The goal of this article is to draw on some of the latest insights in biblical studies on the challenges posed to the reflection, transmission, and reception of the Bible with relevance to a post-apartheid South African context. The author engages with prominent figures in the field of Biblical Studies and critical race theory such as David Horrell, in order to address the issue of whiteness and its impact on marginalisation. The aim is to foster a deeper understanding of the ways in which certain voices have been rendered invisible and to continue to question and challenge these dynamics. This paper delves into the interpretation of the Bible in Africa, using the perspectives of scholars such as Thomas Wartenberg in conjunction with the ideas of Charles W. Mills, W. Jennings, R. Ellison, and Steven Biko, as well as other notable figures, to criticallyreflect on the role of biblical scholarship in the process of restoring historically marginalised voices within the contextof past injustices.
{"title":"Confronting the cataracts of whiteness to see the invisible: reflections on the transmission and reception of the Bible in post-apartheid South Africa","authors":"J. J.KokProf., Evangelische Kok","doi":"10.38140/at.vi.7025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38140/at.vi.7025","url":null,"abstract":"The goal of this article is to draw on some of the latest insights in biblical studies on the challenges posed to the reflection, transmission, and reception of the Bible with relevance to a post-apartheid South African context. The author engages with prominent figures in the field of Biblical Studies and critical race theory such as David Horrell, in order to address the issue of whiteness and its impact on marginalisation. The aim is to foster a deeper understanding of the ways in which certain voices have been rendered invisible and to continue to question and challenge these dynamics. This paper delves into the interpretation of the Bible in Africa, using the perspectives of scholars such as Thomas Wartenberg in conjunction with the ideas of Charles W. Mills, W. Jennings, R. Ellison, and Steven Biko, as well as other notable figures, to criticallyreflect on the role of biblical scholarship in the process of restoring historically marginalised voices within the contextof past injustices.","PeriodicalId":39489,"journal":{"name":"Acta Theologica","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139198107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Presidential or royal pardon is an age-long practice in precolonial Africa as well as in biblical times. This practice has never been without criticisms because of how, and on whom the pardon is granted. The trial of Jesus has been vastly studied within an African theo-interpretive model. However, the demand for the release of Barabbas rather than Jesus has not been adequately studied in a contextual or comparative theo-political manner in Africa. This is the thrust of this article. Using the desktop method, the article argues that presidential pardon granted to convicted criminals who are not allowed to serve judicial punishment is a stimulant for inveterate corruption in the polity. The theoretical argument of this article is that many African political leaders often resort to this kind of pardon that has adversely affected the polity. The significance of this is that this behaviour emboldens political leaders to continue to corrupt the system with dire consequences for the people.
{"title":"An Afro-Christian contextual analysis of presidential pardon in post-colonial African politics","authors":"Prof. B.O. Igboin","doi":"10.38140/at.vi.7027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38140/at.vi.7027","url":null,"abstract":"Presidential or royal pardon is an age-long practice in precolonial Africa as well as in biblical times. This practice has never been without criticisms because of how, and on whom the pardon is granted. The trial of Jesus has been vastly studied within an African theo-interpretive model. However, the demand for the release of Barabbas rather than Jesus has not been adequately studied in a contextual or comparative theo-political manner in Africa. This is the thrust of this article. Using the desktop method, the article argues that presidential pardon granted to convicted criminals who are not allowed to serve judicial punishment is a stimulant for inveterate corruption in the polity. The theoretical argument of this article is that many African political leaders often resort to this kind of pardon that has adversely affected the polity. The significance of this is that this behaviour emboldens political leaders to continue to corrupt the system with dire consequences for the people.","PeriodicalId":39489,"journal":{"name":"Acta Theologica","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139201194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
African biblical scholars have long advocated a shift in existing exegetical and hermeneutical approaches. The reasons include not simply the inadequacy of these approaches in dealing with the existential questions of contemporary African societies, but also their lack of effectiveness in transmitting the results of the exegetical process to receptor cultures in Africa, partly to be blamed on their colonialist legacy. One pathway to resolving the above challenge, which remains insufficiently explored, is to engage in a dialogue between the biblical text and African indigenous sacred texts. This paper, using a dialogical approach of African biblical hermeneutics, brings Psalm 137 into dialogue with the Adinkra amammere (tradition), an indigenous text of the Akan of Ghana. It argues that reading these texts together uncovers their complementary views on the preservation and transmission of sacred discourse and could facilitate reception of the biblical message in contemporary Ghanian society.
