This paper describes inculturation biblical reading in a narrow way to include mainly that reading of the Bible that takes for granted what is believed to be a peculiarly African spiritualistic cosmology. A central element of this method includes pitting a supposedly African spiritualized cosmology against a supposedly Western rationalistic and disenchanted cosmology. Proponents of this method claim that a relevant biblical interpretation in the African context should enable Africans to deal with issues arising from their belief in an enchanted world. This essay problematizes the focus on this enchanted cosmology and argues that the African condition can be effectively addressed through interpreting the Bible in ways that encourage the development of the scientific imagination, which could lead to the development of science and technology and an improved standard of living for the people.
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See Fidon R. Mwombeki, ‘Reading the Bible in Contemporary Africa’, Word and World 21/2 (2001): 121-128.
Ukpong, ‘Rereading the Bible with African Eyes’, 3-14; ‘Towards a Holistic Approach to Inculturation Theology’, Mission Studies 16/2 (1999), 100-124
Ukpong, ‘Rereading the Bible with African Eyes’, 3. For a similar method of reading in the context of the Coptic Church in Egypt, see Loubser, 103-126.
Allan Anderson, ‘Pentecostal Approaches to Faith and Healing’, International Review of Mission 91 (2002), 532; J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘Signs, Wonders, and Ministry: The Gospel in the Power of the Spirit’, Evangelical Review of Theology 33/1 (2009), 32–46.
Tinyiko Sam Maluleke, ‘Black and African Theology After Apartheid and the Cold War — An Emerging Paradigm’, Exchange 29/3 (2000), 193-212.
Adamo, ‘The Bible in Twenty-first Century Africa’, 30. Also see Peter Horsefield and Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, ‘What is it about the Book? Semantic and Material Dimensions in the Mediation of the Word of God’, Studies in World Christianity 17/2 (2011), 175-193.
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This paper describes inculturation biblical reading in a narrow way to include mainly that reading of the Bible that takes for granted what is believed to be a peculiarly African spiritualistic cosmology. A central element of this method includes pitting a supposedly African spiritualized cosmology against a supposedly Western rationalistic and disenchanted cosmology. Proponents of this method claim that a relevant biblical interpretation in the African context should enable Africans to deal with issues arising from their belief in an enchanted world. This essay problematizes the focus on this enchanted cosmology and argues that the African condition can be effectively addressed through interpreting the Bible in ways that encourage the development of the scientific imagination, which could lead to the development of science and technology and an improved standard of living for the people.
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 608 | 111 | 8 |
Full Text Views | 241 | 7 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 50 | 18 | 0 |