as well as the crises of war and mass violence, the book will be very useful for students, academics, clergy and laity committed to Africana-conscious epistemologies and methodologies, and the impact on biblical studies.

African and European Readers of the Bible in Dialogue
African and European Readers of the Bible in Dialogue

Author: J. Hans de Wit

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2008-06-25

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 9004166564

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Addressing an urgent and deeply felt need for more dialogue between interpreters of the Bible from radically different contexts, this book reflects in a comprehensive and existential manner on how to establish new alliances, how to learn from each other, and how to read Scripture in a manner accountable to ‘the dignity of difference.’

The Stolen Bible
The Stolen Bible

Author: Gerald O. West

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2016-08-09

Total Pages: 636

ISBN-13: 9004322787

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The Stolen Bible tells the story of how Southern Africans have interacted with the Bible from its arrival in Dutch imperial ships in the mid-1600s through to contemporary post-apartheid South Africa. The Stolen Bible emphasises African agency and distinguishes between African receptions of the Bible and African receptions of missionary-colonial Christianity. Through a series of detailed historical, geographical, and hermeneutical case-studies the book analyses Southern African receptions of the Bible, including the earliest African encounters with the Bible, the translation of the Bible into an African language, the appropriation of the Bible by African Independent Churches, the use of the Bible in the Black liberation struggle, and the ways in which the Bible is embodied in the lives of ordinary Africans.

Bible Interpretation and the African Culture
Bible Interpretation and the African Culture

Author: David J. Ndegwah

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2020-01-15

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 1532611420

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This book can be summarized in one sentence: that culture plays a determinant role in the way people perceive, interpret, and, therefore, respond to reality around them--ideas, events, people, and literature, including sacred literature. Thus, when people encounter new reality they perceive and conceptualize it in accordance with their worldview, which is shaped by their culture that is modeled to suit various geographical locations. In order to understand why people around the world behave and act as they do--they choose certain words in what they say and do certain things rather than others--it is important to understand and appreciate this fact. Failure to do so would make it very difficult to engage in any dealings with them, secular or religious, like doing business or evangelization. This is what happened to the Pokot people whose worldview is predominantly communitarian, and yet they were introduced to hermeneutics that are predominantly individualistic, which is at loggerheads with their communal aspirations. The manifestation of this reality is the interpretation of the Good Shepherd parable in the Gospel of John, which the Pokot have understood and contextualized in line with their worldview, against the intentions, goals, and disposition of their evangelizers.

Reading While Black
Reading While Black

Author: Esau McCaulley

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2020-09-01

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 0830854878

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Reading Scripture from the perspective of Black church tradition can help us connect with a rich faith history and address the urgent issues of our times. Demonstrating an ongoing conversation between the collective Black experience and the Bible, New Testament scholar Esau McCaulley shares a personal and scholarly testament to the power and hope of Black biblical interpretation.

African Contextual Realities
African Contextual Realities

Author: Rodney L. Reed

Publisher: Langham Publishing

Published: 2018-08-14

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 1783684747

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Everyone who has “eyes to see” acknowledges the growing importance of the African church to the future of global Christianity. But what does it mean for the church to take root in Africa? How should the message of the gospel and the practice of Christianity be contextualized for Africa? African Contextual Realities addresses many of the questions surrounding contextualization from a practical point of view and is the fruit of the 6th Annual Conference of the Africa Society of Evangelical Theology held in Nairobi in 2016. The book explores such questions as: • In what ways should the mission of God be universally recognizable in every cultural context? • In our efforts to contextualize, how do we avoid compromising the very gospel we are to proclaim? • How can the African church wean itself away from dependency on the Western church? • How does Christianity speak into some of the cultural and social issues arising out of contemporary African settings – issues like widow cleansing, Christian-Muslim relations, and peace-building? All those who are interested to learn more about the contextualization of African Christianity will find this volume to be an important resource.