Intercultural Bible Reading Research Articles

Contextual Bible reading and intercultural Bible reading: Four Colombian experiences

Contextual Bible Reading (CBR) and Intercultural Bible Reading (IBR) have enabled the cooperation between socially engaged scholars and marginalised groups to find new resources in biblical texts to interpret their contexts and fight against the surrounding violence. As the use of these two methods has not been the object of a comparative study based on concrete experiences, this article presents them through four cases of Christian communities in Colombia. This comparative study not only illustrates the differences between these two methods of Bible reading, but also shows how they open new hermeneutic and liberation perspectives in the struggle for social justice and the search for reconciliation. The article depicts the CBR of the story of the Levite’s concubine (Jdg 19:1–30) by a group of women living in vulnerable conditions as well as the CBR of the parable of the father and his two sons (Lk 15:11–32) by a group of violence victims’ relatives. It also depicts the IBR of the story of the widow and the judge (Lk 18:1–8) by four groups of Caribbean readers as well as the IBR of the garden story (Gn 2:4b–25) by two Andean indigenous groups. Ordinary readers’ central role as interpreters of biblical texts let them recognise their own capabilities to transform their contexts in an emancipatory way and challenge biblical scholars and theologians. Even though CBR and IBR pursue different hermeneutical goals, they converge in giving a central role to the community as the subject of counter-hegemonic interpretations that open new horizons starting from reality and triggering liberation processes.Contribution: Beyond their differences and tensions, CBR and IBR are inclusive and dialogical methods intended for liberation that should be used to transcend the limits of dominant interpretations of biblical texts as well as the isolation of marginalised ordinary readers.

A Social Imagination of Forgiveness

Abstract This article studies the complexity of understandings of forgiveness among a sample of Black and White South Africans within the context of an empirical intercultural Bible reading process. We will first focus on the foundation upon which the study is predicated—namely that the social imagination of forgiveness is deeply contested among South Africans. Next, we will discuss the approach that the study took to gather the necessary data, and analyse the theological views of forgiveness among the participants in the study. Finally, we shall discuss some of the primary findings of the study. These show that social identity plays a significant role in shaping theological hermeneutics. Black and White participants hold diverse, and even conflicting, expressions and expectations for forgiveness. These are characterised as predominantly social and political for the Black participants, and predominantly individual and spiritual for the White participants.

The impossibility of forgiveness: an empirical intercultural bible reading of Matthew 18: 15–35

The impossibility of forgiveness: an empirical intercultural bible reading of Matthew 18: 15–35

Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles

Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles

Bible and Transformation: The Promise of Intercultural Bible Reading, edited by Hans de Wit and Janet Dyk

Bible and Transformation: The Promise of Intercultural Bible Reading, edited by Hans de Wit and Janet Dyk

Bible and Transformation: The Promise of Intercultural Bible Reading ed. by Hans De Wit and Janet Dyk

Bible and Transformation: The Promise of Intercultural Bible Reading ed. by Hans De Wit and Janet Dyk

DANGER! INGOZI! GEVAAR! WHY READING ALONE CAN BE BAD FOR YOU

A discussion of the 1974 film, ‘The Conversation’, by Francis Ford Coppola serves as an introductory illustration of the dangers of interpretation in isolation. The film, starring Gene Hackman, highlights the contextual nature of communication, where the viewer becomes increasingly aware of the development of a skewed inter-pretation of an overheard conversation. Utterances and events are interpreted in isolation and perceived as ultimate truths. The social commentary offered by Coppola serves as an analogy for the dangers of exclusivist approaches to biblical interpretation. This article critiques these approaches and offers contextual inter-cultural Bible reading as a life giving, alternative approach that draws from the combined hermeneutical framework of Feminism and African hermeneutics. In this article I will explore the creative possibilities of the intercultural Bible reading process as a space with communal meaning-making possibilities.

