Literary Forms of African Linguistics for the Hermeneutics of the Bible in the Twenty-First Century
Okyeame Hermeneutics
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.26443/jcreor.v6i2.211Mots-clés :
Hermeneutics, Akan Okyeame, African theology, Biblical studies, LinguisticsRésumé
Augustine of Hippo draws on the Hellenistic and Latin hermeneutics of Plato, Plotinus, Porphyry, and Ambrose to couch his interpretation of scripture, and Thomas Aquinas taps into Aristotle’s Hellenistic tropes, thereby contributing a Hellenistic linguistic repertoire to the hermeneutics of the Bible. While the works of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas have enhanced the Western interpretation of the Bible, theological and biblical scholars of African origin have yet to contribute the distinctive richness of African linguistic and literary forms to the hermeneutics of the Bible in the twenty-first century. This article investigates works on African language, thought, and culture by Kwesi Yankah, Ruth H. Finnegan, and Anthonia C. Kalu, to delineate the African literary scope for interpreting and understanding the depth and horizon of the Bible for theology in Africa today. Drawing on Okyeame hermeneutics, this paper argues that African epithets and criteria concerning kingship/chiefdom are just some of the tropes and literary forms that can powerfully – and on an equal level to Western tropes and forms – contribute to a broader horizon for the mainstream hermeneutics of the Bible and the threefold mission of Jesus Christ.
Références
Aboh, Enoch Oladé. The Morphosyntax of Complement-Head Sequences: Clause Structure and Word Order Patterns in Kwa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Adebanwi, Wale. “Religion and Indigenous Hermeneutics.” Journal of Africana Religions 2, no. 4 (2014): 457–464.
Adewuya, Ayodeji J. “Revisiting 1 Corinthians 11:27–34: Paul’s Discussion of the Lord’s Supper and African Meals.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 30, no. 1 (2007): 95–112.
Adjei-Brown, Clement. “A Procedure for Analysis of Contemporary Reception of Biblical Texts in Ghana: A Methodological Consideration.” Journal of the South African Theological Seminary 31, no. 1 (2021): 7–21.
Agboada, Edward. “Ewe Cosmology and Spirituality: Implications for Christianity.” Theology and Biblical Scholarship in Africa 5, no. 6 (2024): 1025–1036.
Agyarko, Owusu Robert. “The Sunsum of Onyame: Akan Perspective on an Ecological Pneumatology.” Journal of Reformed Theology 6 (2012): 251–266.
Agyei, Felix Cornelius, and Jonathan Edwards Tetteh Kuwornu-Adjaotto. “An Examination of ἁμαρτια (sin) in 1 John and the Akan Concept of Bɔne (sin).” Journal of Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics and Theology 5, no. 6 (2023): 95–105.
Aidoo, Mark. “‘I Am Black and Beautiful’: Body-Talk Toward Redefining the Identity of Black Girls Using Contextual Bible Studies on Song of Songs 1.5–17.” Biblical Theology Bulletin 53, no. 2 (2023): 96–109.
Akoto-Abutiate, Dorothy BEA. Proverbs and the African Tree of Life: Grafting the Biblical Proverbs On to the Ghanaian Ewe Folk Proverbs. Boston: Brill, 2014.
Aland, Kurt, Matthew Black, Carlos M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, and Allen Wikgren. The Greek New Testament. New York: United Bible Societies, 1975.
Anameje, Humphrey Chinedu. “Models of Contemporary African Christologies in African Theology.” Journal of Arts, Humanities and Development Studies 7, no. 1 (2023): 55–63.
Andrews, James A. Hermeneutics and the Church. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012.
Appiah-Kubi, Kofi. “Indigenous African Christian Theologies.” In African Theology en Route, edited by Kofi Appiah-Kubi and Sergio Torres, 117–121. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1979.
Augustine. Confessions. Translated by Henry Chardwick. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Augustine. On Christian Doctrine. Translated by D. W. Robertson Jr. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing, 1958.
Bediako, Kwame. “Biblical Christologies in the Context of African Traditional Religions.” In Sharing Jesus in the Two Thirds World, edited by Samuel Vinay and Chris Sugden, 115–175. Bangalore: Partnership in Mission Asia, 1984.
Bediako, Kwame. Jesus in Africa: The Christian Gospel in African History and Experience. Nairobi: Kenya Regnum Books, 2000.
Bediako, Kwame. Jesus and the Gospel in Africa: History and Experience. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004.
Boaheng, Isaac. “An Akan Reading of Matthew’s Version of the Lord’s Prayer (Bono-Twi Translation) in Dialogue with Akan Libation Prayers,” African Journal of Religion, Philosophy and Culture 2, no. 1 (2021): 41–64.