{"title":"“If I forget you Jerusalem” (Ps. 137:4). The Transmission of Sacred Discourse in the Bible and in African Indigenous Sacred Texts","authors":"M. K. Mensah","doi":"10.38140/at.vi.7026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38140/at.vi.7026","url":null,"abstract":"African biblical scholars have long advocated a shift in existing exegetical and hermeneutical approaches. The reasons include not simply the inadequacy of these approaches in dealing with the existential questions of contemporary African societies, but also their lack of effectiveness in transmitting the results of the exegetical process to receptor cultures in Africa, partly to be blamed on their colonialist legacy. One pathway to resolving the above challenge, which remains insufficiently explored, is to engage in a dialogue between the biblical text and African indigenous sacred texts. This paper, using a dialogical approach of African biblical hermeneutics, brings Psalm 137 into dialogue with the Adinkra amammere (tradition), an indigenous text of the Akan of Ghana. It argues that reading these texts together uncovers their complementary views on the preservation and transmission of sacred discourse and could facilitate reception of the biblical message in contemporary Ghanian society.","PeriodicalId":39489,"journal":{"name":"Acta Theologica","volume":" 46","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139197960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Bible was a new phenomenon among African cultures that treasure the oral traditions governing their moral and spiritual life. Many African communities were reluctant to welcome the biblical discourse because it not only disagreed with traditonal African religious practices, but it was also imposed on them by foreigners laden with negative political motives. This article examines the difficulty of distinguishing between the coloniser and the missionary as an initial conflict in biblical reception among the Agikuyu of Central Kenya. The article analyses how the missionaries inculcated the biblical message and how the Agikuyu gradually shifted from their initial belief that "there is no difference between a White coloniser and a White missionary" to a friendly relationship with missionaries and acceptance of Christianity. To explore these dynamics, the article employs witness accounts from African scholars, intertextual analysis of texts regarding Agikuyu because of the initial challenge of distinguishing British colonialists from missionaries. The results will contribute to understanding the dynamics of conflict in the reception of the biblical discourse and the reception of people by others in the world nowadays.
{"title":"The coloniser or the missionary? Identity crisis as a conflict in Biblical reception among the Agikuyu of Central Kenya","authors":"R. Muya, PhD. student Rev. R.M. Muya","doi":"10.38140/at.vi.7031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38140/at.vi.7031","url":null,"abstract":"The Bible was a new phenomenon among African cultures that treasure the oral traditions governing their moral and spiritual life. Many African communities were reluctant to welcome the biblical discourse because it not only disagreed with traditonal African religious practices, but it was also imposed on them by foreigners laden with negative political motives. This article examines the difficulty of distinguishing between the coloniser and the missionary as an initial conflict in biblical reception among the Agikuyu of Central Kenya. The article analyses how the missionaries inculcated the biblical message and how the Agikuyu gradually shifted from their initial belief that \"there is no difference between a White coloniser and a White missionary\" to a friendly relationship with missionaries and acceptance of Christianity. To explore these dynamics, the article employs witness accounts from African scholars, intertextual analysis of texts regarding Agikuyu because of the initial challenge of distinguishing British colonialists from missionaries. The results will contribute to understanding the dynamics of conflict in the reception of the biblical discourse and the reception of people by others in the world nowadays.","PeriodicalId":39489,"journal":{"name":"Acta Theologica","volume":"256 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139203357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The African world view is not monolithic or homogeneous. However, that being the case, there is a strong metaphysicaland existential leaning in terms of Spirit and the world. The Spirit is the medium whereby revelation occurs for all ofcreation. African indigenous knowledge as episteme and Black liberation theology as a paradigm have something to teach outside Western dualism about the revelation of God not being linear in form. The methodological aspect of this research is a literature study aimed at discussing transmission and reception of biblical discourse in Africa by viewing differently the subject of God’s revelation from a variety of sources. The article seeks to argue that indigenous knowledge and, from the Black liberation paradigm, conceptions of God reveal a God with a social existence in contrast to a Western God who abdicates creation when the majority of creation and her creatures are oppressed by White supremacy.
