Professor David Tuesday Adamo's Biblical Scholarship on Women: Reflections from an African-South African Mosadi

Madipoane Masenya

doi:10.17159/2312-3621/2020/v33n2a11

Abstract

ABSTRACT One of the prolific writers in the discipline of African Biblical Hermeneutics is the Nigerian Old Testament (OT) scholar, Professor Tuesday David Adamo. In his tireless efforts to unlock the OT reality for African contexts, persuaded by his commitment to decolonise the subject of Biblical Studies, Adamo has made successful efforts to reflect on the African presence in the Old Testament. The present study seeks to engage Adamo's concept of African Biblical hermeneutics in order to investigate whether the author sufficiently discussed the theme of gender in his discourses. This research attempts to respond to the following two main questions in view of Adamo's discourses: (1) In Adamo's concerted effort of confirming the presence of Africa and Africans in the Hebrew Bible, does the woman question feature? (2) If so, how does Adamo navigate the question? Keywords: Adamo; African Biblical Hermeneutics; African Woman; Bosadi; Hebrew Bible/Old Testament; Wife.

Highlights

One of the prolific writers in the discipline of African Biblical Hermeneutics is the Nigerian Old Testament (OT) scholar, Professor Tuesday David Adamo. In his tireless efforts to unlock the OT reality for African contexts, persuaded by his commitment to decolonise the subject of Biblical Studies, Adamo has made successful efforts to reflect on the African presence in the Old Testament
Like many proponents of African biblical hermeneutics, who refuse to be academic pies in the sky, Adamo deliberately allows present day concerns on the continent to be integrated with his research on the biblical texts
The words of Andrew Mbuvi come to mind here: “African Biblical Study refuses to deal with the Bible as an ancient text and demands that it be engaged to deal with present concerns, addressing issues that resonate with African realities.”[1]. Adamo’s particular focus on the application of the Psalter within the lived experiences of selected Nigerian indigenous churches’ members in recent years is commendable

Summary

A INTRODUCTION

Professor David Tuesday Adamo’s scholarship began to make an impact on the present author in the late 1980s. Elsewhere in engaging the role of the Hagar character[2] for present day communities, Adamo and Eghwubare could argue: “How would African people hear the stories of courage, perseverance, and faith that earned African Biblical women a place in salvation history if African biblical women are not identified?3 Adamo lauds Potiphar’s wife, for having contributed, albeit in a problematic way to God’s plan for God’s people in Egypt: “The woman is pivotal to the survival of the Hebrews in Egypt Her seduction initiated the event that brought the family of Jacob to Egypt, setting the stage for one of the major themes of the entire Bible, the Exodus or deliverance.”[4]. A brief discussion of the bosadi approach is in order

B WHAT NOW OF THE BOSADI APPROACH?

The African Biblical Woman

C READING ADAMO’S WOMEN MATERIAL IN PRESENT-DAY SOUTH AFRICA

D CONCLUSION