Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics in African Biblical Scholarship: Contributions of J.E.T. Kuwornu-Adjaottor

Why bother with the Bible in the postcolonial situation? ' (p. xii) This question, posed in the Foreword, lurks behind the various contributions that comprise this edited volume, making it an excellent book to stimulate critical reflection on issues of postcoloniality that demand attention in contemporary biblical studies. The contributors are a balance of established biblical scholars and emerging voices in the field, predominantly from the two 'centres' of southern Africa and the UK that engaged in a three-year dialogue, funded by the British Academy International Partnership Fund. The book is arranged in three main parts, in each of which two main essays elicit a reflective response from a third scholar. While they should not expect this to be a primer in postcolonial biblical hermeneutics, careful readers -alert to such matters -will find that the basic tenets of a postcolonial approach are exhibited: the problem of uncritiqued structures such as whiteness and patriarchy (chapter 5); the unavoidable influence of power dynamics in the way the Bible is read (chapter 7); the entwinement of the translation of the Bible with colonial structures and missionary activity (chapter 11); and the need for first-hand encounter with contextually produced biblical interpretation in order to challenge the tendency of 'othering' that which is different (chapter 12). That last point is important. One of the recurring themes of the volume is that African biblical scholarship 'is accountable to "ordinary" African readers/users/hearers of the Bible' (p. 118). As such, since contemporary African biblical scholarship seeks to makes sense of the Bible in the midst of ordinary African experience, it is less concerned to pay homage to Western hermeneutical methodologies. By contrast, postcolonial biblical scholarship in the West -despite its good intentions -might be in danger of exploiting African readings, commodifying them for its own purposes, in a fateful reiteration of coloniality (p. 123-4). There is therefore some irony in this volume. In seeking to narrate a scholarly engagement between African and British biblical scholars, the essays somewhat undermine the 'ordinary' context that is the stated natural habitat of African biblical hermeneutics. The writers, though, do seem on the whole to be aware of this irony, and it is that self-conscious humility -recognising both the compromised nature of all attempts to read the Bible, and the reality that every 'centre' of interpretation is a 'margin' for some other 'centre' -that makes this volume a worthwhile study for serious biblical scholars today. There is not a single unified postcolonial biblical hermeneutic presented here, but rather a series of careful engagements with biblical, African and Western voices that matter. Ghanian scholar Mark Aidoo notes that contemporary biblical scholars need to be like the okyeame, the Akan spokesperson, who speaks with eloquence and wisdom in order to provoke a community to greater engagement and action (p. 111). In bringing together a range of voices to explore African and postcolonial readings of the Bible, this volume is one such okyeame, perhaps to encourage all biblical scholarship -African and Western -to become accountable to the 'ordinary'.

Attributed in Christian scripture to Jesus’s very lips, the intriguing Aramaic phrase ‘Talitha, Kum!’ has emerged as an important refrain within gendered African theological scholarship. African women’s experiences in the hands of religion and culture do so resonate with the two tangled stories that comprise the phrase’s literary context. The resonance is such that African women’s Bible reading strategies have come to be referred to as ‘Talitha cum African women’s biblical hermeneutics’ or some variant thereof. The ensuing panegyric by a male admirer engages the fresh ways whereby African women biblical hermeneutics (aka Talitha) are breathing new life into (African) biblical scholarship. In appreciation and tribute to African women theologians’ fragrant contributions to Christian life and reflection, the ode samples their work in a manner that in places feels intrusive whilst certainly nowhere near complete.

There is general agreement among those who cast an analytical eye on African biblical scholarship that it is dominated by what has been called 'the comparative paradigm'. This chapter interrogates the comparative paradigm, in an attempt both to understand what African biblical scholars are up to and to understand the similarities and differences between what they do and what Euro-American colleagues do. It makes a heuristic distinction between life interests and interpretive interests in order to characterise African biblical scholarship. The chapter presents guiding questions for the interrogation of the comparative paradigm: why dialogue with the Bible; and what are the dimensions of the dialogue with the Bible. African biblical scholarship is the closest connection to the dominant forms of biblical scholarship in the Euro-American tradition.Keywords: African biblical scholarship; comparative paradigm; Euro-American scholarship

This chapter wants to focus on two recent instances of biblical hermeneutics, one in each of the ecclesial and social domains, in order to illustrate both the vibrancy and the difficulty, both the vitality and the lethargy, which is found in the use of the bible and especially its actualisation in South Africa. The two recent - if different in nature and scope - instances of the actualisation of biblical exegesis are the use of the bible by a governing body of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) for legislating church polity regarding lesbigays and its use in provincial politics by the office of the Premier of the Western Cape. Set amidst the enduring but somewhat unexpected presence of the bible, and looking beyond African biblical scholarship, the chapter does some preliminary probing into the relationship between the bible, hermeneutics and power and resulting issues of marginality.Keywords: actualisation; African biblical scholarship; biblical exegesis; biblical hermeneutics; Dutch Reformed Church (DRC); marginality