Power games: Using Foucault to shed light on the inherent power dynamics of intercultural Bible study groups. Discussion of a qualitative research project

In theory the process of intercultural Bible reading should create a safe space where the voice of the individual can be heard in community with others. It should be a space where the individual is not only free to speak, but also to have the innate experience of truly being heard. In this respect the intercultural Bible reading experience becomes a space that promotes human dignity and has the inherent capacity to facilitate social transformation. Although these Bible study groups can ideally be a safe space with the potential for social transformation, the practical reality shows a more complicated dynamic. An important factor that contributes to the complexity is the underlying power dynamic in the social interaction. To bring the concept of power in intercultural Bible reading into focus, an empirical study was conducted. After briefly discussing the scope of the empirical research project, the main focus of the paper will shift to Michel Foucault’s seminal theory on power. Conversation analysis was used in the research project as a qualitative data analysis tool to identify the main trends functioning in the observable power dynamic. Foucault’s theory will be used to shed light on the inherent power dynamic that functions in the intercultural Bible reading space. The paper will show that the intercultural Bible reading space cannot escape the functioning of an inherent power dynamic, but by using Foucault’s theory, a greater understanding can be obtained and observed trends and patterns can be better understood, predicted and managed.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: CREATING A SAFE SPACE FOR INTERCULTURAL BIBLE READING1 PART II

Theoretically the process of intercultural Bible reading should create a safe space where the voice of the individual can be heard in community with others. It should be a space where the individual is not only free to speak but also to have the innate experience of truly being heard. In this respect the intercultural Bible reading experience becomes a space that promotes human dignity and has the inherent capacity to facilitate social transformation. Although these Bible study groups can ideally be a safe space with the potential for social transformation, the practical reality shows a more complicated dynamic. Two important factors that contribute to the complexity are the ideological framework of individual participants and the underlying power dynamic in the social interaction. To bring the concepts of power and ideology in intercultural Bible reading into focus, an empirical study was conducted. Building on the theoretical discussion in Part I, this contribution will turn to the empirical study. An overview will be provided of the carefully constructed research process which allowed participants time for personal reflection, intimate dialogue as well as group discussion in order to create a free and safe space for creative interaction. In order to critically engage with the data collected, a unique set of qualitative data analysis tools was developed to deal with the issues of power and ideology as mentioned above. The final part of the article will discuss this process of qualitative data analysis and give a brief summary of the research results.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: CREATING A SAFE SPACE FOR INTERCULTURAL BIBLE READING

Theoretically the process of intercultural Bible reading should create a safe space where the voice of the individual can be heard in community with others. It should be a space where the individual is not only free to speak but also to have the innate experience of truly being heard. In this respect the intercultural Bible reading experience becomes a space that promotes human dignity and has the inherent capacity to facilitate social transformation. Although these Bible study groups can ideally be a safe space with the potential for social transformation, the practical reality shows a more complicated dynamic. Two important factors that contribute to the complexity are the ideological framework of individual participants and the underlying power dynamic in the social interaction. To bring the concepts of power and ideology in intercultural Bible reading into focus, an empirical study was conducted. My two part paper will discuss this qualitative research project that took place in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. In the culturally diverse study, groups of women engaged with one another in a discussion of the biblical text in 2 Samuel 13:1-22 which describes the rape of Tamar. Part I of my contribution functions as the theoretical backbone to the empirical exploration that will be discussed in Part II.

FROM MULTICULTURALITY TO INTERCULTURALITY: CAN INTERCULTURAL BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS BE OF ANY ASSISTANCE?

This paper, as well as other papers presented at the same interdisciplinary colloquium1 form part of the theoretical reflection of a research project with the title “Utilising hermeneutics in the move from multiculturality to interculturality: Intercultural Bible reading as case study.”2 In the present contribution the problem that is investigated is identified, and the possible contribution of biblical hermeneutics is indicated. A preliminary discussion of key concepts such as “culture”, “multiculturality” and “interculturality” is also presented here.

On Becoming a Family: Multiculturality and Interculturality in South Africa

This article presents a summary of a research project taking place in the Western Cape of South Africa at the moment. 1 The project depicts South African society as a society that has come a long way since 1990 to accepting multiculturality. However, it argues that a move towards interculturality has not necessarily taken place at the same time. The project begins with the hypothesis that a development of hermeneutical skills among Christian communities of reading the Bible together with `the other' could contribute significantly towards the fostering of interculturality in the broader South African society. Additionally, it is hypothesized that the studying of the dynamics of intercultural Bible reading could provide us with better insight into the dynamics of a shift from multiculturality to interculturality in South African society.