Abstract
The study aims at interpreting Mark 7:24-30 to establish whether Jesus was initially reluctant in helping a needy woman because she was non-Jewish, or the author was establishing the gradual breaking of ethnic and all other barriers to redefine the scope of Jesus’ ministry. The study uses African Biblical Hermeneutic theory of Gerald West that allows a dialogue between the text and the African context. It argues that the text may be interpreted as a covenant renewal discourse aimed at including Gentiles into the covenant family. The study concludes that unproductive ethnic and religious barriers may be broken for the common good of God’s family. It recommends the importance of mutual respect in dialogue in the face of diversities of opinions and perspectives. Keywords: Ethnicity, Barriers, Covenant, Discourse.
Highlights
Ethnicity defies any singular definition since it cuts across many fields of discipline
It argues that the text may be interpreted as a covenant renewal discourse aimed at including Gentiles into the covenant family
Just argues that the term hellenis in the Bible often refers to all other nations as a collective body except the Jewish nation.7. He explains this understanding as based on the fact that during biblical times, most nations had their own religion and their own gods and the concept of ethnicity was understood in terms of nation-states, in terms of ethnic groups and in terms of religious groups
Summary
Ethnicity defies any singular definition since it cuts across many fields of discipline. Just argues that the term hellenis in the Bible often refers to all other nations as a collective body except the Jewish nation.7 He explains this understanding as based on the fact that during biblical times, most nations had their own religion and their own gods and the concept of ethnicity was understood in terms of nation-states, in terms of ethnic groups and in terms of religious groups.. The word ‘immediately’ or ‘at once’, ‘straight away’ (euthys) betrays the fact that Mark is always fond of demonstrating the urgency in the movement and activities of Jesus (1:21, 30, 6:25) It shows the alarming rate at which his fame spread in a Gentile territory so that a woman heard (akousasa) of him.
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