Abstract

WIELENGA, B.. Bible reading in Africa: The shaping of a reformed perspective. In Skriflig (Online) [online]. 2010, vol.44, n.3-4, pp.699-722. ISSN 2305-0853.

In this article I try to develop a reformed perspective on Bible reading in Africa by ordinary readers. I explore the concept of ordinary readers in the context of recent hermeneutical discussions, and of the differences between their mode of reading and that of biblical scholars against the background of the reality of the oral or semi-literate cultures of Africa. A reformed perspective, with its emphasis on the church as locus for Bible reading under the operation of the Holy Spirit, opens up a way forward out of the dilemma between ordinary and professional Bible reading. A reformed perspective can also clear the way for a gender-sensitive reading of the Bible in a continent where most Bible readers are women. This requires from those who read the Bible together an attitude of humility.

Keywords : Ordinary Bible readers; professional Bible readers; Bible reading together; ecclesiology; gender sensitive; pneumatology; spirituality.

        · abstract in Afrikaans     · text in English     · English ( pdf )