AbstractBiblical texts are assumed by communities that use them to be authoritative texts that should guide human relations positively. The phrase 'liberating the word', originating among biblical feminists, however, suggests two issues: first, it points to inherent limitations of the biblical scriptures; second, it places an ethical call on the reader/interpreter to take responsibility for liberating the word. Drawing from her experience as a Tswana African woman, the author analyses Matthew 23, which she reads as colonizing rhetoric of suppressing the Other. She discusses this text in the context of the colonial missionary approach in Africa, which was characterized by condemnation of all that was unfamiliar and a celebration of European culture. She argues that this approach was also scripturally informed.

AbstractAs a child of Zimbabwean migrants who relocated to Botswana when black people were dispossessed of their land, my own historical context is postcolonial. Like other Two-Thirds World populations, modern imperialism has remained a narrative woven into our bodies, spirits, minds and lands, ever demanding to be read and interpreted. Postcolonial framework of reading is thus the art of wrestling with the past and the present in the quest to glean our shared futures, changed and healed futures. Postcolonial literary theories describe myriad ways of reading that explore how imperialism was imposed on various nations/populations and times; its impact on the colonized populations and lands, and how the colonized responded/resisted/collaborated/survived. In literary studies, postcolonial theories explore the production and role of literature and cultural texts in the modern imperial–colonial relationships by examining texts that arise from both ends as well as the role of pre-existing literature. The application of postcolonial theories to biblical literature falls to the latter.

AbstractUsing contextual, postcolonial, gender and liberation perspectives, the article seeks to read the Bible in the light of aging processes

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AbstractAlthough the arrival of the Bible in Africa has often been a tale of terror, the Bible has become an African book. This volume explores the many ways in which Africans have made the Bible their own. The essays in this book offer a glimpse of the rich resources that constitute Africa's engagement with the Bible. Among the topics are: the historical development of biblical interpretation in Africa, the relationship between African biblical scholarship and scholarship in the West, African resources for reading the Bible, the history and role of vernacular translation in particular African contexts, the ambiguity of the Bible in Africa, the power of the Bible as text and symbol, and the intersections between class, race, gender, and culture in African biblical interpretation. The book also contains an extensive bibliography of African biblical scholarship. In fact, it is one of the most comprehensive collections of African biblical scholarship available in print.

AbstractDiscussing the connections between the phenomenon of traveling and texts, this article aims to show that narratives present plots and maps that invite readers to become particular travellers (and hosts/hostesses) on either side of the power divide. This is done by juxtaposing the kind of traveller posited in the Gospel of John with the maps and stories of the author as representative of citizens of Botswana and southern Africa. By putting the story-maps of pre-colonial, colonial and post-indipendence encounters on the table when reading John's narrative, John's road-signs are checked against the author's story-maps for similarities, differences, and consequences. Resisting the subordination of characters like John the Baptist, Moses, Sophia and the non-believers in the fourth evangelist's narrative, the narrator's ideology is problematised as one which legitimises a selective and exclusive empowering and the rejection of difference. This is seen as an oppertunity for biblical scholars to take different paths, to plit new journeys, to draw new maps and to establish new rules for travelling and hosting others.

AbstractMother Earth is home to an unprecedented number of translations of the Bible, making it the most widely translated book in the world. The pages of this book have traversed a variety of physical and metaphorical borders, navigating diverse geographical, political, economic, cultural, linguistic, and religious intersections. Across space, time, and cultures, millions of readers have found various reasons to read it through diverse lenses. The Bible was frequently translated and brought to the colonized territories with colonial movements. Regrettably, it was often utilized as a tool for subjugation and dominance. However, the colonized people also used this resource for their own goals. Do contemporary biblical studies have the courage to look upon the tomes and tons of translated Bibles lying upon the surface of Mother Earth? What responsibilities and opportunities does the Global Translated Bible(s) lay upon academic biblical studies? What research questions, challenges, and opportunities for collaboration does it open? What are the pedagogical obligations and implications of acknowledging the Global Translated Bible(s)? In other words, what does faithfulness and unfaithfulness to the translated biblical corpus entail, imply, and demand? This lecture proposes and emphasizes the imperative of mainstreaming the Global Translated Bible(s) into academic biblical studies.

