Abstract

VAN DEVENTER, Hans. Did someone say 'history'? In Africa we say 'His story'! A study in African biblical hermeneutics with reference to the book of Daniel. Old testam. essays [online]. 2008, vol.21, n.3, pp.713-728. ISSN 2312-3621.

This article tries to make a contribution related to the issue of what constitutes an African approach to the biblical text. While considering previous contributions in this respect it wants to draw attention to the promises hold by an epistemic framework that manifests among others in myths and oral tradition. From these an outline can be established to serve on the one hand as criterion for an approach claiming to be African, and on the other hand to be utilised in synthesising 'traditional' and 'modern' modes of understanding. In this article attention is limited to the first aspect when a contribution to a recent commentary is evaluated against this criterion. It is indicated that the contribution fails to exhibit an African approach because it is informed by an outdated form of modern (Western) epistemology. A further suggestion that this article makes is that when it comes to a practical application of what is proposed here only in theory, a literary approach to the text seems to be a more fruitful point of departure than a historical approach.

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