The Bible and/as the Lynching Tree: A South African Tribute to James H. Cone

West, Gerald

doi:10.7832/46-2-312

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…But how is this to be done, considering the deliberate redaction of marginalised voices in the production of almost any biblical text and the Bible as a whole? James Cone, as I have recently argued (West 2019b), would ask us to trust a radical hermeneutic of reception. 'I believe', says Cone (1979:180), 'that we find our common vision of the Gospel through a serious encounter with the biblical message as defined by our common historical commitment in our various social contexts'.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interlocution after liberation: Who do we interpret with and which biblical text do we read with?

West

2020

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

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This article aims to point out two seminal reflections on interlocution: Frostin’s insightful late-1980s (1988) analysis of ‘Third World’ liberation theologies and his contention that the decisive question for liberation theologies was the question of who the primary dialogue partners of liberation theology have been and should be, and Vuyani Vellem’s more recent millennial (2012) reflection on how South African Black Theology after liberation has grappled and should grapple with the notion of interlocution. My choice of these two scholars is not idiosyncratic, for Vellem uses Frostin’s work as one of his starting points. I build on this conversation, reflecting with Vellem on how we might understand the issue of interlocution within black and kindred liberation and prophetic theologies today. My particular emphasis is on biblical hermeneutics; therefore, my contribution to the conversation frames my reflections within a particular phase of Black Theology in which the Bible is most significantly problematised, what Tinyiko Maluleke refers to as the second phase of Black Theology. The conundrum Itumeleng Mosala poses for Black Theology is how the recognition of the Bible as itself – intrinsically, inherently and indelibly – ‘a site of struggle’ reconfigures interlocution. Mosala, I will argue, forces us to not only ask who we interpret with when we do Black Theology, but also ask which biblical texts we read, for not all biblical texts offer resources for liberation.Contribution: This article makes a contribution to the VukaniBantuTsohangBatho – Spirituality of Black Liberation collection in which the work of Vuyani Vellem is celebrated and critically engaged. Specifically, the article interrogates and contributes to Vuyani’s Vellem understanding of ‘locution’, and asks how this concept impacts our understanding of biblical text.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I have analysed the hermeneutic tension between Cone and Mosala in more detail elsewhere (West 2019b), but I reiterate some of the key conceptual differences here because I want us to hear Mosala's concern clearly. Mosala does not dispute the importance of a hermeneutic of reception.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interlocution after liberation: Who do we interpret with and which biblical text do we read with?

West

2020

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

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Towards an Inclusive and Collaborative African Biblical Hermeneutics of Reception and Production: A Distinctively South African Contribution

West

2020

SCRIP

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In a recent article I characterised the biblical hermeneutics of James H. Cone as a hermeneutic of radical reception and the biblical hermeneutics of Itumeleng Mosala as a hermeneutic of radical production. In this article I argue that though a hermeneutic of reception is the distinctive feature of African biblical hermeneutics, a hermeneutic of production is a particular and distinct contribution by South African biblical scholarship to African biblical scholarship. The article then reflects on how these two hermeneutics might intersect through the inclusion of ordinary African readers of the Bible in both the reception process and in a collaborative analysis of the contested sites of the Bible's production.

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The Bible and/as the Lynching Tree: A South African Tribute to James H. Cone

Cited by 2 publications

References 4 publications

Interlocution after liberation: Who do we interpret with and which biblical text do we read with?

Interlocution after liberation: Who do we interpret with and which biblical text do we read with?

Towards an Inclusive and Collaborative African Biblical Hermeneutics of Reception and Production: A Distinctively South African Contribution

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