AbstractThis article reviews the gendered Pentecostal Bible as documented by various researchers. It assesses how the prophetic-spirit framework encounters and functions within the framework of the inerrant but patriarchal written word. The Spirit framework is an oral canon that opens spaces of gender empowerment. Yet Pentecostal scholars problematise the supposedly liberating Spirit, highlighting that it sometimes denies the materiality of human existence and inhabits the constraining parameters of patriarchal church structures. The article suggests that in addition to the Spirit-Word framework, new Pentecostal theological categories, such as healing and deliverance and the prosperity gospel need to be investigated for the new spaces they open for gender justice. ‘The authority of the Bible as the word of God, and the experience of the Holy Spirit form two of the most important sources of Pentecostal theology’ (Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu 2004:390).

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Abstract[republication] This paper investigates how native languages were used by colonizers to subordi nate the colonized. The paper uses an example from the Setswana language of Botswana to investigate the colonial translations of the Bible and compilation of the first dictionaries and to show how they were informed by their time. It focuses on the translation of Badimo (Ancestral Spirits) and other related words to show how the Setswana language was employed for imperial ends in colonial times. The paper also examines how the subsequent versions of the Setswana Bible and dictionaries reflect the growing spirit of decolonization as colonized subjects became involved in writing their own languages. Given that colonial translations remained in circulation beyond the period of colonization, this paper also documents how native readers developed strategies of resistance by reading the Bible as a divining text to get in touch with Badimo, thereby subverting the colonial translations that equated the latter with evil powers.

Abstract[Republication of a journal article of the same name] This paper investigates how native languages were used by colonizers to subordinate the colonized. The paper uses an example from the Setswana language of Botswana to investigate the colonial translations of the Bible and compilation of the first dictionaries and to show how they were informed by their time.1 It focuses on the translation of Badimo [Ancestral Spirits] and other related words to show how the Setswana language was employed for imperial ends in colonial times. The paper also examines how the subsequent versions of the Setswana Bible and dictionaries reflect the growing spirit of decolonization as colonized subjects became involved in writing their own languages. Given that colonial translations remained in circulation beyond the period of colonization, this paper also documents how native readers developed strategies of resistance by reading the Bible as a divining text to get in touch with Badimo, thereby subverting the colonial translations that equated the latter with evil powers.

AbstractThis paper investigates how native languages were used by colonizers to subordinate the colonized. The paper uses an example from the Setswana language of Botswana to investigate the colonial translations of the Bible and compilation of the first dictionaries and to show how they were informed by their time. It focuses on the translation of Badimo (Ancestral Spirits) and other related words to show how the Setswana language was employed for imperial ends in colonial times. The paper also examines how the subsequent versions of the Setswana Bible and dictionaries reflect the growing spirit of decolonization as colonized subjects became involved in writing their own languages. Given that colonial translations remained in circulation beyond the period of colonization, this paper also documents how native readers developed strategies of resistance by reading the Bible as a divining text to get in touch with Badimo, thereby subverting the colonial translations that equated the latter with evil powers.

AbstractThe article carries out a postcolonial feminist reading of Genesis 34, taking up the intersection of gender, race, class and violence in the colonial space.

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Abstractpublished in three different international languages and republished in 'Talitha Cum! Theologies of African Women.'

AbstractThis article discusses the different families of the New Testament literature; its the historical and cultural background. Thereafter, the article samples from each genre to analyse constructions of gender in the gospels, history, epistles and apocalyptic literature of the New Testament.

AbstractThe chapter explores translations of Christian hymns and scriptures during the modern colonial times, investigating how colonial ideology permeated these works. It also summaries African scholarly research that has investigated the area, from various regions and languages of the continent.