Bujo, Bénézet. African Theology in Its Social Context. Nairobi: St. Paul’s Publications-Africa, 1992.
Dickson, Kwesi A. “Development of African Theologies.” Mission Studies 1, no. 1 (1984): 53–61.
Dube, Musa, ed. The Bible in Africa: Transactions, Trajectories, and Trends. Leiden: Brill, 2000.
Eden, Kathy. “The Rhetorical Tradition and Augustinian Hermeneutics in De Doctrina Christiana.” Rhetorica: Journal of the History of Rhetoric 8, no. 1 (1990): 45–63.
Ennin Antwi, Emmanuel K., Isaac Forson Adjei, and Joseph K. Asuming. “Understanding Wisdom in the Old Testament through its Akan (Ghana) Parallels: Linkages and Disconnections.” Old Testament Essays 33, no.3 (2020): 408–427.
Ephirim-Donkor A., “The Ultimate Mediumship Experience among the Akan,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 76, no. 1 (2008): 54–81.
Finnegan, H. Ruth. The Oral and Beyond: Doing Things with Words in Africa. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Finnegan, H. Ruth. Oral literature in Africa. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2012.
Gatti, Nicoletta. “Toward a Dialogic Hermeneutics: Reading Genesis 4:1–16 with Akan Eyes.” Horizons in Biblical Theology 39, no. 1 (2017): 46–67.
Gharbin, Godibert K., and Ernest van Eck, “Redefining Love: Engaging the Johannine and Akan Concept of Love through Dialogic Hermeneutics.” HTS Teologiese/Theological Studies 79, no. 4 (2023): 1–6.
Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
Gold, Annie O. “The Kingdom Life in Matthew 5–7: An African Perspective.” Ogbomoso Journal of Theology XII (2007): 136–150.
Grant, Glen Paul. Healing and Power in Ghana: Early Indigenous Expressions of Christianity. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2020.
Gyekye, Kwame. An Essay on African Philosophical Thought: The Akan Conceptual Scheme. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Hagner, Donald A. “Matthew 1–13.” World Biblical Commentary 33A. Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1993.
Harmless, William. Augustine in His Own Words. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2010.
Harvey, Marcus. “Medial Deities and Relational Meanings: Tracing Elements of an Akan Grammar of Knowing.” Journal of Africana Religions 3, no. 4 (2015): 397–441.
Heine, Bernd, and Derek Nurse (eds). African Languages: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Holter, Knut. Old Testament Research for Africa: A Critical Analysis and Annotated Bibliography of African Old Testament Dissertations, 1967–2000. New York: Peter Lang, 2002.
Kabasele, François Lumbala. “Christ as Chief.” In Faces of Jesus in Africa, edited by R. J. Schreiter, 103–115. New York: Orbis Books, 1991.
Kabasele, François Lumbala. “Christ as Ancestor and Elder Brother.” In Faces of Jesus in Africa, edited by R. J. Schreiter, 116–227. New York: Orbis Books, 1991.
Kalu, Anthonia C. “African Literature and the Traditional Arts: Speaking Art, Molding Theory.” Research in African Literatures 31, no. 4 (2000): 48–62.
Kissi, Seth, and Ernest van Eck. “Reading Hebrews through Akan Ethnicity and Social Identity.” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 73, no. 3 (2017): 44–90.
Mackay, Peter M. “The Coming Revolution: The New Literary Approach to New Testament Interpretation.” In A Guide to Contemporary Hermeneutics: Major Trends in Biblical Interpretation, edited by D. K. McKim, 263–279. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986.
Marevesa, Tobias, Nyasha Madzokere, Lovemore Togarasei, and Billy Mayer, eds. Contemporary African Perspectives on the Bible. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024.
Mbiti, John S. New Testament Eschatology in an African Background: A Study of the Encounter between New Testament Theology and African Traditional Concepts. London: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Mbuvi, Andrew M. “African Biblical Studies: An Introduction to an Emerging Discipline.” Currents in Biblical Research 15, no. 2 (2017): 149–178.
Mbuvi, Andrew M. African Biblical Studies: Unmasking Embedded Racism and Colonialism in Biblical Studies. New York: T&T Clark, 2023.
Mojola, Aloo O. “African Hermeneutics in a State of Flux – Towards Refocusing its Trajectory.” Verbum et Ecclesia 43, no. 1 (2022): 1–8.
Nketia, Joseph Hanson Kwabena. “Akan Poetry.” Black Orpheus 3 (1958): 5–27.
