Reading the Bible in a cross cultural (South) African context

Abstract

The Bible is regarded as an authoritative book in Africa, which should inform and guide Christians on grass roots level in relation to their every day lives. This poses the question of how Africans would use the Bible in their context. The status quo is that it is read and used in many ways. In this article a hermeneutic of relevance is suggested where both the context of the Bible and that of the reader are taken seriously. It is suggested that through building analogous bridges between these two contexts a dialogue is stimulated that would eventually lead to the integration of Biblical material into the every day life situations of the African readers.