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AbstractFeasting on the Gospels is a new seven-volume series that follows up on the success of the Feasting on the Word series to provide another trusted preaching resource, this time on the most prominent and preached upon books in the Bible: the four Gospels. With contributions from a diverse and respected group of scholars and pastors, Feasting on the Gospels includes completely new material that covers every single passage in the Gospels, making it suitable for both pastors who preach from the lectionary and pastors who do not. Moreover, these volumes incorporate the unique format of Feasting on the Word, giving preachers four perspectives to choose from for each Gospel passage: theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical. Feasting on the Gospels offers a unique resource for all who preach, either continuously or occasionally, on the Gospels. Feasting on the Gospels-Mark: A Feasting on the Word Commentary (9780664259914)

AbstractFeasting on the Gospels is a new seven-volume series that follows up on the success of the Feasting on the Word series to provide another trusted preaching resource, this time on the most prominent and preached upon books in the Bible: the four Gospels. With contributions from a diverse and respected group of scholars and pastors, Feasting on the Gospels includes completely new material that covers every single passage in the Gospels, making it suitable for both pastors who preach from the lectionary and pastors who do not. Moreover, these volumes incorporate the unique format of Feasting on the Word, giving preachers four perspectives to choose from for each Gospel passage: theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical. Feasting on the Gospels offers a unique resource for all who preach, either continuously or occasionally, on the Gospels. Feasting on the Gospels-Mark: A Feasting on the Word Commentary (9780664259914)

AbstractThe Global Bible Commentary invites its users to expand their horizon by reading the Bible with scholars from all over the world and from different religious persuasions. These scholars have approaches and concerns that often are poles apart. Yet they share two basic convictions: biblical interpretation always matters; and reading the Bible “with others” is highly rewarding. Each of the short commentaries of the Global Bible Commentary is a readily accessible guide for reading a biblical book. Written for undergraduate and seminary students and their teachers, as well as for pastors, priests, and Adult Sunday School classes, it introduces the users to the main features of the biblical book and its content.Yet each short commentary does more. It also brings us a precious gift, namely the opportunity of reading this biblical book as if for the first time. By making explicit the specific context and the concerns from which she/he reads the Bible, the scholar points out to us the significance of aspects of the biblical text that we simply took for granted or overlooked.Need more info? Download Global Bible Commentary Marketing Brochure PDFFree Adobe Acrobat Reader!If any book demonstrates the value of cultural criticism and the importance of particularity in interpretation, this is it! Scholars from diverse social locations in every continent bring their distinctive context to bear on the act of interpreting. In so doing, they shed eye-opening light on the biblical texts. The resulting critical dialogue with the Bible exposes the oppressive as well as the liberating dynamics of the texts while at the same time showing how the Bible might address the social, political, cultural, and economic dynamics of our world today. This collection can change the way you read the Bible—scholars and students, clergy and laity alike. -David Rhoads, Professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago, ILContributors:Daniel Patte, Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA. A French Huguenot (Église Réformée de France), he taught two years in Congo-Brazzaville, and “read the Bible with” people in France, Switzerland, South Africa, Botswana, the Philippines, as well as in the USA. His publications include books on hermeneutics and semiotics (such as Early Jewish Hermeneutics, 1975; The Religious Dimensions of Biblical Texts, 1990); on Paul and Matthew (such as Paul's Faith and the Power of the Gospel, 1983; The Gospel according to Matthew: A Structural Commentary on Matthew's Faith, 1987), as well as, most directly related to the GBC, Ethics of Biblical Interpretation (1995), The Challenge of Discipleship (1999), Reading Israel in Romans: Legitimacy and Plausibility of Divergent Interpretations (ed. with Cristina Grenholm, 2000), The Gospel of Matthew: A Contextual Introduction (with Monya Stubbs, Justin Ukpong, and Revelation Velunta, 2003). José Severino Croatto,. Professor of Exegesis, Hebrew, and Religious Studies, at Instituto Superior Evangélico de Estudios Teológicos (ISEDET). A contributor to Revista de Interpretación Bíblica Latinoamericana (= RIBLA) and the Movement of Popular Reading of the Bible, he published 22 books, including three volumes on hermeneutics, Exodus, A Hermeneutics of Freedom (1981); Biblical Hermeneutics. Toward a Theory of Reading as the Production of Meaning (1987); Hermenéutica Práctica. Los principios de la hermenéutica bíblica en ejemplos (2002); three volumes on Génesis 1-11 (1974; 1986; 1997), the last one, Exilio y sobrevivencia. Tradiciones contraculturales en el Pentateuco; three volumes on the book of Isaiah (1988; 1994; 2001), the last one, Imaginar el futuro. Estructura retórica y querigma del Tercer Isaías (Isaías 56-66); two volumes on Religious Studies (1994; 2002), the last one, Experiencia de lo sagrado y tradiciones religiosas. Estudio de fenomenología de la religión (2002). Rev. Dr. Nicole Wilkinson Duran, after teaching New Testament in the USA, South Africa (Zululand), in Turkey, is currently teaching part-time at Rosemont College and Villanova University, and with her husband raising twin sons in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA. She has published articles on topics ranging from gender and race in Esther, to the unread Bible in Toni Morrison’s novels, to body symbolism in the story of John the Baptist’s execution, and edited (with G. Phillips) Reading Communities Reading Scripture (2002). She is an ordained Presbyterian minister and does occasional preaching and adult Christian education. Teresa Okure, SHCJ, a graduate from the University of Ibadan, La Sorbonne, École Biblique of Jerusalem, and Fordham University (Ph.D.), is Professor of New Testament and Gender Hermeneutics at the Catholic Institute of West Africa, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. She is or has been a member of the executive committees of several associations, including EATWOT (Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians, as Executive Secretary), the International Association for Mission Studies (IAMS), and the Society for New Testament Studies (SNTS). She published more than 100 articles and six books including The Johannine Approach to Mission: a Contextual Study of John 4:1-42 (1988), ed. Evaluating the Inculturation of Christianity in Africa (1990) and ed. To Cast Fire upon the Earth: Bible and Mission. Collaborating in Today’s Multicultural Global Context (2000). Archie Chi_Chung Lee, Professor of Hebrew Bible, Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. A specialist of cross-textual hermeneutics, especially Chinese text and the post-exilic biblical tradition. He is the author of several books including A Commentary on the Book of Koheleth, (in Chinese 1990), Doing Theology with Asian Resources: Ten Years in the Formation of Living Theology in Asia (1993, ed.) and Interpretation of the Megilloth (in Chinese 2003) and numerous articles including "Genesis One and the Plagues Tradition in Ps. 105," Vetus Testamentum, 40, (1990): 257-263, "Biblical Interpretation in Asian Perspective," Asia Journal of Theology, 7, (1993): 35-39, "The Chinese Creation Myth of Nu Kua and the Biblical Narrative in Genesis 1-11," Biblical Interpretation 2 (1994): 312-324, "Cross-Textual Hermeneutics on Gospel and Culture". Asia Journal of Theology 10 (1996): 38-48 and "Biblical Interpretation of the Return in the Postcolonial Hong Kong," Biblical Interpretation, 9 (1999): 164-173.

