Poverty The Bible And Africa

Poverty reduction is a worldwide concern, yet if the church is to play an effective role in its alleviation, an approach that is both biblical and contextual is required. In Poverty, the Bible, and Africa, Isaac Boaheng formulates a theology of poverty that engages Scripture, African traditional wisdom, and contemporary African concerns to create a paradigm for understanding and alleviating poverty in Africa. Boaheng highlights that, whatever our cultural context, God frowns upon materialism, extravagance, and love for riches; yet the author also demonstrates why a contextual theology must address people’s societal and cultural needs alongside spiritual ones. If we desire a model for poverty reduction that is both theologically sound and contextually appropriate, we must facilitate an encounter between the teachings of Scripture and the socio-economic, political, and religious realities of a particular context. Combining in-depth cultural analysis with careful exegetical reflection, this book offers refreshing insight into the challenge of confronting poverty in Africa. Boaheng’s approach, however, is relevant far beyond the continent and is transferable to any context where others are seeking to effectively understand and combat poverty.

Western interpretations of poverty proverbs in the Old Testament Book of Proverbs have tended to see a status quo acceptance in the ancient texts, thus neglecting existential challenges of the poverty issue. In contrast, Lechion Peter Kimilike argues that African proverbial material on poverty may - when used comparatively to interpret the corresponding Old Testament poverty proverbs - create a more dynamic analysis. The author's new and thought-provoking interpretation suggests «an African transformational hermeneutic» that balances between the questions and methodology of the «global [i.e., western] guild» and the concerns of the African interpretative context.

A Ghanaian scholar of religion argues that poverty is a particularly complex subject in traditional African cultures, where holistic worldviews unite life’s material and spiritual dimensions. A South African ethicist examines informal economies in Ghana, Jamaica, Kenya, and South Africa, looking at their ideological roots, social organization, and vulnerability to global capital. African American theologians offer ethnographic accounts of empowering religious rituals performed in churches in the United States, Jamaica, and South Africa. This important collection brings together these and other Pan-African perspectives on religion and poverty in Africa and the African diaspora. Contributors from Africa and North America explore poverty’s roots and effects, the ways that experiences and understandings of deprivation are shaped by religion, and the capacity and limitations of religion as a means of alleviating poverty. As part of a collaborative project, the contributors visited Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa, as well as Jamaica and the United States. In each location, they met with clergy, scholars, government representatives, and NGO workers, and they examined how religious groups and community organizations address poverty. Their essays complement one another. Some focus on poverty, some on religion, others on their intersection, and still others on social change. A Jamaican scholar of gender studies decries the feminization of poverty, while a Nigerian ethicist and lawyer argues that the protection of human rights must factor into efforts to overcome poverty. A church historian from Togo examines the idea of poverty as a moral virtue and its repercussions in Africa, and a Tanzanian theologian and priest analyzes ujamaa, an African philosophy of community and social change. Taken together, the volume’s essays create a discourse of mutual understanding across linguistic, religious, ethnic, and national boundaries. Contributors. Elizabeth Amoah, Kossi A. Ayedze, Barbara Bailey, Katie G. Cannon, Noel Erskine, Dwight N. Hopkins, Simeon O. Ilesanmi, Laurenti Magesa, Madipoane Masenya, Takatso A. Mofokeng, Esther M. Mombo, Nyambura J. Njoroge, Jacob Olupona, Peter J. Paris, Anthony B. Pinn, Linda E. Thomas, Lewin L. Williams

By integrating cultural, political, social and economic factors the book empirically affirms, the importance of culture, represented by religious values, in the fight against poverty and that political and economic attitudes have a role to play in the development process.

Section 1: The Bible and broad political discourses in Africa. "Rewriting" the Bible or de-biblifying the public sphere? Proposals and propositions on the usage of the Bible by public figures in Zimbabwe/ by Masiiwa Ragies Gunda. The Bible and the quest for democracy and democratization in Africa: the Zimbabwe experience / by Eliot Tofa. The Bible and the quest for developmental justice: the case of orphans in Namibia / by Jannie Hunter. The Bible in the service of pan-africanism: the case of Dr Tafataona Mahoso's pan-african biblical exegesis / by Obvious Vengeyi. The ANC's deployment of religion in nation building: from Thabo Mbeki, to "the RDP of the soul", to Jacob Zuma / by Gerald West. The Bible and democracy in Africa: how biblical science can contribute towards the establishment of plurality and democracy, the Bible as a relevant tool in the quest for engendering plurality / by Jephthah Kiara Gathaka. Section 2: Some readings of the Bible in/for political discourses in Africa. Contextual theological reading of the Bible with indigenous communities: the case of the Basarwa/San in Botswana / by Moji Ruele. A theological reflection on Romans 13:1-7 in the 21st century Zimbabwean politics / by Phillemon M. Chamburuka. The Judas Iscariot episode In the zimbabwean religio-political debate of "selling out" / by Francis Machingura. Inspiring for liberation - legitimizing for occupation : interpretations of the Exodus from southern Africa / by Stephanie Feder. Politics of feeding: reading John 6 (and 1 Cor 11) as documents of socio-political conflicts / by Joachim Kügler. "If my people ..." a critical analysis of the deployment of 2 Chronicles 7:14 during the Zimbabwean crisis / by Ezra Chitando. Towards a new reading of the bible in africa - spy exegesis / by Canisius Mwandayi. Empowering the poor: the Bible and the poor in informal settlements in Africa with reference to Mangaung, South Africa / Pieter Verster. Section 3: The bible, gender and politics in Africa. The politics of "biblical manhood": a critical study of masculinity politics and biblical hermeneutics in a Zambian pentecostal church / Adriaan S. Van Klinken. The bible as a source of strength among Zimbabwean women during socio-economic and political crises / by Elizabeth Vengeyi. An analysis of the application of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-14: the politics of pentecostalism and women's ministries in Zimbabwe / by Tapiwa Praise Mapuranga.

Although the arrival of the Bible in Africa has often been a tale of terror, the Bible has become an African book. This volume explores the many ways in which Africans have made the Bible their own. The essays in this book offer a glimpse of the rich resources that constitute Africa's engagement with the Bible. Among the topics are: the historical development of biblical interpretation in Africa, the relationship between African biblical scholarship and scholarship in the West, African resources for reading the Bible, the history and role of vernacular translation in particular African contexts, the ambiguity of the Bible in Africa, the power of the Bible as text and symbol, and the intersections between class, race, gender, and culture in African biblical interpretation. The book also contains an extensive bibliography of African biblical scholarship. In fact, it is one of the most comprehensive collections of African biblical scholarship available in print. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

All South Africans are free under the new political dispensation. But there is one enormous problem which makes it impossible for most people in this country to achieve and enjoy a good life. This obstacle is the problem of poverty.