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370 Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384
Distinctive African Readings of the Old
Testament: A Review of D.T. Adamo’s
Publications in Old Testament Essays 2003-2020
HULISANI RAMANTSWANA (UNISA)
ABSTRACT
Professor David Tuesday Adamo has published widely in various
journals, and his contribution to Old Testament scholarship in Africa
cannot be underestimated. This article focuses on his publications in
Old Testament Essays since 2003. Adamo has been one of the loyal
African contributors to our journal and is the first black African Old
Testament scholar in Africa to be honoured in this way in this journal.
Therefore, this article reviews Adamo’s contributions over the years,
particularly focusing on the distinctive readings of the Old Testament
that he brought to Old Testament Essays through his publications.
KEYWORDS: Adamo, African Readings, Old Testament
A INTRODUCTION
Professor David Tuesday Adamo published his first article in Old Testament
Essays (OTE) in 2003. This places him among the pioneers of “black” African
Old Testament scholars who published in OTE namely Madipoane Masenya
(1991, 1997, 2001, 2002),
1
W. R. Kawale (1994),
2
Raymond R. Richards
Submitted: 28/04/2021; peer-reviewed: 14/07/2021; accepted: 27/08/2021.
Hulisani Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings of the Old Testament: A Review
of D. T. Adamo’s Publications in Old Testament Essays 2003-2020,” Old Testament
Essays 34 no. 2 (2021): 370 – 384. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/2312-
3621/2021/v34n2a4.
1
Madipoane Masenya (Ngwan’a Mphahlele), “In the School of Wisdom: An
Interpretation of Some Old Testament Proverbs in a Northern Sotho Context,” OTE 4/2
(1991): 171–191; “Redefining Ourselves: A Bosadi (Womanhood) Approach,” OTE
10/3 (1997): 439–448; “What Differences Do African Contexts Make for English Bible
Translations?” OTE 14/2 (2001): 281–96; “‘…But You Shall Let Every Girl Live’:
Reading Exodus 1:2-10 the Bosadi (Womanhood) Way,” OTE 15/1 (2002): 99–112.
2
W.R. Kawale, “Divergent Interpretations of the Relationship between Some
Concepts of God in the Old Testament and in African Traditional Religions—A
Theological Critique,” OTE 8/1 (1995): 7–30.
Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384 371
(1994),
3
D. N. Fabian (1998),
4
Edwin Zulu (1998),
5
Elelwani Farisani
(2002),
6
Sarojini Nadar (2002)
7
and Maseyani E. Baloyi (2003).
8
That article was
the beginning of the journey to which Prof Adamo committed himself, as he
continued to publish with us over the years. Prof Adamo’s publication in OTE
helped break the colonial boundaries that kept African biblical scholars apart
from mainstream biblical scholarship.
Prof Adamo’s links with South Africa, however, are not limited to
publishing in OTE, as he is also a member of the Old Testament Society of South
Africa and he has been one of the loyal African scholars who attend the annual
conferences and present papers. In addition, he has established links with several
South African universities. In 2002, he was a visiting scholar at the University
of Pretoria; from 2010 to 2015, he was research fellow at the University of
Stellenbosch and from 2009 to date, he has been a research associate with the
University of South Africa. In terms of scholarship, Prof Adamo may be
regarded as a South African academic citizen given his deep links with South
African Old Testament scholarship.
This article is structured as follows. First, I highlight Adamo’s
publications in OTE. Second, I locate him in the context of the developments of
Old Testament scholarship in Africa. Third, I reflect on his distinctive
application of African biblical hermeneutics and lastly, I present a proposal for
an Old Testament Society of Africa or a Society of Biblical Studies in Africa.
B ADAMO’S OTE PUBLICATIONS
I take as my starting point retired Prof Adamo’s publications in Old Testament
Essays over the years. He is a well-published scholar, with seven books and
nearly a hundred journal articles. He has published the following eleven articles
3
Raymond R. Richards, “National Reconstruction and Literary Creativity in Ezra-
Nehemiah: A Black South African Perspective,” OTE 7/2 (1994): 277–301.
4
D. N. Fabian, “The Socio-Religious Role of Witchcraft in the Old Testament
Culture: An African Insight,” OTE 11/2 (1998): 215–239.
5
Edwin Zulu, “Reconciliation from an African Perspective: An Alternative View,”
OTE 11/1 (1998): 182–208.