AbstractThe article utilises narrative, feminist, postcolonial and HIV and AIDS frameworkd to read Mark 5:21-43

AbstractThe opening of Psalm 23 is captivating and remains one of the most memorable citations in the collection of world literature and scriptures. It states that, ‘God is my Shepherd, I shall lack nothing’ (v. 1, my translation). The rest of what follows, in my view, elaborates the opening statement, with many more powerful, memorable, and beautiful sentences. The opening statement is, therefore, the theme and meaning of the whole psalm. The power of the statement can be located, perhaps, in three factors for the believing reader who identifies with David the psalmist. First, the assurance that one is not alone; rather one has a shepherd. The image of a shepherd articulates continuous presence of someone or something that looks out for you. Second, the identity of the shepherd, who is named as God, is awesome. While shepherds come in all sorts of classes, genders, ages, and cultures, the idea (generally of low class) that God, the Creator of the universe and the ultimate power of goodness, cares so much so that God takes up the role of being ‘my Shepherd’ is overwhelmingly humbling, assuring, and powerful. It also asserts the importance of each person of faith who reads the Psalm. The third, and perhaps a logical part, is of course the assertion and assurance that this shepherd cares and ensures that all my needs are met, not just now, but also for the rest of my days – ‘I shall lack nothing!’ To fulfill such a role consistently, the shepherd cares for both the flock and its pastures. Psalm 23 is my favorite psalm for reasons stated here and many more. In this essay, I share my historical, autobiographical, and contextual journeys with Psalm 23 and its musical afterlives in Botswana....

