Showing papers in "Horizons in Biblical Theology in 2017"

Toward a Dialogic Hermeneutics: Reading Gen. 4:1-16 with Akan Eyes

Abstract: Since the rise of African Biblical Hermeneutics, several different approaches have been developed in order to contextualize the Word within the African continent. However, excessive emphasis on context and culture runs the risk of generating a pseudo-biblical theology, not concretely founded on the Scriptures. Using Gen 4:1-16 as a study case, the article explores a dialogic approach to interpretation, respectful of both the biblical text and the receiving culture. Text and culture are placed “face to face” so that from their dialogue a call to action may arise addressed to the community of believers living in Ghana. After proposing an exegetical analysis of the text, the call to action in the text is brought into dialogue with a specific culture of Ghana (the Akan). With the help of traditional proverbs, the article analyses the assumptions with which the Akan culture encounters the text and the challenges that the text poses to the culture.

The Centurion, Son of God, and Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles: Contesting Narrative and Commemoration with Mark

Abstract: Against a longstanding tradition of ascribing religious conversion to the centurion who witnesses Jesus’s death in Mark 15:39, I argue that his acclamation of Jesus as υἱὸς θeοῦ is better understood within the narrative as the words of a conquered enemy. The centurion’s confession parallels the responses of unclean spirits and Legion, two other vanquished enemies who, in the moment of defeat, see and name Jesus υἱὸς θeοῦ. By framing the centurion as a defeated enemy, Mark contests the meaning of Jesus’s crucifixion: rather than remembering it as a performance of Roman rule, Mark commemorates it as the summary victory of the rule of God. Turning from an ancient capital offender to a contemporary one, I recast the memory of Kelly Gissendaner, who was executed in Georgia in 2015, and attempt to narrate and commemorate her state-sanctioned death in light of the Markan Jesus’s.

The Tower of Babel and Yahweh’s Heavenly Staircase

Abstract: The people of ancient societies and modern times have continually had an unusual fascination for tall structures. In the Hebrew Bible, however, gigantic structures rarely feature in the plotting of its stories. In contrast to this literary norm, the narrator of Genesis places two elevated structures at the center of his story, namely the tower of Babel (Gen 11) and the heavenly staircase at Bethel (Gen 28). In these two locations, the narrator appears to have situated the two structures above all the characters and the architectural landmarks of Genesis. Consequently, the paper engages the theological elevation of these two high-level spots in the creative mapping of Genesis’ subtle representations of human-divine tensions. While past studies have diachronically described the individual significance of these two vertical representations in Genesis, the present paper underscores the intertextual/theological importance of these two elevated structures in the narrative space of Genesis.

“They were Born There”: The Nations in Psalmic Rhetoric

Abstract: The Psalter references other nations or people groups frequently and in richly diverse ways. This article seeks to understand the role and function of these references in ancient Israelite worship. It conducts this study by outlining the diverse roles the nations play in the Psalter, then utilizing rhetorical criticism, it examines their suasive role in the Psalm 2. It argues that the primary function of the nations in the Psalter, despite the various ways in which the nations are depicted, is to help shape Israel’s identity both between itself and YHWH and between itself and the nations.

The Politics of “Invasion” of Greek and the “Demise” of Hebrew of Late Antiquity

Abstract: Colonialism and imperialism have enormous impact on every aspect of human life including languages, which is one of the significant markers of cultural identity. Often the colonial subjects had to face suppression of their languages by imposition of the language of the colonizers. When a language that has never been written down dies, it is as if it never existed. Imperialism or colonialism has always been at the heart of the murder of languages. The “linguistic imperialism” is not a modern phenomenon but it has been a reality throughout the history and all over the globe. The underlying reason for this sabotage is that the more linguistically coherent the society is, the easier it is to control. Take away a person’s language, and one robs them of the ability to express unique cultural concepts. The people in ancient Israel became one of the victims of this language incursion. This paper critically examines the impact of colonialism and imperialism on the gradual decline of Hebrew as spoken language during the Hellenistic period by analyzing the archaeological and epigraphic evidence as examples and illustrates the extent of the impact of “foreign” languages on Hebrew that eventually paved the way for its demise. The study further proves that colonialism and imperialism have been functioning throughout the history in a similar pattern to subjugate the “other,” and to exercise their power and interests over the “other.”