Biblical Hermeneutics in Context and the Struggle for Meaning: A Festschrift in Honor of Gerald O. West

by Aliou Cissé Niang; Andrew M. Mbuvi; Alice Yafeh-Deigh; Tinyiko Maluleke

and

1 more

Publisher:

Pickwick Publications

, 2024

Overview

The meaningful juxtaposition of academics (”experts") with the day-to-day lives of nonacademics (”nonexperts") has animated Gerald O. West’s work from the beginning. Seeking to bridge this chasm, West’s approach of reading the Bible with the “ordinary people” (typically marginalized communities) became a core practice not only of his church work but of his scholarship. West has been a strong proponent of taking seriously the “ordinary reader" as a viable and legitimate contributor to our understanding of biblical interpretation. Not only does this undo the “ivory tower" elitism that tends to pervade academic halls of learning, but it also reflects a form of scholarly humility that has been a mainstay of West’s and should be perpetuated more broadly in biblical scholarship.

Praise for Biblical Hermeneutics in Context and the Struggle for Meaning

Thanks to the contributors of this book for their insightful, formational, plausible, and transforming interpretations of the twenty-first-century Bible in various contexts of Africa. Despite the different backgrounds, contexts, and positions of contributors to this volume, they have one common focus: an innovative commitment to the deep meaning of the Bible. This book is a gift to both parishioners and theological interpreters of the Bible in Global South and Global North Christian worldviews, cultures, and locations.

——Israel Kamudzandu, associate professor of New Testament studies and biblical interpretation, Saint Paul School of Theology

This book represents the ever-expanding constellation of African biblical interpretations and rightfully honors one of its stars. African biblical scholarship continues to make the call to ‘look to Africa.’ The essays provide pathways to pursue carefully focused contextual interpretation in the search for meaning in the vibrant contexts of Africa.

——Steed Davidson, executive director, Society of Biblical Literature

Product Details

• Title: Biblical Hermeneutics in Context and the Struggle for Meaning: A Festschrift in Honor of Gerald O. West
• Authors: Aliou Cissé Niang, Andrew M. Mbuvi, Alice Yafeh-Deigh, Tinyiko Maluleke, Kenneth N. Ngwa
• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Print Publication Date: 2024
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Pages: 528
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9798385219926, 9798385219902, 9798385219919
• Resource ID: LLS:9798385219926
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-23T00:19:46Z

About the Authors

Aliou Cissé Niang is associate professor of biblical interpretation—New Testament at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is the author of Faith and Freedom in Galatia and Senegal (2009) and A Poetics of Postcolonial Biblical Criticism (Cascade, 2019).



Andrew M. Mbuvi is visiting NEH Chair in Humanities and associate professor in the religion department at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania. His has authored African Biblical Studies (2022).



Alice Yafeh-Deigh is professor of biblical studies at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California. She is the author of Paul’s Sexual and Marital Ethics in 1 Corinthians 7 (2015).



Tinyiko Maluleke is vice chancellor and principal at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa. He is the coeditor of Ecumenical Encounters with Desmond Mpilo Tutu (2021).



Kenneth N. Ngwa is Donald J. Casper Professor of Hebrew Bible and African Biblical Hermeneutics at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and directs the Religion and Global Health Forum. He is the author of Let My People Live (2022).