AbstractThis wide-ranging reader provides a comprehensive survey of the interaction between postcolonial criticism and biblical studies. It examines how various empires such as the Persian and Roman affected biblical narratives. It demonstrates how different biblical writers such as Paul, Matthew and Mark handled the challenges of empire. It includes examples of the practical application of postcolonial criticism to biblical texts. It considers contemporary issues such as diaspora, race, representation and territory. It features editorial commentary that draws out the key points to be made and creates a coherent narrative. - Theoretical practices -- Empires old and new -- Empire and exegesis -- Postcolonial concerns

AbstractThis book brings together twelve essays on a wide and rich range of topics, discussions and methodologies in African theology today. Even the book's limitations provide an insight into the situation: its variety also indicates the absence of comprehensive and sustained discussion flowing from the economic and institutional limitation of Africa where research in theology is often beyond the means of many theologians. Then there is the difficulty of staying abreast of continually changing contexts and events in Africa itself. For all of these reasons then, a compelling introduction to a dynamic analysis and conversation.

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AbstractThe book explore biblical portrayal of commercial sex and analysis the interpretation, particularly feminist readers.

AbstractThis substantially revised edition has been expanded to include 16 new essays and a new section on postcolonial readings of scripture. It also contains a new introduction and an afterword by the editor, calling attention to new developments in biblical interpretation.

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AbstractIn this article I begin with Laura Bohannan's 1966 celebrated essay "Shakespeare in the Bush;' which is where I derive the title "The Bible in the Bush." I then discuss some of the first written responses of Batswana to Robert Moffat's translation of the Setswana Bible of 1857. The third and final part of the article looks at some implications for biblical translations in the context of globalization and localization.

AbstractReligion, ethnicity and race are facets of identity that have become increasingly contested. The modern discipline of biblical studies developed in the context of Western Europe, concurrent with the emergence of various racial and imperial ideologies. The essays in this volume deal both with historical facets of ethnicity and race in antiquity, in particular in relation to the identities of Jews and Christians, and also with the critique of scholarly ideologies and racial assumptions which have shaped biblical studies.

AbstractAfrica has seen many political crises ranging from violent political ideologies, to meticulous articulated racist governance system, to ethnic clashes resulting in genocide and religious conflicts that have planted the seed of mutual suspicion.The masses impacted by such crises live with the past that has not passed. The Healing of Memories: African Christian Responses to Politically Induced Trauma examines Christian responses to the damaging impact of conflict on the collective memory. Troubled memory is a recipe for another cycle of conflict. While most academic works tend to stress forgiving and forgetting, they did not offer much as to how to deal with the unforgettable past. This book aims to fill this gap by charting an interdisciplinary approach to healing the corrosive memories of painful pasts. Taking a cue from the empirical expositions of post-apartheid South Africa, post-genocide Rwanda, the Congo Wars, and post-Red Terror Ethiopia, this volume brings together coherent healing approaches to deal with traumatic memory.

AbstractD. presents fictional letters of Orpah to Ruth, which would never have been preserved because they reflect an oral culture. Those letters depict Orpah as one who returned to her own older mother, just as Ruth followed Naomi, her older mother-in-law. See also #1854. [Abstracted by: Jon L. Berquist.] Abstract Number: OTA24-2001-OCT-1857

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AbstractThe world is increasingly assuming the characteristics of a "global village," as transportation and information technologies make travel and communications around the globe ever quicker and easier. The world of biblical scholarship has not been immune to such changes. Increasingly, biblical scholars everywhere recognize that they are "reading the Bible in the global village," and that as they do so they must be aware of their particular contexts for reading the Bible, and of the relationships and tensions between the global and the local, the general and the particular. This volume, which derives from the 2000 SBL International Meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, presents essays by eight scholars who all either come from Africa or have strong interests in African biblical scholarship. Taken together, their work provides a good overview of and introduction to some of the key issues, themes, theories, and practices that are characteristic of the best contemporary biblical study in Africa.

AbstractNoting that the ways of interpreting the Bible now practiced in the West are patriarchal and oppressive of those in other parts of the world, Dube offers an alternative interpretation that attends to and respects needs of women in the two-thirds world. In a provocative and insightful reading of the book of Matthew, she shows us how to read the Bible as decolonizing rather than imperialist literature.

