*Sightings* 9/30/2010

*Reading the Bible in South Africa*

— James Hoke

The 2010 FIFA World Cup demonstrated the unity and capability of the new
South Africa. Despite doubts and negative press from around the world, South
Africa rose to the occasion by producing stunning new soccer stadiums,
making its streets safe and accessible, hosting big-screen match viewings
and fan parties, and creating an environment that welcomed thousands of
enthusiastic guests for an entire month. Even before the final match, the
success of the World Cup could be seen in hundreds of vuvuzelas blasting in
the streets. South Africans of every race united in support of their team,
their country, and their continent.

Unfortunately, in the aftermath of the World Cup the problems of economic
disparity which had been forgotten during the month-long soccer party began
to resurface. For years politicians claimed that the World Cup would boost
South Africa ¢â‚¬â„¢s economy and create many new job opportunities. However
unemployed women and men in kwaMpumuza, a township on the outskirts of
Pietermaritzburg, complain that the World Cup had not improved their
employment status. The majority of poor South Africans have not felt an
economic boost caused by the World Cup.

In the face of large-scale unemployment in many townships, tensions have
arisen between unemployed South Africans and refugees and immigrants from
other African nations. In the days following the World Cup immigrants
reported being threatened with violence if they did not leave immediately;
they were told that since the World Cup was over, it was time for all
foreigners to go home. Several violent attacks attributed to xenophobia were
reported in newspapers. The government believed this to be merely rumors
designed to discredit the country ¢â‚¬â„¢s positive post-World Cup image.

People of faith in South Africa expressed outrage against the violence and
the government ¢â‚¬â„¢s response to it. On Nelson Mandela ¢â‚¬â„¢s birthday one week after
the World Cup ended, a large group marched outside St. George ¢â‚¬â„¢s Cathedral in
Cape Town saying  ¢â‚¬Å“NO ¢â‚¬  to xenophobia. But the issues that undergird this
outbreak require more sustained reflection and response from South African
Christians. A critical question facing the post-apartheid Church is how the
Bible will be read and interpreted in the public sphere. Despite the vast
political and economic changes that South Africa experienced after the end
of apartheid and the first free elections held in 1994, the majority of
black South Africans who lived in desperate poverty before liberation have
seen few changes in their daily lives.

During the years of struggle the Bible was both a tool of oppression and
liberation. In the struggle for liberation groups found that reading the
Bible and articulating their theologies from the context of life under
apartheid fueled their political motivations. Post-liberation, many churches
and groups have found difficulty articulating a similar message in a new
context. The new government has publicly celebrated that churches can return
to focusing on spiritual and moral concerns, leaving political and economic
issues to the state. Lacking direction and resources, many churches have
done just this, while other groups have ceased to exist.

How the Bible is interpreted in South Africa ¢â‚¬â„¢s new context will
significantly influence the long-term outcomes of the economic issues
previously described. If the Bible is only read for moral guidance on
spiritual issues, then these questions will dominate public discourse while
economic disparity will continue to be ignored.

One method of reading that seeks to confront these issues is the method of
Contextual Bible Studies, developed by Gerald West, a biblical scholar at
the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg. Taking a common
interest and respect for biblical texts as a starting point, socially
engaged biblical scholars like West read *with* poor and marginalized
communities, empowering them to read and interpret the Bible from their own
experiences. Reading from their own context allows readers to articulate
their own theologies that represent the liberating message of the Bible
(often in economic, in addition to spiritual, terms) instead of only
espousing inherited interpretations that do not apply to the current
context. This process begins to make readers aware of their own
interpretation skills and empowers them with the confidence to act for
change. The Bible ¢â‚¬â„¢s message can be a catalyst for new and creative actions
which could allow South African Christians to confront problems of poverty,
unemployment, and xenophobia in the public sphere.

*References*

Celia W. Dugger,  ¢â‚¬Å“Wage Laws Squeeze South Africa ¢â‚¬â„¢s
Poor. ¢â‚¬ 
*The New York Times*, September 26, 2010.

Gerald West. *The Academy of the Poor: Towards a Dialogical Reading of the
Bible*. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2003.

Gerald West.  ¢â‚¬Å“Kairos 2000: Moving Beyond Church Theology. ¢â‚¬  *Journal of
Theology for Southern Africa* 108 (Nov 2000): 55-78.

Gerald West, ed. *Reading Other-Wise: Socially Engaged Biblical Scholars
Reading with Their Local Communities*. Atlanta: Society of Biblical
Literature, 2007.

James Hoke is a third year Masters of Divinity student focusing on New
Testament and feminist/queer biblical interpretation. He received an
International Ministry Grant from the Divinity School to investigate
Contextual Biblical Interpretation in South Africa this summer.

———-

*Sightings* comes from the Martin Marty
Centerat the University of
Chicago Divinity School.

Attribution

Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the author
of the column, *Sightings*, and the Martin Marty Center at the University of
Chicago Divinity School.