Nthamburi, Zablon, and Douglas Waruta. “Biblical Hermeneutics in African Instituted Churches.” In The Bible in African Christianity, edited by H. W. Kinoti and J. M. Waliggo, 40–57. Nairobi: Acton, 2000.
Nyador, Mawuli. “Ewe Christology: The Sonship of Christ in Hebrews 1:1–4 from an Ewe Perspective.” Journal of Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics and Theology 4, no. 2 (2022): 16–29.
Nyamiti, Charles. “African Christologies Today.” In Jesus in African Christianity: Experimentation and Diversity in African Christology, edited by J. N. K. Mugambi and Laurenti Magesa, 3–23. Nairobi: Initiatives Ltd., 1991.
Nyamiti, Charles. Christ as Our Ancestor: Christology from an African Perspective. Gweru, ZW: Mambo Press, 1984.
Obeng, Pashington J. Asante. Catholicism: Religious and Cultural Reproduction Among the Akan of Ghana. Leiden: Brill, 1996.
Okure, Teresa. The Johannine Approach to Mission: A Contextual Study of John 4:1–42. Tübingen: Mohr, 1988.
Osei Akoto, Richard. “Mother Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics within the Context of African Biblical Hermeneutics: Its Origin, Trends and Challenges.” Journal of Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics and Theology 6, no. 3 (2024): 19–34.
Pobee, John S. Toward an African Theology. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1979.
Pozdniakov, Konstantin. The Numeral System of Proto-Niger-Congo: A Step-by-Step Reconstruction. Berlin, DE: Language Science Press, 2018.
Prügl, Thomas. “Thomas Aquinas as Interpreter of Scripture.” In The Theology of Thomas Aquinas, edited by Rik Van Nieuwennhove and Joseph Wawrykow, 386–415. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005.
Rosini, Amanda. “Revisiting the Role and Influence of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the Conception and Development of the Core Legal Code Deuteronomy.” PhD diss., McGill University, 2023.
Sakitey, Daniel. “Πάτερ, ημων ο εν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς (Mt 6:9a): Reading the Lord’s Prayer with Insight from Ewe
Cosmology.” Theological Studies 78, no. 3 (2022): 1–6.
Sakitey, Daniel, and Ernest van Eck. “Jesus and the Angels: A Comparative Reading of Hebrews 1:1–4 in Light of Ewe Cosmology.” Theological Studies 80, no. 2 (2024): 1–6.
Sakitey, Daniel, and Ernest van Eck. “The Logos Christology in the Fourth Gospel (Jn 1:1–5, 14): A Soteriological Response to an Ewe Cosmic Prayer.” Theological Studies 79, no. 4 (2023): 1–6.
Togarasei, Lovemore. “Conclusion: The Past and Future of African Scholars’ Contribution to Biblical Interpretation.” In Contemporary African Perspectives on the Bible, edited by Tobias Marevesa, Nyasha Madzokere, Lovemore Togarasei, and Billy Mayer, 375–393. Cham, CH: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024.
Torrell, Jean-Pierre. Christ and Spirituality in St. Thomas Aquinas. Translated by Bernhard Blankenhorn. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011.
Ukpong, Justin S. “New Testament Hermeneutics in Africa: Challenges and Possibilities.” Neotestamentica 35, no. 1–2 (2001): 147–167. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC83086.
Ukpong, Justin S. “Rereading the Bible with African Eyes: Inculturation and Hermeneutics.” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 91 (1995): 3–14.
Ukpong, Justin S. “The Parable of the Shrewd Manager (Luke 16:1–13): An Essay in Inculturation Biblical Hermeneutic.” Semeia 73 (1996): 189–210.
Vaught, Carl G. Access to God in Augustine’s Confessions. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2005.
Walke, A. Roslyn. The Power of Gold: Asante Royal Regalia from Ghana. Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 2018.
West, Gerald O. “On the Eve of African Biblical Studies: Trajectories and Trends.” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 99 (1997): 99–115.
West, Gerald O. “Twice Called, Thrice Rebuked: Doing African Biblical Scholarship.” Journal of Biblical Literature 134 (2015): 850–854.
Yankah, Kwesi. Speaking for the Chief: Okyeame and the Politics of Akan Royal Oratory. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1995.
Zondervan Bible Publishers. The Holy Bible: New International Version, Containing the Old Testament and the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1996.
Téléchargements
Publié-e
Comment citer
Numéro
Rubrique
Licence
(c) Tous droits réservés Paul Anyidoho 2025
Cette œuvre est sous licence Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de Modification 4.0 International.