Abstract"The HIV and AIDS Bible "opens a new chapter in African religious discourse by placing the pandemic at the forefront of theological discussions. In a series of incisive essays Musa W. Dube examines the HIV/AIDS crisis in light of biblical and ethical teachings and argues for a strong theological presence alongside current economic, social, and political efforts to quell this devastating disease. "The HIV and AIDS Bible "will be helpful for teachers, clergy, social workers, health care providers, and anyone else seeking creative ways to integrate their religious beliefs with their efforts to alleviate the suffering caused by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

AbstractThere has rarely been an effort to address the missing dialogue between British and African scholars, including in regard to the role of British missionaries during the introduction ofthe Bible and Christianity to many parts of Africa. To break this silence, Musa W. Dube and Johanna Stiebert collect expressions from both emerging and established biblical scholars in the United Kingdom and (predominantly) southern African states. Divided into three sets of papers, these contributions range from the injustices of colonialism to postcolonial critical readings of texts, suppression and appropriation; each section complete with a responding essay. Questioning how well UK students understand Africancentred and generated approaches of biblical criticism, whether African scholars consider UK-centric criticism valid, and how accurately the western canon represents current UK based scholarship, these essays illustrate the trends and challenges faced in biblical studies in the two centres of study, and discusses how these questions are better answered with dialogue, rather than in isolation.

AbstractThis book is critically important for Bible translation theorists, postcolonial scholars, church leaders, and the general public interested in the history, politics, and nature of Bible translation work in Africa. It is also useful to students of gender studies, political science, biblical studies, and history-of-colonization studies. The book catalogs the major work that has been undertaken by African scholars. This work critiques and contests colonial Bible translation narratives by privileging the importance African oral vitality in rewriting the meaning of biblical texts in the African sociopolitical, political, and cultural contexts.

AbstractRooted in the rich story-telling tradition of Africa, this volume of essays, the first of its kind, highlights the unique approach African women bring to reading and interpreting the Bible in their diverse historical and cultural contexts. Early bible translation and interpretation in Africa was carried out primarily by foreign missionaries and so was deeply influenced by patriarchal and colonial ideologies. The strategies of resistance to these dominant traditions exemplified by the contributors to Other Ways of Reading include examining translations in their own languages and reading from a variety of perspectives. Featured methods include storytelling; postcolonial feminist reading; womanhood/bosadi and womanist reading; and reading from and with grassroots communities. The book provides important new ideas and tools for Bible study in Africa and beyond.

AbstractThe aim of this study in to analyze Musa Dube’s (b.1964) hermeneutics of the Bible by defining how she uses her theological frameworks, postcolonialism and feminism. Also theological implications of Dube’s work are discussed especially those concerning Christology, mission, and theology of religios. Sources of this study contain Dube’s dissertation and several articles written between 1996-2007. In order to understand Dube’s biblical interpretation it is essential to find out how Dube defines postcolonialism and feminism. Dube is from Botswana and her view of colonialism and postcolonial condition are strongly influences by her personal experiences in Southern Africa. Dube views colonialism as multifaceted phenomenon that has an impact on a range of things from geographical control and vulture to identities of the people involved. Most of all, she views imperialism and colonialism as ideological practices that result in the colonization of mind. Nowadays imperialism is manifested in globalization. Postcolonialism means struggle for alleviating the consequences of oppression. Feminism, according to Dube, is a liberation movement. Women in colonized zones are doubly oppressed, as they are at once under gender oppression in their own society and experience colonial subjugation. Postcolonialism and feminism are intertwined in her work, although postcolonialism seems to have stronger theoretical focus. The aim of Dube’s biblical hermeneutics is to bring about change. Reading must be in service of life and equality. Because the Bible was born in various contexts of colonial rule, it has imperialist ideology rooted in it. For instance the events of Exodus and book of Joshua reveal how God was used in order to legitimate the conquest of the land of Canaan. Canaanites were depicted as idolatrous and covenant with them was prohibited. They were constructed as inferior. IN the Gospels the imperial ideology is present escpecially in mission texts. According to Dube, the person of Jesus as textualized in in the Gospels reflects the colonial context of the Palestine of his time. In order to cope with the rule of the Roman empire, the Jews adopted imperial ideology. This is seen in the mission theology of the Gospels. The Bible aided the Western colonialism in Africa in various ways. It offered motivation to colonialists and missionaries. It also became a text that displaced indigenous stories, and thus alienated people from their own cultural and religious narratives. Also, translations to the indigenous languages were corroding since they were impregnated by colonial ideology. Dube’s reading methods suggest mote democratic ways of interpretation. She highlights the importance of ordinary readers and communities of faith. Her reading with –method involves cooperation between faith community and the scholar. Dube also employs various methods of story-telling in order to interpret the Bible : Dramatic telling and retelling biblical passages with other stories, such as African folk stories and scenes from her own life. Dube brings other stories alongside the Bible in order to dissolve the dominance of the Biblical narrative and to highlight that other stories of meaning and truth exist and have a right to be told. Dube does not read the Bible from the point of view of Christian dogma. Nevertheless, her interpretations have theological implications. Dube’s image of Jesus is ambivalent, since he is both a colonialist who claims all authority for himself, and in some of the sources, a liberator. Dube argues that the biblical mission texts echo unequal relationships . Disciples are sent to teach nations without a mutual need to be taught. Mission is repressive if it claims to a universal answer. Dube opposes the impression of Christianity as the only valid religion. All sacred stories have the right to exist and are equally valid. The value of Dube's hermeneutics does not lie in the area of truth claims but rather in facilitating the reclaim of identity that has been violated by colonial and patriarchal oppression.

