South African perspectives on the communication of the Bible in Church and society

Abstract

Please note: This degree was awarded by the North-West University. Permission was granted to archive it in this database for teaching purposes Over the past eight years I have been engaged in researching the way in which the Bible has been brought to bear on a number of frameworks within the South African socio-historical context. It is of course not at all surprising that the Bible would become a part of the dialogues of the church; the Bible remains the source of the Christian identity of the churches in South Africa in a very particular way. Nor is it really unexpected that the Bible would be influential in discussions on broader societal issues in South Africa. With ± 80% of the South African populace subscribing to the Christian faith, and with the most prominent strands of Christianity found in South Africa making so much of the role of the Bible in their lives of faith, it would be perplexing if the Bible had indeed not been a major feature in these debates. The Bible spoke and speaks to church and country in South Africa. Put differently, as a phenomenological formulation: the Bible is brought to speech, that is, is brought to communication within the closer ecclesiological precincts as well as the broader socio-political environment of South Africa, precisely because of the particular religious configurations that characterise church and culture locally. The following could be posed as a general research question, albeit retroactively, as running centrally through all the research essays under review here: How was the Bible brought to communication within different spheres of the South African society? A total of nine publications are listed below, although in fact they represent seven research outputs. Note, thus, that number 5 below is a re-publication in somewhat altered form of number 9, and number 6 is, similarly, a re-publication of number 8. In both these cases the research was first published as chapters in books, and was then re-published in article format. The publications are listed in reverse chronological order, that is, starting with the most recent publication: <li> “The Old Testament in Christian spirituality: perspectives on the undervaluation of the Old Testament in Christian spirituality”. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 59/2, June 2003, pp 433-450.</li> <li> “Elke vertaling is ‘n vertelling. Opmerkings oor vertaalteorie, geïllustreer aan die hand van die chokmatiese ratio interpretationis”. Old Testament Essays. 15/3, December 2002, pp 754-765. </li> <li> “The Bible in the apartheid debate”, in Hofmeyr, JW, Lombaard, CJS&Maritz, PJ (eds) 2001: 1948 + 50 years. Theology, apartheid and church: Past, present and future (Perspectives on the Church / Perspektiewe op die Kerk, Series 5: Vol. 1), pp 69-87. Pretoria: IMER (Institute for Missiological and Ecumenical Research), University of Pretoria. </li> <li> “The left governing hand and the right governing hand: begging for a church without public hands?” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 109 (March 2001), pp 17-24. (From paper read at 2000 conference of the Southern African Society for Biblical and Religious Studies). </li> <li> “ ‘n Woord vir ons wêreld. Kontekstuele prediking met behulp van kommentaarjoernalistiek”. Praktiese Teologie in Suid-Afrika 16(1), 2001, pp 19-39. </li> <li> “The Bible and ecumenism”. Ekklesiastikos Pharos 83/1&2 (2001; New Series 12), pp 149-160. </li> <li> “Oortuiging” en prediking - woordspel op ‘n “hartsaak”. Skrif en Kerk 21 (3, 2000), pp 607-620. (Paper read at the 1999 Lewende Woorde sermon seminar, Dept. Greek&Latin Studies, R.A.U.) .</li> <li> “Ecumenism and the Bible”, in Lombaard, C (ed.) 1999. Essays and exercises in ecumenism, pp 26-41 (29 contributors). Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications. </li> <li> “ ‘n Woord vir ons wêreld: Kontekstuele prediking met behulp van kommentaarjoernalistiek”, in Lombaard, C (red.) 1999. "...in die wêreld..." Vyf bydraes tot kontekstuele prediking, pp 22-46. Johannesburg: Lewende Woorde. </li> These are the publications taken into consideration for the PhD in Communication Studies (specific discipline: Religious Communication) based on research publications.