The Vocation of an African biblical scholar on the margins of biblical scholarship
Year: 2006
Type: article
Abstract: African biblical scholarship has achieved a substantial self-consciousness consciousness
as a discipline on the African continent, and yet there
has been little explicit reflection on the vocation of the African
biblical scholar. This article situates itself among the many currents
that might be said to characterise African biblical scholarship,
examining how each of these currents makes particular demands on
the African biblical scholar. Adopting a somewhat autobiographical
stance, but risking also generalisations, the article reflects on the
vocation of an African biblical scholar. Recognising the particular
socio-historical contexts of South African biblical scholarship, the
article begins with the story of a white male English-speaking South
African biblical scholar situating himself within the broader South
African and African scholarly terrain. From this specific social
location, the article broadens out to examine the theoretical frames
that shape the vocation of the African biblical scholar, to interrogate
the accountability the African biblical scholar has to his / her local
community and the responsibility she / he has towards the discipline of
biblical studies, to analyse the relationship between criticality and
faith, and to reflect on how all of this impacts on the pedagogy of the
African biblical scholar.
Source: Old Testament Essays
Author: Gerald West
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $271
OpenAlex ID: W2287388500