{"title":"The revelation of God: How and to whom does God reveals God self to?","authors":"Dr. H. Mdingi","doi":"10.38140/at.vi.7297","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38140/at.vi.7297","url":null,"abstract":"The African world view is not monolithic or homogeneous. However, that being the case, there is a strong metaphysicaland existential leaning in terms of Spirit and the world. The Spirit is the medium whereby revelation occurs for all ofcreation. African indigenous knowledge as episteme and Black liberation theology as a paradigm have something to teach outside Western dualism about the revelation of God not being linear in form. The methodological aspect of this research is a literature study aimed at discussing transmission and reception of biblical discourse in Africa by viewing differently the subject of God’s revelation from a variety of sources. The article seeks to argue that indigenous knowledge and, from the Black liberation paradigm, conceptions of God reveal a God with a social existence in contrast to a Western God who abdicates creation when the majority of creation and her creatures are oppressed by White supremacy.","PeriodicalId":39489,"journal":{"name":"Acta Theologica","volume":"45 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139207000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The article poses the following question: how is queerness implicated in the Book of Jonah? Queerness is viewed more in the light of politics than identity, defining the term more in relation to power and the questioning of power than in the light of gender and sexuality. A decolonial turn is incorporated into Queer Hermeneutics. After a brief presentation of the story, the article looks at specific points of departure involved in the reading of the book: a double ethics of interpretation, vulnerability, and an implicated subject. With these in mind, the question about queerness in the Book of Jonah is discussed. The essay concludes that the spectacle of the conversion of the Ninevites constitutes a drag performance whilst Jonah’s watching of this drag performance queers himself in as much as he suffers the heat and wind while remaining silent. The article poses the following question: How is queerness implicated in the Book of Jonah? Queerness is viewed more in light of politics than identity, defining the term more in relation to power and the questioning of power than in light of gender and sexuality. A decolonial turn is incorporated into Queer Hermeneutics. After a brief presentation of the story, the article examines specific points of departure involved in the reading of the book, namely a double ethics of interpretation, vulnerability, and an implicated subject. With these in mind, the question about queerness in the Book of Jonah is discussed. The article concludes that the spectacle of the conversion of the Ninevites constitutes a drag performance, whereas Jonah’s watching of this dragperformance queers himself in as much as he suffers the heat and wind while remaining silent.
{"title":"Acting queerly: Jonah as the implicated subject and vulnerability","authors":"G. F. S. P. G.F, Professor Snyman","doi":"10.38140/at.vi.5266","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38140/at.vi.5266","url":null,"abstract":"The article poses the following question: how is queerness implicated in the Book of Jonah? Queerness is viewed more in the light of politics than identity, defining the term more in relation to power and the questioning of power than in the light of gender and sexuality. A decolonial turn is incorporated into Queer Hermeneutics. After a brief presentation of the story, the article looks at specific points of departure involved in the reading of the book: a double ethics of interpretation, vulnerability, and an implicated subject. With these in mind, the question about queerness in the Book of Jonah is discussed. The essay concludes that the spectacle of the conversion of the Ninevites constitutes a drag performance whilst Jonah’s watching of this drag performance queers himself in as much as he suffers the heat and wind while remaining silent. The article poses the following question: How is queerness implicated in the Book of Jonah? Queerness is viewed more in light of politics than identity, defining the term more in relation to power and the questioning of power than in light of gender and sexuality. A decolonial turn is incorporated into Queer Hermeneutics. After a brief presentation of the story, the article examines specific points of departure involved in the reading of the book, namely a double ethics of interpretation, vulnerability, and an implicated subject. With these in mind, the question about queerness in the Book of Jonah is discussed. The article concludes that the spectacle of the conversion of the Ninevites constitutes a drag performance, whereas Jonah’s watching of this dragperformance queers himself in as much as he suffers the heat and wind while remaining silent.","PeriodicalId":39489,"journal":{"name":"Acta Theologica","volume":"64 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139200675","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Western missionaries and colonialists pushed a similar agenda of subjugating the receptor’s core aspects of life. Among their targets were aspects of culture, religion, gender, and sexuality. This trend continues in the contemporary era within different global spaces. In Africa, the Americas, and Asia, missionaries promulgated colonial ideologies through the transmission and reception of biblical discourses. This was done under the guise of civilisation, Christianisation, and evangelisation of Africans who were and are still perceived and portrayed as primitive, savages, and pagans. This article argues that biblical resources served as modalities of power in the colonial subjugation agenda. The article uses the transmission and reception of biblical discourses as lenses for examining how coloniality targeted these aspects. The de-colonial motif was used to problematise these discourses. On the other hand, Foucault’s perspective on discourses andpower shed some light on how colonial power dynamics were at play in this context. A clarion call was then made to shift Christianity’s centre of power from the Northern continents to the South.
