Locating Contextual Bible Study within praxis

West, Gerald

doi:10.13109/diac.2013.4.1.43

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The second purpose of the piece is to demonstrate how a more overtly political focus on liberation offers a useful and contrasting reading strategy to the “scientific” methodologies typically valorized by much of the guild of New Testament scholarship. The study supports efforts to creatively appropriate the (ancient) Christian scriptures in the service of this political interest (Koopman 2008; Masenya 2005; Methula 2014; Van der Watt 2007; West 2013; n.d.).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 64%

“…Along with from the centrality of imitatio Christi as a unifying force emerging from anti-apartheid uses of the Bible, the more general category of contextual theology has given rhetorical support to undertakings like the Contextual Bible Studies movement (West 2013). The assertion that reading location is critical in liberating appropriations of biblical texts is, of course, not unique to Black Theology (Segovia and Tolbert 1995; 2000).…”

Section: After Apartheidmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The assertion that reading location is critical in liberating appropriations of biblical texts is, of course, not unique to Black Theology (Segovia and Tolbert 1995; 2000). Nevertheless, there is a clear connection between Boesak's borrowing of Black Theology and the distribution of interpretive authority now present in some Christian traditions in South Africa (West 2013). In post-apartheid South Africa, the tension between central and local authority remains present in both political and ecclesial arenas.…”

Section: After Apartheidmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Apartheid Resistance and Biblical Interpretation: From Christian Confession to Materialist Analysis

McKay

2015

Politics and Religion

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The rhetorical resistance to Apartheid in South Africa appealed to many sources of authority. In Christian communities, the New Testament was brought into creative conversation with traditional “confessional” texts, modern scholarship, and Marxist class analysis in order to develop contextually-located theologies and practices of resistance. This article highlights the important insights of Allan Boesak, Albert Nolan, and Itumeleng Mosala, which served the Apartheid struggle. After noting key differences in the methods and conclusions of these scholars, I suggest that another look at their insights may well be critical in developing Christian responses to the deep structural injustices of the post-Apartheid period.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Section: After Apartheidmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: After Apartheidmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Apartheid Resistance and Biblical Interpretation: From Christian Confession to Materialist Analysis

McKay

2015

Politics and Religion

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“…In the academy it is referred to as Contextual Bible Study (CBS). West (2013) provides the historical development of CBS and this study does not wish to repeat it suffice to indicate that it emerged in liberation theologies. For West (2013:45) the CBS revolves around the See-Judge-Act cycle.…”

Section: … Calls For Life-giving Readings and Interpretation Of The B...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Daring Patriarchy? A Biblical Engagement with Gender Discourses on Political Participation in Post-colonial Zimbabwe

Manyonganise¹

2023

Bible in Africa Studies

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This volume (coming out from a Humboldt Research-Fellowship) critically engages with gender discourses on political participation in Zimbabwe, focusing on how the Bible has been used to deny women political offices in the land. The study’s reference to political office needs to be understood broadly, that is, to include women participating in decision-making in their homes, religious institutions, local government, political parties to mention but a few. Dominant religio-cultural discourses on political participation have deployed biblical texts in ways that have shaped Zimbabwe’s political terrain to be gendered space. The study uses gender as a category of analyzing political participation in Zimbabwe. The study argues that the challenges women face in their endeavor to participate fully in politics in Zimbabwe are not only embedded in culture, but have also been reinforced by the way biblical interpretation pertaining to women’s public roles has been done. It is against this background that this volume seeks to examine the utilisation of the Bible by church leaders who find support from male politicians in a bid to safeguard the space from women perceived as ‘dangerous’. In other words, the study endeavours to examine how the Bible has been deployed to control gender discourses on political participation in Zimbabwe. To a large extent, this study shows the centrality as well as the influence of the Bible in shaping gender relations, even in those areas that have to a large extent been perceived as non-religious. This volume, therefore, seeks to open up more political space for women by examining how the everyday is suffused with politics, that is, politics as affecting interactions between individuals and groups thereby facilitating women’s participation in politics at all levels. It is envisioned that such a study would contribute greatly to social transformation. Molly Manyonganise holds a PhD in Biblical and Religious Studies from the University of Pretoria. She is a senior lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy at the Zimbabwe Open University. She is a research associate of the Department of Religion Studies, Faculty of Theology and Religion of the University of Pretoria. 2020-2023 she was a Georg Forster Postdoctoral research fellow, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. Her research interests comprise religion and politics, gender and religion, religion and sexuality, African Indigenous Religion(s) as well as African Christianity.

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Introduction

Strømmen

2024

Challenging Contextuality

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This introductory chapter argues that attention to the contemporary contexts in which Bibles abide provides a chance but also a challenge for biblical scholarship. It discusses the broader concerns at play in taking contemporary contexts seriously for any and all biblical interpretation, before turning to Contextual Bible Study as a specific approach to reading the Bible. The chapter foregrounds how this volume takes seriously that biblical interpretations are produced by, with, and amidst political practices, attitudes to sexuality, embodiments of gender, digital culture, class identities, and histories of biblical scholarship. Attending to context cannot leave biblical studies as a discipline untouched as the spaces in which biblical scholarship takes place are also contextual. As this chapter suggests, and as the contributors to the volume as a whole demonstrate, there is enormous potential for work to be done in biblical studies that turns to contemporary contexts.

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Locating Contextual Bible Study within praxis

Cited by 6 publications

References 2 publications

Apartheid Resistance and Biblical Interpretation: From Christian Confession to Materialist Analysis

Apartheid Resistance and Biblical Interpretation: From Christian Confession to Materialist Analysis

Daring Patriarchy? A Biblical Engagement with Gender Discourses on Political Participation in Post-colonial Zimbabwe

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