6
Elelwani Farisani, “The Ideological Biased Use of Ezra-Nehemiah in a Quest for
an African Theology of Reconstruction,” OTE 15/3 (2002): 628–646.
7
Sarojini Nadar, “Gender, Power, Sexuality and Suffering Bodies in the Book of
Esther: Reading the Characters of Vashti and Esther for the Purpose of Social
Transformation,” OTE 15/1 (2002): 113–130; Sarojini Nadar, “Re-Reading Job in the
Midst of Suffering in the HIV/AIDS Era: How not to Talk about God,” OTE 16/2
(2003): 343–357.
8
Maseyani E. Baloyi, “Where Does the Meaning of a Word/Phrase in a Text
Reside—In an Author, Text or a Reader?” OTE 16/3 (2003): 573–580.
372 Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384
in OTE which reflect his particular interest in African biblical hermeneutics as
well as his distinctive approaches to the Old Testament:
1. “The Historical Development of Old Testament Interpretation in Africa.”
Old Testament Essays 16/1 (2003): 9–33.
2. “The African Wife of Abraham (Gn 16:1–16; 21:8–21).” Old Testament
Essays 18/3 (2005): 455–471.
3. “Reading Psalm 109 in African Christianity.” Old Testament Essays 21/3
(2008): 575–592.
4. “Teaching the History of Ancient Israel from an African Perspective: The
Invasion of Sennacherib of 701 B.C.E. as an Example.” Old Testament
Essays 23/3 (2010): 473–501.
5. The Deuteronomist(s)’ Interpretation of Exilic Suffering in an African
Perspective”, Old Testament Essays (OTE) 23/1 (2010): 9-27.
6. “Decolonizing Psalm 91 in an African Perspective with Special Reference
to the Culture of the Yoruba People of Nigeria.” Old Testament Essays
25/1 (2012): 9–26.
7. “The Nameless African Wife of Potiphar and Her Contribution to Ancient
Israel.” Old Testament Essays 26/2 (2013): 221–246.
8. “The Poor in the Book of Psalms and in Yoruba Tradition.” Old
Testament Essays 27/3 (2014): 797–815.
9. “The Task and Distinctiveness of African Biblical Hermeneutic(s).” Old
Testament Essays 28/1 (2015): 31–52.
10. “The Extent to which OTSSA Journal (OTE) Reflects the Indigenous
African Culture and Tradition from 2001–2016.” Old Testament Essays
31/1 (2018): 42–65.
11. “Reading Psalm 35 in African (Yoruba) Perspective.” Old Testament
Essays 32/3 (2019): 936–955.
12. “The Unheard Voices in the Hebrew Bible: The Nameless and Silent Wife
of Jeroboam (1 Kgs 14:1–18).” Old Testament Essays 33/3 (2020): 393–
407.
Prior to 2003, Adamo had already attracted the attention of some Old Testament
scholars. In 1998, Høyland published an article in OTE reflecting on Adamo’s
hermeneutics, particularly his interpretation of the Old Testament passages
which refer to Cush.
9
It was the distinctiveness of his approach that attracted the
attention of others.
At the time Adamo published his first article with OTE in 2003, there was
a significant shift within the South African context as OTE, which was primarily
an outlet for the publications of white Old Testament scholars and their
counterparts in Europe and America, gradually began to accommodate
9
Marta Høyland, “An African Presence in the Old Testament? David Tuesday
Adamo’s Interpretation of the Old Testament Cush Passages,” OTE 11 (1998): 50–58.
Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384 373
publications by black African scholars in South Africa and other African
countries. Deist’s call for OTE to become contextual and relevant was to find
new meaning through the accommodation of publications from scholars such as
Adamo, who did not shy away from putting Africa and Africans at the centre of
their scriptural enquiry.
10
C LOCATING ADAMO WITHIN OLD TESTAMENT
SCHOLARSHIP IN AFRICA
In Holter’s timeframe of Old Testament scholarship in Africa, the first
generation covers the period 1967–2000:
The 1960s and 70s, on the one hand, deserve the label “background”,
because the various attempts at establishing Old Testament studies in
Africa in this period were quite sporadic. The 1980s and 90s, on the
other hand, deserve the label “breakthrough”, because this period more
systematically developed infrastructural and hermeneutical contexts for
an Africanisation of Old Testament studies.