{"title":"Biblical discourses and the subjugation of Africa: A Decolonial-Foucauldian perspective","authors":"Dr. T. Shingange, Africa Afrika, Power Mag","doi":"10.38140/at.vi.7015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38140/at.vi.7015","url":null,"abstract":"The Western missionaries and colonialists pushed a similar agenda of subjugating the receptor’s core aspects of life. Among their targets were aspects of culture, religion, gender, and sexuality. This trend continues in the contemporary era within different global spaces. In Africa, the Americas, and Asia, missionaries promulgated colonial ideologies through the transmission and reception of biblical discourses. This was done under the guise of civilisation, Christianisation, and evangelisation of Africans who were and are still perceived and portrayed as primitive, savages, and pagans. This article argues that biblical resources served as modalities of power in the colonial subjugation agenda. The article uses the transmission and reception of biblical discourses as lenses for examining how coloniality targeted these aspects. The de-colonial motif was used to problematise these discourses. On the other hand, Foucault’s perspective on discourses andpower shed some light on how colonial power dynamics were at play in this context. A clarion call was then made to shift Christianity’s centre of power from the Northern continents to the South.","PeriodicalId":39489,"journal":{"name":"Acta Theologica","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139208484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Setswana language is one of the Southern African languages that was “reduced” into a written language through the translation of Christian literature by the London Missionary Society. The introduction of the Setswana spelling book in 1826 epitomised the vernacularisation and standardisation of Setswana. In 1826, Robert Moffat also translated the first Setswana catechism. Rev. William Brown’s Catechism served as a source text. He also added the third chapter of the Gospel of John and the Lord’s Prayer. This paper focuses on the second section of the 1826 Setswana catechism, namely the third chapter of John’s Gospel. It is argued that translation does not happen in a vacuum; rather, it also has the ideological intentions of the translator. Through the translated texts, Moffat performs a technology of power by eroding, dislocating, and disassociating the Batswana from their epistemic and spiritual heritage. The paper applies a decolonial lens to analyse the theme of conversion (metanoia) in the Gospel of John, as translated by Moffat.
{"title":"A decolonial reading of the Third Chapter of the Gospel of John in Moffat’s Translation of the Catechism into Setswana (1826)","authors":"Prof. I.D. Mothoagae","doi":"10.38140/at.vi.7752","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38140/at.vi.7752","url":null,"abstract":"The Setswana language is one of the Southern African languages that was “reduced” into a written language through the translation of Christian literature by the London Missionary Society. The introduction of the Setswana spelling book in 1826 epitomised the vernacularisation and standardisation of Setswana. In 1826, Robert Moffat also translated the first Setswana catechism. Rev. William Brown’s Catechism served as a source text. He also added the third chapter of the Gospel of John and the Lord’s Prayer. This paper focuses on the second section of the 1826 Setswana catechism, namely the third chapter of John’s Gospel. It is argued that translation does not happen in a vacuum; rather, it also has the ideological intentions of the translator. Through the translated texts, Moffat performs a technology of power by eroding, dislocating, and disassociating the Batswana from their epistemic and spiritual heritage. The paper applies a decolonial lens to analyse the theme of conversion (metanoia) in the Gospel of John, as translated by Moffat.","PeriodicalId":39489,"journal":{"name":"Acta Theologica","volume":"140 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139203835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Bible has been conceived and received as a neutral book, as the Word of God, or as containing the Word of God. This understanding and perception enabled missionaries to interpret the Bible in such a way that it disadvantaged and oppressed the “converts”. It should be clear that theology is a form of rational discourse, with consequences for the recipient. As a result, the Bible has destroyed the sociocultural world of Africa. The article aims to narrow down the discussion and focus on the issue of polygamy in the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA). The Church Order is used as a point of argument to clarify the URCSA’s position. The article argues that the unsuspicious reception of the Bible in Africa and the “interpretation” by missionarieshas created a cultural bipolarity for African Christians and demonised polygamy.
