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.

MOLTMANN SPEAKING AT THE ECO-ENVIRONMENTALISTS CONFERENCE: ECOLOGY AND THEOLOGY IN DIALOGUE

This article explains Moltmann’s doctrine of ecology as applied by ecotheologians to address the ecological crisis. Ecotheology is highlighted as a critical role-player in the harmonisation of theology and ecology. The role of ecotheology is defined within the ecological crisis in South Africa. The emergence of ecotheology assists scholars to balance and maintain a stable and theologically sensible mode of stewardship, taking a command from the perichoretical example for us to dwell together with God and creation as partners towards creation fulfilment. Moltmann’s response to ecological abuse is to provide a Trinitarian theology of the environment that encompasses creation, redemption and anthropology. His theology of the environment attempts to widen its eschatological focus by stressing that humanity and the environment are being redeemed in the coming of God’s Kingdom. Moltmann’s trinitarian theology, especially from the perichoretical inter-relationship of the triune God, pneumatological application in creation, and humanity’s pivotal position and role are all elaborated to support ecological understanding. Humanity as imago Dei are encouraged to move from the traditional view of dominating the earth towards that of becoming partners with God in the eschatological replenishment of the earth. Humans need to take a gigantic leap of acquiring knowledge of the trinitarian creation model suggested by Moltmann’s ecological doctrine i.e. God-Creation-Humanity. Human beings must find out what their God-given meaning for the creation is, and when they have done so, their sense of responsibility will be ignited.