11
Prof Adamo as a scholar emerges within what may be termed the second
generation of Old Testament scholarship in Africa, which would roughly
correspond with Holter’s “breakthrough” period. However, others such as
Adamo and Ukpong tend to regard this period as spanning from the 1970s to the
1990s.
12
Ukpong’s periodisation is as follows:
Phase I (1930s–70s): reactive and apologetic, focused on legitimizing
African religion and culture, dominated by the comparative method.
10
See Ferdinand Deist, “South African Old Testament Studies and the Future,” OTE
5/3 (1992): 314–15. This article was again published under the same title in OTE 7/4
(1994): 35–51.
11
See Knut Holter, “The First Generation of African Old Testament Scholars: The
Geographical Hermeneutics of Their Academic Training,” Bulletin for Old Testament
Studies in Africa 17 (2004): 2–18; “The First Generation of African Old Testament
Scholars: African Concerns and Western Influence,” in African Identities and World
Christianity in the Twentieth Century (ed. Klaus Koschorke; Wiesbaden: Otto
Harrassowitz, 2005), 149–164; Old Testament Research for Africa: A Critical Analysis
and Annotated Bibliography of African Old Testament Dissertations, 1967–2000 (New
York: Peter Lang, 2002), 12.
12
David Tuesday Adamo, “The Historical Development of Old Testament
Interpretation in Africa,” OTE 16/1 (2003): 9–33; for a broader focus than just Old
Testament, see Justin S. Ukpong, “Development in Biblical Interpretation in Africa:
Historical and Hermeneutical Directions,” in The Bible in Africa: Transactions,
Trajectories and Trends (ed. G. O. West and M. W. Dube; Leiden: Brill, 2000), 11–28.
374 Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384
Phase II (1970s–90s): reactive-proactive, use of African context as
resource for biblical interpretation, dominated by inculturation
evaluation method and liberation hermeneutics (black theology).
Phase III (1990s): proactive, recognition of the ordinary reader, African
context as subject of biblical interpretation, dominated by liberation and
inculturation methodologies.
13
As characteristic of many during this period, Adamo turned to the West to pursue
his further education. He attained a Master of Theology at Southern Methodist
University, a Doctor of Religion at Indiana Christian University and a Doctor of
Philosophy at Baylor University.
Of concern in Old Testament scholarship in the early phase was not just
that African scholars were trained in Western institutions but that the scholarship
that was produced did not address African realities.
14
However, while Adamo
attained his postgraduate degrees at Western institutions, his PhD research was
particularly focused on Africa was titled, “The Place of Africa and Africans in
the Old Testament and Its Environment” (1986).
15
The focus on Africa and
Africans in the Bible remained a constant feature of Adamo’s scholarship. This
hermeneutical focus is best summed up in his own words:
First, Africa and Africans have made a significant contribution to the
religious life and the civilization of the ancient Near East, and
particularly ancient Israel... Second, the important place occupied by
Africa and Africans in the Old Testament and its environment is also
evident in the in their political and military influence throughout the
ancient Near East and Israel in particular... Third, Africa and Africans
played some significant role in the economic life of the ancient Near
East and Israel in particular... Fourth, it is remarkable that of all the
nations and peoples know to the children of Israel, African and African
are among the very few nations and peoples mentioned as
representatives of far away nations... Fifth, the realistic fact that Africa
13
Ukpong, “Development in Biblical Interpretation,” 12.
14
See John Mbiti, “Theological Impotence and the Universality of the Church,” in
Third World Theologies (Mission Trends 3; ed. G. Anderson and T. Stransky; New
York: Paulist, 1976), 6–8; S.O. Abogunrin, “Biblical Research in Africa: The Task
Ahead,” African Journal of Biblical Studies 1/1 (1986): 13; Justin S. Ukpong,
“Rereading the Bible with African Eyes,” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 91
(1995): 3–14. For a comprehensive analysis of Old Testament Scholarship in Africa,
see Holter, Old Testament Research for Africa; Grant LeMarquand, “A Bibliography
of the Bible in Africa: A Preliminary Publication,” Bulletin for Contextual Theology in
Southern Africa and Africa 2/2 (1995): 6–40.
15
Adamo’s PhD dissertation was later published as Africa and Africans in the Old
Testament (San Francisco: Christian University Press, 1998; reprinted, Eugene: Wipf
& Stock, 2001).
Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384 375
and Africans hold an important place in almost every aspect of the life
of the ancient Israelites if further demonstrated by the fact that Africa
and African are frequently mentioned in virtually every strand of Old
Testament Literature.
16
In his latest publication in Old Testament Essays, Adamo, following the
Septuagint, identifies the nameless and silent wife of Jeroboam in 1 Kgs 14:1–
18 as Ano, one of the daughters of Pharaoh.
17
This naming of Jeroboam’s
nameless wife resonates with his concern to project the contribution of Africans
to ancient Israel.
D AFRICAN BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS AND ADAMO’S
SIGNATURE APPROACHES
Professor Adamo has been one of the key proponents of African biblical
hermeneutics over the years. In his article, “What Is African Biblical
Hermeneutics?,” he describes African Biblical Hermeneutics as his obsession
that emerged when he was a visiting professor at the University of Edinburgh.
18
Adamo uses several terms to define the task of interpreting the Bible in the
African context—African biblical hermeneutics, African biblical
transformational hermeneutics, African cultural hermeneutics, African biblical
studies, African contextual studies. Thus, his understanding of African biblical
hermeneutics (ABH) has several dimensions to it.
19
First, it is a hermeneutical practice by Africans. For Adamo, any true
practitioner of African hermeneutics must be an insider; the “interpreter must
either be an African or live and experience all aspects of African life in order to
perfect the work of African transformational hermeneutics.”
20
However, Adamo
would later broaden his concept of being an African to embrace not only those
living on the African continent but also descendants of Africans scattered around
the world and those who embrace African culture, religion and traditions.
21
16
Adamo, Africa and Africans in the Old Testament, 165–168.
17
David T. Adamo, “The Unheard Voices in the Hebrew Bible: The Nameless and
Silent Wife of Jeroboam (1 Kgs 14:1-18), OTE 33/3 (2020): 393–407.
18
Adamo, What Is African Biblical Hermeneutics?” 59.
19
For recent reflections on Adamo’s approaches, see Peter O.O. Ottuh and Moses
Idemudia, “Navigating Trajectories in African Biblical Studies: D.T. Adamo and the
Future of African Cultural Hermeneutics,” Ianna Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
2/1 (2020): 55–64; Madipoane M. Masenya (Ngwan’a Mphahlele), “Professor David
Tuesday Adamo’s Biblical Scholarship on Women: Reflections from an African-South
African Mosadi,” OTE 33/2 (2020): 348–362.
20
Adamo, “What Is African Biblical Hermeneutics?” 69.
21
David T. Adamo, “The Task and Distinctiveness of African Biblical
Hermeneutic(s),” OTE 28/1(2015): 32, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2312-
3621/2015/v28n1a4.
376 Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384
Second, it is transformational in that it has as its goal the transformation
of Africa. The transformative goal implies that the African hermeneut desires to
see change happening within the African context, as poverty is overcome and
any other form of oppression is broken including the colonial matrix of power
which has continued after the political demise of colonialism.
Third, it is contextual in the sense that it takes the African social-cultural
context as essential to an interpretation of the Bible. Thus, things such as African
philosophy, worldview, cultures and experiences are viewed as key in
interpreting the biblical texts.
Fourth, it is a form of resistance in that it seeks to dismantle Euro-Western
hegemony in biblical scholarship by both distancing itself from Euro-Western
hermeneutics and promoting African identity and culture.
22
In this resistance,
African biblical hermeneuts can still learn and draw from their Euro-Western
counterparts but they differ from the latter by seeking to read and apply the
Scriptures in a way that is relevant to the African context.
In terms of his own application of ABH, Adamo’s work is not monolithic.
From the articles published in Old Testament Essays, we can discern at least two
different approaches to the biblical texts.
Adamo’s greatest contributions pertain to his first approach, his study of
Africa and Africans in the Old Testament. For Adamo, the participation of Africa
and Africans in the Old Testament story and the redemptive story highlight the
importance and influence of Africa and Africans. For Adamo, the Bible does not
come as the Other in the African continent and he therefore reclaims the Bible
as an African document that should not be associated simply with the Jews or
Westerners but Africans when reading the Bible have to see themselves in the
biblical story and thus take the biblical story as their story too. Adamo states
regarding the Israelites:
One can say with great confidence that the people referred to as ancient
Israelites were also Africans. That is why they are called African or
Israelite because by the time they left Egypt or Africa after 430 years,
having eaten African food, worn African clothes, danced African
dances, spoken the African language, and immersed in African culture,
it will be unrealistic for any scholar to deny the fact that they were
African-Israelites.
