THE (IR)RELEVANCE OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP? A CHALLENGE, AND AN OPPORTUNITY

Has biblical scholarship become irrelevant to modern secular societies? Are the threats to the viability of biblical scholarship of the same nature as the threats to other areas of the humanities (history, philosophy, literature), or is there a qualitative difference? What about the role of technology in biblical research and biblical education? What is the future of the institutions of biblical scholarship such as universities, seminaries, journals, and academic presses? What is the role of biblical scholars in secular and post-secular societies, as contrasted with scholars in/from emerging communities? This essay argues that the problem of “validation” lies at the heart of biblical scholarship’s irrelevancy within the broader secularity of modern world and that this problem is even more evident in the scholarly discourse coming from regions like Eastern Europe and South Africa. However, the loss of authority of biblical scholarship more generally represents an opportunity for these communities. Rather than becoming enamoured of validation from the North Atlantic world, Bible-reading communities must cultivate their own forms of validation based in their unique histories with the Bible, and the affinities between their own histories/cultures and the cultures that produced the Old and New Testament texts.

CROSSING BOUNDARIES. THE TRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIAL OF INTERCULTURAL BIBLE READING IN SECULAR / POST-SECULAR CONTEXTS

Intercultural biblical hermeneutics is a fairly recent development in biblical scholarship in general. It emphasises that biblical interpretation almost always takes place in contexts where an array of cultural values and beliefs determine the outcome of the interpretative process. Although this branch of biblical hermeneutics emerged from the need to reflect theoretically on how Christians from different socio-cultural and socio-economic contexts engage the biblical texts, and one another on account of those texts, this approach may also be widened to include the interpretation of the Bible in non-Christian contexts (including the contexts of other religions and secular contexts) or even to engage in discourse on the interpretation of authoritative texts of different traditions (such as the Qur’an in Islam, in addition to the Tenakh of Judaism, and the Old and New Testament of Christianity). In research on intercultural biblical hermeneutics, it has been noticed that intercultural interpretation holds enormous transformative potential. My paper will examine how this could be of use in engagements between religious, secular and post-secular contexts.

LAW AND FAITH IN ANCIENT ISRAEL AND IN MODERN DEMOCRATIC STATEHOOD AS SEARCH FOR SOCIO-POLITICAL WELLBEING

In this contribution, the argument pits two cultural reflexes against one another. In modern democracies, religion is removed from the socio-political sphere; in ancient Israel, religion was inserted into the socio-political sphere. In both cases, the intention was the same: the socio-political wellbeing of the citizenry. Such a cultural comparison puts to question the false assumption in modern democracies, that a public sphere emptied of religion constitutes greater freedom.

AN EXODUS (2:11-22) BEFORE EXODUS (6:2F): RENDERING OF TWO EVENTS IN EARLY BIBLICAL VERSIONS (MT AND ARABIC), COMPARED WITH THE QUR’ANIC (SURAH 28:14F) ACCOUNT

Exodus is the Latinised form of the Greek word, exodos (going out). Two departures of Moses are reported in the Bible. They are firstl,y his fleeing from Egypt described in Exodus 2:11-22, and secondly, his departure as member of a mass exodus (Ex. 6:2f). The focus in the article will be on the events leading to his initial leaving of Egypt, and his eventual sojourn in the country of Midian (Ex. 2:11-22). However, it will be shown that certain expressions in Ex. 2:11-22 also feature in the later description of the exodus proper (e.g., Exodus 18 and Numbers 20). Furthermore, parallels will be drawn between the narrations of events in Ex. 2:11-22 and the Qur’anic surah 28:14-28. Similarities will be pointed out, but also differences relating to the imbedding, structure, and theology of the respective accounts. Finally, affinities between the Biblical exodus of Moses and the later hijra of Muhammad will be indicated. As source text for Ex. 3:11-22, the Masoretic version (Leningrad manuscript) will be used. In addition, reference will be made to two 13th century Arabic manuscripts (Sinai Arab 2 and 4) where there is a direct correspondence between their readings and those of the 7th century Qur’anic Arabic text (e.g., Ex. 2:17 and surah 28:24).