African biblical studies (ABS) focus on biblical interpretation in Africa. Although new, it has gained massive recognition among African biblical scholars as the biblical interpretation focus that best suits the peculiar challenges that face African Christians. Its emergence, of course, was reactionary to the Western approach to the interpretation of the Bible in Africa and the practice of Christianity as well, which failed to take into cognisance the peculiar needs of African Christians. In New Testament scholarship in Nigeria, ABS has come to dominate biblical interpretation, being the most preferred by New Testament scholars. However, this article notices a persistent problem with regard to methodological rigour in ABS in Nigeria. This article aims to call the attention of New Testament scholars in Nigeria to methodological rigour while engaging in ABS as this is also part of the reasons breaking into mainstream New Testament scholarship has become a problem for many of these scholars. This equally leads to poor global visibility and competitiveness on the part of many Nigerian New Testament scholars. The approach to the discussion in the work is analytical and descriptive with a touch of personal observation.Contribution: This article calls attention to the need for ABS scholars in Nigeria to emphasise methodological rigour in their research. While this will lead to recognition of the works of ABS practitioners in Nigeria and beyond, this article makes a case for academic excellence which is the hallmark of good biblical scholarship.

This chapter analyses how and with what we connect biblical text and local present context in the process of interpretation. What has emerged has been recognition that it is useful to identify a third pole in the interpretive process besides the poles of context and text. This third pole is usually suppressed in favour of a bi-polar model of interpretation. However, identifying a third pole helps us to be honest about the reader and his/ her ideo-theological work that goes on in the interpretive act. The ongoing process of re-reading scripture from within our social locations also constantly reconstitutes our ideo-theological orientation. Biblical scholarship does not always cooperate with socially engaged biblical scholars. The exile is a particularly good example at this moment in (South) Africas history.Keywords: African biblical scholarship; exile; ideo-theological orientation; post-colonial south africa; third pole

African biblical scholars have recognized the importance of culture plays in biblical interpretation for Christianity and sacred texts to be authentically African. Cultural resources can liberate biblical interpretation from expert ideological dominance by creating critical reading masses in order to empower the community for transformation from the reality of multifaceted injustices such as poverty. Also the approach creates room for an equal fair dialogue with mainstream interpretive methods in biblical studies. This paper elaborates a model to the preceding aspects through transformative interpretation of Proverbs 31:1-9 using the holistic cultural context, of the Bena of Tanzania. The said holistic cultural setup akin to the ancient Israelite one is inherently life-giving and sustaining to potentially transform the well-being of humanity for sustainable development. The reading goes beyond a stance of pure self-interest by challenging the victims to be involved in the eradication of poverty in African communities.

‘Hermeneutics’, or the theory of the interpretation of texts, was a substantive component of much biblical scholarship in the 1980 and 1990s. Many articles or essays would begin with a definition of ‘hermeneutics’. Few, however, would be explicit about their own ‘theory of the interpretation of texts’, preferring to define ‘hermeneutics’ and then continue as if their own theory of the interpretation of texts was self-evident. Significantly, South African Black Theology, particularly in its second phase (in the late 1980s), was explicit about its theory of the interpretation of text. Situating itself within this trajectory, the Ujamaa Centre for Community Development and Research has attempted to be explicit about its hermeneutics since its inception in the late 1980s. This article locates the hermeneutic trajectory of the Ujamaa Centre within the formative hermeneutic debates in the late 1980s and early 1990s, drawing on the work of South Africans like Welile Mazamisa (whose work I along with other colleagues celebrate; see 2025-HTS: Honouring Prof Welile Mazamisa: The Reader, the Text, and Two Horizons), Bernard Lategan, Gunther Wittenberg, Jonathan Draper, Itumeleng Mosala, Takatso Mofokeng, and others. The Ujamaa Centre was fortunate at the time, in the early 1990s, in having the inclusive space of Bernard Lategan’s yearly Consultation on Contextual Hermeneutics, facilitated by the Centre for Contextual Hermeneutics at Stellenbosch University, as well as the inclusive publication practice of the journal Scriptura, which published the work of this Consultation and related biblical hermeneutic work. This yearly workshop identified biblical (and theological) hermeneutics as its core focus. My article tracks these formative conversations, reflecting on how this yearly workshop and Scriptura provided the safe space to be overt about the Ujamaa Centre’s emerging theory of the interpretation of texts. Keywords: Contextual Biblical Interpretation, Ujamaa Centre, Centre for Contextual Theology, Scriptura, Site of Struggle, Hermeneutics