23
In three of his contributions to OTE, Adamo’s focus is on wives—the African
wife of Abraham, the African wife of Potiphar and the African wife of Jeroboam.
There are other essays in which Adamo focuses on African wives—the wife of
22
Adamo, “The Task and Distinctiveness,” 35.
23
Adamo, “African Biblical Hermeneutics,” 8.
Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384 377
Moses,
24
the wife of Joseph
25
and the wife of Solomon.
26
Masenya in her recent
contribution to OTE examines closely Adamo’s “African biblical women” or, to
follow Adamo’s titles, “African wives.” Adamo, with his focus on wives, does
not draw attention to African women who are not attached to men through
marriage or whose humanity is not defined through male characters. Masenya
concludes that “gender as a concept does not feature in Adamo’s scholarship on
women. Instead in his commitment to argue about the presence of Africa and
Africans in the Old Testament, Adamo has focused on what he has called African
biblical women.”
27
While certain biblical characters such as some women or
wives are identified as African, Adamo would also identify the ancient Israelites
as Africans.
28
This view of Africa and Africans in the Old Testament is a text-centred
approach with a two-fold aim. On the one hand, it aims to reclaim the Bible as
an African document by pointing out the historical links between Africans and
the Israelites/Jews, by identifying Africa or African locations and the role the
locations play in the biblical story as well as by identifying Africans and their
roles in the biblical story. On the other hand, it is to correct the skewed Euro-
Western readings of the biblical story, which deliberately minimised and
marginalised Africa and Africans.
29
As Adamo argues,
... the assumption prevails that the ancient world in Africa was limited
to Egypt and that sub-Sahara Africa had no historic past before the
Portuguese colonization. The aforementioned assumptions about Africa
have affected the attitudes of not only historians, but also theologians in
their examination of the Bible and Africa and Africans, to the extent that
they have produced a doctrine of inferiority of black people all over the
world.
30
In so doing, Adamo seeks to affirm African humanity and dignity in the face of
the colonial mentality which disparaged Africa and Africans. Furthermore, it
24
David T. Adamo, “The African Wife of Moses: An Examination of Numbers 12:1-
9,” ATJ 8/3 (1989): 230–237.
25
David T. Adamo, “The African Wife of Joseph: Asenath (Gn 41:45, 41:50, 46:20),”
JSem (2013): 409–229.
26
David T. Adamo, “The African Wife of Solomon (1 Kings 3:1; 9:16; 7:8; 11:1),
JSem 23/1 (2014): 1–20.
27
Masenya, “Adamo’s Biblical Scholarship,” 361.
28
David T. Adamo, “African Biblical Studies: Illusions, Realities and Challenges,” In
die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi 50/1 (2016): 1–10, a1972. DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ids.v50i1.1972; see also his “A Mixed Multitude: An African
Reading of Exodus 12:38,” in Exodus and Deuteronomy (ed. G. Yee and A. Brenner;
Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 67.
29
Adamo, “Historical Development,” 19–20.
30
Adamo, Africa and Africans in the Old Testament, 1.
378 Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384
necessitates the decolonisation of biblical scholarship by appreciating anew the
historical links between Africa and ancient Israel.
31
His second approach is to read the Psalms culturally and as a source of
power. Four of Adamo’s contributions to OTE are focused on the book of
Psalms. In his reading of the Psalms, his focus is either on African cultural
hermeneutics or on the use of the Psalms or the Psalter as a source of power
within African communities and African indigenous churches.
In African cultural hermeneutics, Adamo’s focus is on culture as a subject
of interpretation, which implies that he reads the biblical text through the lens of
the African worldview, culture and experience. In most of his writings which
utilise this approach, the Yoruba culture is the subject of interpretation.
Therefore, from this perspective, Adamo interprets the text as an insider to
culture.
