Comparative Methodologies in African Biblical Hermeneutics: Analysis of Past Approaches as a Foundation for Engaging Epistemologies in Tri-Polar Comparisons
Comparative methodologies have been dominant in African biblical hermeneutics (ABH) from the early stages of twentieth-century development, and current scholars continue to use comparison in various ways in biblical interpretation. Advancements beyond bi-polar comparisons—comparing an African context and a biblical text—include more recent analysis of tri-polar approaches that explicitly engage an ideo-theological or hermeneutical third pole (Draper 2015, West 2018). West identifies dominant emphases (non-inclusively) as: “inculturation, liberation, feminist, psychological, postcolonial and queer biblical hermeneutics” (2018). This examination analyses past and contemporary developments of comparative methodologies and identifies that third-pole comparisons avoid flattened mono- or bi-polar interpretations of biblical texts.
Building upon this foundation, this research extends the analysis by integrating African epistemologies as a third pole. Because unexamined assumptions often result in misunderstandings, foregrounding epistemologies and their underlying worldviews facilitates deeper dialogue and more complex understandings of interpretations of biblical texts. With the diversity of Africa’s 3,000 people groups and the increasing engagement with international biblical scholarship, making African epistemological assumptions explicit facilitates understanding. This examination demonstrates that engaging epistemological frameworks as a third pole is fruitful for developing the comparative approach in ABH.
Building upon this foundation, this research extends the analysis by integrating African epistemologies as a third pole. Because unexamined assumptions often result in misunderstandings, foregrounding epistemologies and their underlying worldviews facilitates deeper dialogue and more complex understandings of interpretations of biblical texts. With the diversity of Africa’s 3,000 people groups and the increasing engagement with international biblical scholarship, making African epistemological assumptions explicit facilitates understanding. This examination demonstrates that engaging epistemological frameworks as a third pole is fruitful for developing the comparative approach in ABH.
Publisert i Guest Lecture, 2024
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