This study delves into the intricate landscape of Mother Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics within the context of African Biblical Hermeneutics, aiming to unravel its origins, discern trends, and confront challenges. Employing a qualitative research methodology grounded in extensive literature review and critical analysis, this investigation explores the evolution and current state of Mother Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics in the African context.Findings underscore the significance of linguistic and cultural nuances in biblical interpretation, emphasizing the role of indigenous languages in shaping contextual understanding and relevance. Moreover, the study identifies persistent challenges including colonial legacies, linguistic imperialism, and theological biases that impede the full realization of Mother Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics.In light of these findings, recommendations are proposed to foster the integration of indigenous languages into biblical scholarship, advocate for linguistic diversity, and promote inclusivity in theological discourse. Ultimately, this study contributes to scholarship by illuminating the vital intersection of language, culture, and interpretation in African Biblical Hermeneutics, thereby enriching theological dialogue and advancing decolonial approaches to biblical studies. Keywords: Biblical Hermeneutics, African Biblical Hermeneutics, Mother-tongue Biblical studies, Origin, Trends and Challenges.

In a recent article I characterised the biblical hermeneutics of James H. Cone as a hermeneutic of radical reception and the biblical hermeneutics of Itumeleng Mosala as a hermeneutic of radical production. In this article I argue that though a hermeneutic of reception is the distinctive feature of African biblical hermeneutics, a hermeneutic of production is a particular and distinct contribution by South African biblical scholarship to African biblical scholarship. The article then reflects on how these two hermeneutics might intersect through the inclusion of ordinary African readers of the Bible in both the reception process and in a collaborative analysis of the contested sites of the Bible’s production.

In this article, two lenses are used to engage the task of African Biblical Hermeneutics. The one lens is derived from African wisdom, i shavha i sia muinga i ya fhi?, in which there is a need for people to affirm their own roots. Drawing from the wisdom of the preceding proverb, we argue that, in their scholarship, African biblical scholars have to take seriously their own African heritage and thus do justice to their contexts rather than rely heavily on Western paradigms if their scholarship is to impact communities and also contribute towards shaping the face of biblical hermeneutics as a whole. The other lens is an analogy derived from the following events in Jesus� life: incarnation, death and resurrection. The task of African Biblical Hermeneutics has to be a three-fold process for the Bible to be �gospel� in Africa: Firstly, the incarnation of the Word � the Bible as the Other has to incarnate into African contexts for it to become an African Word. Secondly, the death of the Word � this entails a critical engagement with the Word from multiple perspectives for it to be relevant to the struggles of African people. Thirdly, the resurrection of the Word � the biblical text has to be allowed to address and transform an African person in new creative ways.

Modern methods of historical-critical and literary interpretation have secularized biblical interpretation by treating scripture as a strictly human text that can be understood by discerning the meaning of its many human authors and redactors. In a similar way modern fundamentalist and patristic exegesis have also secularized biblical interpretation in that they assume that scripture itself is the Word of God, whose meaning is readily evident from the words on the page and no longer requires the gracious gift of God's action and presence to make its meaning manifest. This paper argues that Karl Barth's theology of scripture provides the resources to revitalize biblical interpretation because Barth takes seriously the full humanity of the Bible and the need for historical interpretation while understanding that any interpretation of scripture's transcendent subject matter requires the presence of God's Word and Spirit to make its meaning understood and applied in the Church and world today.

Biblical Scholarship in Africa has consistently argued for the complementarity between the scientific study of the biblical text and the adoption of suitable hermeneutical approaches, which is necessary for the transmission of its message and the transformation of contemporary African society. African Biblical Scholars have thus shown the way in bringing various aspects of Africa’s rich culture, proverbs, rituals, and moral norms, among others, into dialogue with the biblical text, bringing this text closer to the African reader, on the one hand, and facilitating the transformation of the receptor culture on the other. One of the less explored ways through which these same goals might be achieved is to bring the results of the exegesis of the biblical text into dialogue with African Indigenous Sacred Texts. This paper, using the distinctive interest approach to African Biblical Hermeneutics, studies the critique of wealth in Psalm 49 and in the Adinkra text, Owuo mpɛ sika (death accepts no money), an indigenous text of the Akan people of Ghana and La Côte d’Ivoire. It argues that these two sacred texts both call attention to the risks of absolutizing wealth instead of the well-being of the human person, thus urging an evaluation and reimagination of the concept of wealth in contemporary Ghanaian society.

