African biblical hermeneutics in a state of flux – towards refocusing its trajectory

Verbum et Ecclesia

 
 
Field Value
 
Title African biblical hermeneutics in a state of flux – towards refocusing its trajectory
 
Creator Mojola, Aloo O.
 
Subject — African biblical hermeneutics; Christian faith; theology of ancestors; African theological inculturation; languages
Description This study attempts to critically re-examine certain key hermeneutical concerns of a representative group of African biblical and religious studies scholars, who ground African theological reflection on traditional African values, cultures and social realities. Most of the scholars examined are united by a focus on the past and by an attempt to interpret the present and future on the basis of it. The article critiques the backward-looking hermeneutic implicit in the work of the scholars, especially Jesse Mugambi’s backward-looking metaphor of reconstruction. It proposes a hermeneutic based on the metaphor of liberation, as employed, for example, by African women theologians or by Gerald West or Emmanuel Katongole, who focus on building the present and future on the basis of a new liberative transformative narrative and praxis that prioritises the sacredness and inviolability of human life in the context of the web of life, and in particular foregrounds the dignity of African lives, as well as all others.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article engages exposition and understanding of biblical texts by African scholars. Aspects of NT Christology or Ecclesiology are connected to theologies of traditional African socio-cultural realities. The relevance for an African theology of liberation and African theology of women is defended as necessitated by a new liberative transformative hermeneutic.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2022-05-31
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ve.v43i1.2507
 
Source Verbum et Ecclesia; Vol 43, No 1 (2022); 8 pages 2074-7705 1609-9982
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/2507/5723 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/2507/5724 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/2507/5725 https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/2507/5726
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Aloo O. Mojola https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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