AbstractThe paper explores Setswana and biblical moral teachings on the environmentas well as their functions in the preservation of the Earth, demonstrating withthe text of Genesis 8:20-9:17. It also explores how contemporary profit-orientedrelationships with the Earth constitute moral degeneration. Lastly, the chapterexplores how some Setswana perspectives on the environment can constituteEarth friendly ways of reading the Bible for the revitalisation of the Earth com-munity as a whole.

AbstractTitle of the book unavailable

AbstractThis article tells the story of Musa Dube's interpretation of the Bible. It is not a biography of Dube's personal life but rather a story of how she has contributed to the direction of African biblical scholarship; it is a story of how biblical scholars can participate in the life of Christian communi-ties. The article begins with a brief biography of Dube. This section is followed by a panorama of the history of African biblical scholarship. The methods Dube uses to interpret the Bible are then reviewed. The article concludes by showing that although Dube has built on a foundation that was laid by earlier African biblical scholars, her contribu-tion has been revolutionary.

AbstractThe world is increasingly assuming the characteristics of a "global village," as transportation and information technologies make travel and communications around the globe ever quicker and easier. The world of biblical scholarship has not been immune to such changes. Increasingly, biblical scholars everywhere recognize that they are "reading the Bible in the global village," and that as they do so they must be aware of their particular contexts for reading the Bible, and of the relationships and tensions between the global and the local, the general and the particular. This volume, which derives from the 2000 SBL International Meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, presents essays by eight scholars who all either come from Africa or have strong interests in African biblical scholarship. Taken together, their work provides a good overview of and introduction to some of the key issues, themes, theories, and practices that are characteristic of the best contemporary biblical study in Africa.

AbstractAlthough the arrival of the Bible in Africa has often been a tale of terror, the Bible has become an African book. This volume explores the many ways in which Africans have made the Bible their own. The essays in this book offer a glimpse of the rich resources that constitute Africa's engagement with the Bible. Among the topics are: the historical development of biblical interpretation in Africa, the relationship between African biblical scholarship and scholarship in the West, African resources for reading the Bible, the history and role of vernacular translation in particular African contexts, the ambiguity of the Bible in Africa, the power of the Bible as text and symbol, and the intersections between class, race, gender, and culture in African biblical interpretation. The book also contains an extensive bibliography of African biblical scholarship. In fact, it is one of the most comprehensive collections of African biblical scholarship available in print.

AbstractAlthough the arrival of the Bible in Africa has often been a tale of terror, the Bible has become an African book. This volume explores the many ways in which Africans have made the Bible their own. The essays in this book offer a glimpse of the rich resources that constitute Africa's engagement with the Bible. Among the topics are: the historical development of biblical interpretation in Africa, the relationship between African biblical scholarship and scholarship in the West, African resources for reading the Bible, the history and role of vernacular translation in particular African contexts, the ambiguity of the Bible in Africa, the power of the Bible as text and symbol, and the intersections between class, race, gender, and culture in African biblical interpretation. The book also contains an extensive bibliography of African biblical scholarship. In fact, it is one of the most comprehensive collections of African biblical scholarship available in print.