Abstract
How should the academy teach the Bible? I noted two challenges to this endeavour. Firstly, the Bible has been used as superstructure to justify and to solidify colonialism and apartheid in South Africa which resulted in people to mistrust the way the Western missionaries interpreted the Bible. It also gave birth to the inception of African Independent Churches (AIC) and an urgent need to reinterpret the Bible from the experiences of Africans. However, the initial question remains how the academy should teach the Bible. The complexity of this question is that despite the Bible’s association with a colonial legacy, the ordinary people did not stop reading the Bible and to make meaning of their lives from it. This study justifies the place of the Bible in public universities in South Africa and proposes ways the academy should teach the Bible. This study suggests a two-pronged approach to Biblical Studies at public universities. Firstly, the academy should critically engage the ideological presupposition underlying the theories used in the academy. Secondly, the academy must be open to the fact that the Bible is part of popular culture; hence, the academy should critically reflect how the Bible is used in public space. Therefore my hypothesis is that the academy should further focus on critiquing ideological inclinations that underline established truths in addition to focusing on the historical meaning of the Bible and establishing contextual similarities. Teaching the Bible should focus on analysing cultural, political and economic ideological truths that find support from the Bible. I propose that this line of thought is possible through cultural studies and/or interdisciplinary methods.
Highlights
The title of this study developed from the seminar held by the Department of New Testament at the University of South Africa, which was entitled: ‘How to Teach the Bible at Public Universities in South Africa’
The seminar at the University of South Africa was organised because of the following observations, namely, (1) a realisation that the shift from a colonial era to independence demands a set of new hermeneutical tools to interpret the Bible; (2) there are low student numbers in the departments that offer Theology or Biblical studies due to the perceptions that such subjects have less relevance to the community; and (3) some universities in South Africa opted not to offer theology or biblically related subjects
The seminar grappled with the following question: Should the Bible be taught at public universities in South Africa? If yes, what expertises are expected from graduates in Theology or Biblical Studies?
Summary
Masenya bemoans the continuous use of Western methods in biblical studies. According to Masenya (2004:457), there is a need to interpret the Bible in view of African social realities. My argument is that biblical studies should not be only about the search for historical truth regarding the ancient Mediterranean societies; neither should it only focus on contextual methods between the world of the Bible and the present.
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