Review of Frederick Mawusi Amevenku and Isaac Boaheng, “Biblical Exegesis in African Context”

Abstract

The book has nine chapters plus an introduction and concluding remarks with a foreword by Daniel Nii Aboagye Aryeh (PhD). Its content can be divided into two thematic parts. The first part, covering chs. 1–5 (pp. 1–42) is described variously as “elements of biblical interpretation” (p. xv), “foundational principles” (p. xv), and “basic elements of Biblical Exegesis” (p. 41). The authors signal this division by indicating in the “Introduction” (pp. xv-xvi) that “Most of the chapters examine elements of biblical interpretation …. Some of them include textual analysis, socio-rhetorical interpretation, contextual analysis, and others. We believe that these elements serve as foundational principles upon which African biblical interpretation can be built” (p. xv). This is further specified in the conclusion of ch. 5 “Literary Analysis” where the authors conclude that “This chapter has brought to an end our discussions on the basic elements of Biblical Exegesis. Most of the things discussed in the chapters that follow are applications of these elements” (p. 41). Accordingly, it is to be taken that chs. 6–9 (pp. 43–108) form the second thematic part of the book dealing with African biblical interpretation. Yet the place of ch. 6 “Socio-Rhetorical Biblical Interpretation” (pp. 43–58) is initially confusing because, while it is considered as part of the “elements of biblical interpretation” (p. xv) in the introduction and in the concluding remarks (p. 109), the ending of ch. 5 quoted shortly above indicates that those basic exegetical elements end with literary analysis and the subsequent chapters starting with ch. 5 are the application of these elements. The needed structural clarity here is missing and the reader is left to figure it out by him/herself in light of the remarks in the introduction and conclusion.