Two Africans and the Elusiveness of Meaning

Abstract

This article highlights the impossibility of ever grasping fully the meaning of an OT text and how this loss can be approached. Historical criticism underscored the notion that the OT/HB originated over many years: texts were constantly re-interpreted, contexts often changed, older parts were re-adapted and therefore many (even opposing) voices can be heard in the Hebrew Scripture. Notwithstanding difficulties and the elusiveness of meaning, OT scholarship can still be of great value and to elaborate this point the views of two African born scholars are discussed and their "solutions" accentuated. The one suggested that studying the text can be a joyful enterprise and the other African advised that we must always be open to future possibilities.

Decolonising Translated Bibles: The Tragic Erasure of the Vhavenḓa’s Concepts of God through the 1936 and 1998 Tshivenḓa Bible Translations

“…The Vhavend ˆa people revered God as a warrior god who leads them in the battles. The concept of God as Muhalimuhulu was also related to the drum Ngomalungundu (Le Roux 2009, 2021Von Sicard 1952).…”

Blurry boundaries between Ṅwali and Jehovah in some Tshivenḓa modern poems

“…However, Le Roux (1999, 2009 is quick to associate the drum strictly with the Vhalemba, whose oral traditions trace back to Israelite roots, and not the rest of the Vhavenḓa. UnlikeMashau (2004) andMunyai (2016),Schutte (1978) does not see a distinction between Mwali weDenga and Mwali weMatonjeni.…”