In reading the Psalms as a source of power, Adamo’s focus is on how the
Psalter is used in the church, particularly the African independent churches. The
use of the Psalter as a source of power stems from his belief that the Bible is the
Word of God which has inherent power to heal, protect and bring success in life:
It is certain that the culture of the ANE makes one believe that the words
of the Psalter were memorised and recited not for fun or aesthetic or
scholarly purposes, but for the faith behind the recitation or singing or
chanting of the Psalms, with the expectation that they would achieve a
desired effect. In ancient Israel, those words were potent and
performative words that sought to invoke a particular result. Like the
ancient Israelites, who were the original authors of the Psalter, many
African biblical scholars see the Psalter as divine, potent and
performative. They can be used to protect one from enemies; they can
heal diseases and bring about success.
32
For Adamo, engaging in ABH is a process of blackening the Bible, which is
achieved through an Afrocentric approach that “places Africa and Africans at the
centre of the biblical world and our biblical interpretation.”
33
The blackening of
the Bible is a task of not only (black) Africans but also Africans living in diaspora
and of any other interested parties willing to engage the biblical text based on
the concern of Africa and Africans. As I have cautioned elsewhere, being black
or African does not automatically imply that one is interpreting or reading the
Bible from a position of epistemic difference.
34
The blackening of the Bible is a
31
Ibid., 165.
32
Adamo, “The Task and Distinctiveness.”
33
Adamo, “African Biblical Studies,” 8.
34
Hulisani Ramantswana, “Decolonising Biblical Hermeneutics in the (South)
African Context,” Acta Theologica Supplement 24 (2016): 178–203, DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/actat.v36i1.11S.
Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384 379
task that goes beyond just identifying oneself as black or African and beyond
social location. It is an act of resistance against hermeneutical practices which
marginalise Africa and Africans. The blackening of the Bible is thus a decolonial
option that places the agenda of the oppressed at the centre as a way of realising
their humanity in its fullness.
E INCOMPLETE DECOLONIAL PROJECT—ENVISIONING
AFRICAN OLD TESTAMENT SOCIETY OR AFRICAN
BIBLICAL STUDIES SOCIETY
Old Testament scholarship—or, even more broadly, African biblical studies in
Africa—has evolved over the years. In his article “Decolonizing the Teaching of
the Old Testament in Africa,” Adamo proposes some of the ways in which
African Old Testament scholars may decolonise the teaching of the Old
Testament:
35
a) Planning a curriculum that reflects African perspectives, which pays
attention to the following: Africa and Africans in the Old Testament, the
history of ancient Israel from an African perspective, an introduction to
the Old Testament from an African perspective, and African cultural
hermeneutics;
b) Teaching the Old Testament from African culture and religion;
c) Writing textbooks that reflect African perspectives;
d) Comparative study of African and Old Testament culture and religions.
What Adamo has proposed are tasks that cannot be regarded as concluded;
rather, scholars must continually reflect on them and thrive to embrace them in
their teaching of the Old Testament. The noble tasks proposed by Adamo also
must be supplemented by strong collaborative efforts by African biblical
scholars in the light of the marginalisation of African scholarship at the global
level. As Mbuvi also highlights, African biblical scholarship continues to suffer
from the Western bias, racism, colonialism and imperial tendencies evident in
the failure to recognise African scholarly contributions:
36
Most works by African biblical scholars have been confined largely to
the SBL’s experimental journals (Semeia), European journals (JSNT,
BOTSA, NovT, VT, Exchange), African journals (AJET, AJBS, JABS,
JAT, JTSA, Neot, OTE, Verb. et Eccl., Scriptura), Asian journals (ATA,
35
David T. Adamo, “Decolonizing the Teaching of the Old Testament in Africa,”
BOTSA 19 (2005): 3–5.
36
Andrew M. Mbuvi, “African Biblical Studies: An Introduction to an Emerging
Discipline,” Currents in Biblical Studies 15/2 (2017), DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1177/1476993X16648813.
380 Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384
AJT), and essays in volumes (e.g., Dube 2001; Dube, Mbuvi and
Mbuwayesango 2012).
37
While it is essential that African biblical scholarship be recognised as valuable
in the international arena, it is more important for biblical scholarship in Africa
to gravitate towards unity. African Old Testament or biblical scholars hardly
come together on the African continent. African (black) scholars meet their
fellows only when attending conferences outside of Africa in Europe and the
United States. While the Old Testament Society of South Africa does have
members across Africa, only a few are able to attend the annual meetings in
South Africa. As (black) African biblical scholars, we are for the most part still
operating within the confines of colonial boundaries. It is time that African
biblical scholars across countries and the scholarly societies operating therein
started seeing each other and recognising each other.