{"title":"Unsuspicious reception of Biblical discourse in Africa and its implications for polygamy","authors":"B. Senokoane","doi":"10.38140/at.vi.7753","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38140/at.vi.7753","url":null,"abstract":"The Bible has been conceived and received as a neutral book, as the Word of God, or as containing the Word of God. This understanding and perception enabled missionaries to interpret the Bible in such a way that it disadvantaged and oppressed the “converts”. It should be clear that theology is a form of rational discourse, with consequences for the recipient. As a result, the Bible has destroyed the sociocultural world of Africa. The article aims to narrow down the discussion and focus on the issue of polygamy in the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA). The Church Order is used as a point of argument to clarify the URCSA’s position. The article argues that the unsuspicious reception of the Bible in Africa and the “interpretation” by missionarieshas created a cultural bipolarity for African Christians and demonised polygamy.","PeriodicalId":39489,"journal":{"name":"Acta Theologica","volume":"168 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139204034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christianity places a high value on one’s faith in Jesus Christ, and from this belief, one fosters a perception of LGBTQI people. The general patriarchal idea that the only true, biblical sexual orientation is heterosexuality is one of the elements contributing to the religious obstacle the LGBTQI face. Lesbian[1] spouses and their children are frequently subjected to animosity and rejection from members of the local community, where they choose to participate in religious activities. This is because lesbians and/or lesbian families depart from the so-called heterosexual norm. To analyse how the Christian church refers to homosexuality. I will use Michel Foucault’s philosophy on discourse and power as a theoretical underpinning to examine the preconceived concept of a fixed social hierarchy within the Christian church and society. The paper focuses on the biblical discourses that underlie lesbian identity. By highlighting how colonial impressions resulted in a homophobic reception of the bible, I argue for a positive reimagining between churches and the LGBTQI community and provide evidence that the Christian church and social hierarchies impact lesbian identity negatively through the implementation of the Biblical text and patriarchal ontology. [1] The term lesbian will be used to describe lesbian individuals with or without partners and children. Christianity’s emphasis on faith in Jesus Christ can shape perceptions of LGBTQI individuals. The notion that heterosexuality is the only biblically sanctioned sexual orientation, rooted in patriarchal ideals, presents a religiouschallenge for the LGBTQI1 community. Lesbian couples and their children often face hostility and exclusion from local religious communities, due to their departure from heterosexual norms. This article employs Michel Foucault’sdiscourse and power theory to examine how the Christian church and society maintain a fixed social hierarchy. Itfocuses on biblical discourses shaping lesbian identity and highlights how colonial influences have fuelled ahomophobic interpretation of the Bible. The argument advocates for a more positive relationship between churches and the LGBTQI community, asserting that the Christian church and social hierarchies negatively impact on lesbian identity through the use of biblical text and patriarchal views.
{"title":"Lesbianism: Deconstructing the Christian church and social hierarchies in South Africa","authors":"L. Joubert, Mrs L. Joubert","doi":"10.38140/at.vi.7029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.38140/at.vi.7029","url":null,"abstract":"Christianity places a high value on one’s faith in Jesus Christ, and from this belief, one fosters a perception of LGBTQI people. The general patriarchal idea that the only true, biblical sexual orientation is heterosexuality is one of the elements contributing to the religious obstacle the LGBTQI face. Lesbian[1] spouses and their children are frequently subjected to animosity and rejection from members of the local community, where they choose to participate in religious activities. This is because lesbians and/or lesbian families depart from the so-called heterosexual norm. To analyse how the Christian church refers to homosexuality. I will use Michel Foucault’s philosophy on discourse and power as a theoretical underpinning to examine the preconceived concept of a fixed social hierarchy within the Christian church and society. The paper focuses on the biblical discourses that underlie lesbian identity. By highlighting how colonial impressions resulted in a homophobic reception of the bible, I argue for a positive reimagining between churches and the LGBTQI community and provide evidence that the Christian church and social hierarchies impact lesbian identity negatively through the implementation of the Biblical text and patriarchal ontology. [1] The term lesbian will be used to describe lesbian individuals with or without partners and children. Christianity’s emphasis on faith in Jesus Christ can shape perceptions of LGBTQI individuals. The notion that heterosexuality is the only biblically sanctioned sexual orientation, rooted in patriarchal ideals, presents a religiouschallenge for the LGBTQI1 community. Lesbian couples and their children often face hostility and exclusion from local religious communities, due to their departure from heterosexual norms. This article employs Michel Foucault’sdiscourse and power theory to examine how the Christian church and society maintain a fixed social hierarchy. Itfocuses on biblical discourses shaping lesbian identity and highlights how colonial influences have fuelled ahomophobic interpretation of the Bible. The argument advocates for a more positive relationship between churches and the LGBTQI community, asserting that the Christian church and social hierarchies negatively impact on lesbian identity through the use of biblical text and patriarchal views.","PeriodicalId":39489,"journal":{"name":"Acta Theologica","volume":"148 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139206363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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