This survey of recent biblical hermeneutics starts with the post-Bultmann school (1). In 1950, Rudolf Bultmann had published an important article on “The Problem of Hermeneutics,” in which he argued that biblical interpretation should work with the same interpretative tools as for other texts from antiquity (form analysis, grammatical analysis, historical context, etc.), and in which he developed the notion of prejudgement (Vorverstandnis), a prior concern with the subject-matter of the text, as indispensable for an adequate understanding of the Bible. The early 1950s were to a large degree dominated by the demythologizing debate incited by Bultmann in the 1940s. Advocates of the so-called New Hermeneutic, mostly former students of Bultmann, stood up for a new approach to Scripture and theology that would acknowledge the strengths of Bultmannian hermeneutics and avoid its pitfalls. In the Bultmann school especially Ernst Kasemann became influential, also outside Germany. In reaction to Bultmann, critical voices argued for alternative (usually more traditional) approaches to biblical hermeneutics: the salvation-historical school, the Biblical Theology Movement, canonical approaches, and (more recently) approaches based on “new perspectives” on Judaism, Paul and Jesus (2). Perhaps the most important event in the post-World War II period for biblical hermeneutics is the publication of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Wahrheit und Methode in 1960 (3). In this epoch-making book, the discovery of historical consciousness, a discovery associated with the work of Wilhelm Dilthey, Heidegger and Bultmann in the pre-World War II period, became the linchpin for a new understanding of hermeneutics. Biblical hermeneutics could no longer be practiced without philosophical hermeneutics and it could do so with a new self-consciousness vis-a-vis the exact sciences. Earlier attempts to develop a general hermeneutics depending on the historical sciences (Chladenius) and connected to psychology and philosophy (Schleiermacher) now could come to full fruition. In general, Gadamer’s work was well-received, but protests were also voiced (4): Emilio Betti and Eric D. Hirsch criticised Gadamer’s alleged lack of method and his rejection of authorial intent as a norm for interpretation. Jurgen Habermas, from the opposite side of the spectrum, argued that Gadamer displayed a naive and uncritical acceptance of tradition and developed a “critical theory” instead. Critical of Gadamer’s “understanding” (empathic) approach were also the advocates of structuralism who argued that language was subjected to universal structures that could be studied scientifically, without the distorting effects of the reading subject and subjective experience (5). Less radical and more pragmatic were the analytic language philosophers and the advocates of speech-act theory in the Anglo-Saxon world (6). With Ludwig Wittgenstein, they focussed first and foremost on the varied uses of language in ordinary speech and studied the way spoken words took effect in the real world. From its very beginning, speech-act principles were applied to biblical interpretation and theological issues. For Paul Ricoeur, interpretation of texts and interpretation of the human self are closely connected. He developed a “hermeneutics of post-critical naivete,” that encapsulated both critical suspicion and trust. Ricoeur focussed his research on symbol, metaphor and discourse, and became instrumental in providing a theoretical basis for biblical narrative criticism (7). Another important development is the discovery of the reader in reader-response hermeneutics (8). Authors such as Hans Robert Jauss, Wolfgang Iser, Umberto Eco and Stanley E. Fish argued that the notion of meaning is meaningless when no account is taken of the constructive role of the reader: the reader is not (or not only) a discoverer of meaning, he is (also) its producer (so Fish), or at least its co-producer (Jauss, Iser, Eco). The rise of poststructuralism (9) is usually associated with the work of three major theorists from France, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, and Jaques Derrida. They challenged basic tenets of modern (Western) hermeneutics. It raises the question of the applicability of postmodern and deconstructionist theory to religion and sacred writings (John D. Caputo). This section is followed by a brief introduction to various examples of contextual hermeneutics (liberation theology, black theology, feminist hermeneutics, postcolonial hermeneutics, and autobiographical biblical criticism) (10). Although most of these movements antedate the rise of postmodern hermeneutics, their concerns received a strong impetus by the typical postmodern discovery of difference. The recent (re)discovery of theological hermeneutics (11) is inspired by postliberal hermeneutics (Hans Wilhelm Frei, George A. Lindbeck). Scholars associated with so-called “theological interpretation of Scripture” or “theological exegesis” are fully aware of the complexities of post-Gadamerian hermeneutics; they try to meet the challenge to read the Bible in a postmodern age from a self-conscious faith perspective. “Scriptural reasoning,” finally, is an attempt to read sacred writings beyond the narrow confines of one’s own religious background and come to mutual understanding (not: common agreement) through a common reading of sacred texts. This brief historical survey ends with some concluding remarks and prospects (12).

Evans, Robert. <i>Reception History, Tradition, and Biblical Interpretation: Gadamer and Jauss in Current Practice</i>. Scriptural Traces: Critical Perspectives on the Reception and Influence of the Bible. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. 328 pp. $112.00 (cloth).