The historical development of Old Testament interpretation in Africa

Abstract

Dating back to the Biblical period, Africans have interpreted the Bible. Yehudi, an Israelite of African descent (Jr 36:1-23) read and interpreted the letter of Jeremiah to the princes and the king. The so-called Ethiopian Eunuch (Ac 8) read the Bible (the book of Isaiah) before many nations, including the Western nations, ever got possession of the pages of the Old Testament. During the post-Biblical period many African scholars such as Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprianus of Carthage, Augustine of Hippo, Cyril of Alexandria, Athanasius of Egypt, and others read and interpreted the Bible even though their methods of interpretation were dominated by allegorical interpretation. The modern period became the most fruitful period of African interpretation. African scholars and other scholars of African descent developed a distinctive African Biblical interpretation such as African comparative and African cultural hermeneutics that became authentic African Biblical interpretation. These African cultural hermeneutical methods of interpretation include Africa and Africans in the Bible, using Africa to interpret the Old Testament and using Old Testament to interpret Africa, the Bible as power, 'reading with ordinary readers, ' and African biblio-graphical method of interpretation and others. From the above, the future of African Biblical interpretation is definitely bright if African scholars all over the world co-operate and share scholarly interest.

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