"And the rulers of the nations shall bring their treasures into it": A Review of Biblical Exegesis in Africa

Anglican Theological Review, Spring 2006 by LeMarquand, Grant

Articles-unlike dissertations-are written without the constraints of a (usually Western) supervisor. Freed from the dominating interests of the senior mentor, journal articles and essays in collected volumes tend to reflect the interests of the author more directly. Various approaches are taken in these studies. Many authors start with a biblical text; after an exegesis of the text, often using traditional Western methods, the author will then ask why this text is important for Africans. The Pan-African Association of Catholic Exegetes (l'Association Panafricaine des Exégètes Catholiques) gives its members explicit instructions:

Scientific rigour and inculturation

We would like to remind you that the PACE congresses have the objective to unite scientific rigour with inculturation. The papers should show evidence of high scientific exegesis, hut contextualized. Thus, for the paper to be accepted for publication in the Acts of ... [the] Congress, attention should be paid to critical exegesis, theology and their application in the African context. In relation to that, the editorial board suggests to everyone to:

1. limit his/her discussion to one specific text (or a number of specific texts). This text should be exegetically analysed, using any of the generally accepted exegetical methods (e.g. historicalcritical, semantic, grammatical, literary);

2. set out a theological exposé of the text, drawn from the analysis;

3. apply the exegesis and the theological message adequately to the African context;

4. show evidence of the use of basic exegetical and theological resources in the notes.14

In other words, members of the association are expected to do serious exegetical study of the biblical text, but they are not to consider that their work is done once the text has been understood in its literary or historical context: the Bible must be applied to the African situation. Exegesis is incomplete without hermeneutics. This approach is at variance with the Western approach to biblical studies. In Western religious studies departments-or even in seminaries-students may ask their Old or New Testament professor what the implications of a text might be for theology, ethics, or pastoralia. They may receive the answer, "That's not my job; go and ask the homiletics professor, or the systematic theologian, or the Iiturgist." Africa does not have the luxury of specialization that divides the theological curriculum into compartments which may have little interaction. Biblical scholars in Africa are also theologians who are concerned about the life of the church.

An example of such an approach can be seen in the paper by the Roman Catholic scholar Patrick Adeso entitled "Suffering in Job and in an African Perspective: Exegesis of Job 42:1-6." In this essay Adeso addresses the issue of Job s suffering and especially the divine response to Job found in chapter 42. This exegetical section of the paper includes an analysis of the literary context of Job 42 in the light of the rest of the book, a structural analysis of the passage in question, and a discussion of the theological issues raised by the text. Adeso then turns to the African context (he lives in Cameroon) and reminds readers of the problems of war, famine, political-economic crises, and the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. Adeso ends on a note of hope: God has not abandoned Africa, but is present in Jesus even in the midst of great suffering.15