Twenty years ago, when Holter recognised the need for a pan-African and
non-denominational organisation for biblical scholarship in Africa, he reasoned
that rather than establish a new organisation, it might be better to simply establish
informal networking of existing regional and denominational organisations.
38
Since then, the conditions of Africa have improved through technological
advancements and a better transport network. The global pandemic, COVID-19,
from which is emerging the new normal of connecting and networking with each
other technologically, has made the ground fertile for an establishment of such a
new organisation. We simply cannot rely on global organisations such as the
Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) to facilitate networking initiatives in Africa.
I have attended several SBL meetings and presented at the African Biblical
Hermeneutics Group. The harsh reality is that we travel all the way to the USA
to network as “black” Africans with hardly any others attending our meetings—
we are the accommodated Other in that organisation. While we appreciate that
the SBL plans to have its International Meeting in South Africa in 2023 (3–7
July at the University of Pretoria), such should motivate us to set the bar high for
ourselves to envision new possibilities for African scholarship. It is time that we
as Africans took ownership of our scholarship and work towards building a
reputable organisation for biblical scholarship in Africa which is not bound by
the colonial boundaries which aimed to weaken us and condemn us to perpetual
reliance on others outside of Africa.
Scholarly societies in Africa such as the Old Testament Society of South
Africa, the Society of Near Eastern Studies (South Africa), the New Testament
Society of South Africa, the Association for the Study of the Septuagint in South
Africa, the Ghana Association of Biblical Exegetes, the Pan-African Association
of Catholic Exegetes (PACE), the African Society of Evangelical Theology
37
Mbuvi, “African Biblical Studies,” 156.
38
Knut Holter, “Is There a Need for a Pan-African Non-denominational Organisation
for Biblical Scholarship?” BOTSA 8 (2000): 13.
Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384 381
(Kenya), the Nigerian Association for Biblical Studies, the Association for
Biblical Scholarship in Eastern Africa and other denominational organisations
must start recognising one another’s presence. Kwame Nkrumah’s vision for a
united Africa does not simply have to be reflected in trade agreements or such
institutions as the African Union. We should move beyond talk and start working
towards an Old Testament Society of Africa or perhaps more broadly, the
Biblical Studies Society in Africa.
39
There are several other benefits which are likely to emerge from the flow
of such a pan-African organisation: a) an accelerated knowledge exchange on
the African continent; b) accelerated collaborative efforts among African biblical
scholars, institutions and religious bodies; c) recognition of excellence in African
biblical scholarship; d) promotion of African-oriented publications to serve the
scholarly and religious communities; e) fostering of projects that promote
African scholarship in Africa and across the globe. Such an organisation will
promote the creation of African knowledge for the benefit of Africa and
humanity in general. In my view, the more we can work together at a continental
level, the more will be the visibility and dissemination of African knowledge
beyond the confines of our states.
F CONCLUSION
In their separate reviews of Old Testament Essays publications, Masenya and
Ramantswana as well as Adamo raised concern that the reviewed publications
reflected mainly Euro-Western paradigms.
40
It has been the contributions of
scholars such as Adamo and others which have rocked OTE from within and
pushed it to be a journal that reflects Africa and showcases African knowledge
production. It is our hope therefore that this journal will reflect more and more
something new under the sun of African Old Testament scholarship.
39
See also Hulisani Ramantswana, “Past the Glorious Age: Old Testament
Scholarship in South Africa—Are We Moving Anywhere Close to Blackening Old
Testament Scholarship?” Scriptura 11/3 (2020): 1–19, DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.7833/119-3-1769.
40
Madipoane Masenya (Ngwan’a Mphahlele) and Hulisani Ramantswana, “Anything
New under the Sun of South African Old Testament Scholarship? African Qoheleths’
Review of OTE 1994–2010,” OTE 25/3 (2012): 598–637; David T. Adamo, “The
Extent to which OTSSA Journal (OTE) Reflects the Indigenous African Culture and
Tradition from 2001–2016,” OTE 31/1 (2018): 42–65.
382 Ramantswana, “Distinctive African Readings,” OTE 34/2 (2021): 370-384
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Prof Hulisani Ramantswana, University of South Africa, Department of Biblical
and Ancient Studies, P.O. Box 392, UNISA, 0003; Email: ramanh@unisa.ac.za;
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6629-9194.
