Bibliography: leaves 100-108. / This thesis is in search of voices from the margin in biblical hermeneutics. Firstly, biblical hermeneutics in the third world (Korea and South Africa) is marginalized by European biblical hermeneutics. However, their biblical hermeneutics plays significant roles in a political and cultural context in the name of the same God. Therefore, from a historical viewpoint, this thesis compares and analyses ’contextualized biblical hermeneutics’ in Korea and South Africa. in the process, this thesis reveals that their voices have significance. From a cultural aspect, Koreans’ unique Christian religious practices, which were characterized by ‘early-morning prayers’, ‘audible prayers’ and ‘rice contribution’, induced Christianity to be transformed into Korean Christianity. Similarly, Africans interpreted the Bible without losing their traditional cultural assets such as ‘ancestor worship’, ‘polygamy’, ‘music & dance‘, and ‘healing’. Furthermore, they developed and transformed Christianity into the African Christianity through their own agencies, AIC (African indigenous Churches). On the other hand, from a political aspect, whether Europeans (Afrikaners) or black South Africans; whether Japanese or Koreans; whether oppressors or oppressed, the Bible was the object of political interpretation for strengthening Bible readers’ political power in each context. in other words, Bible reading was contextualized given political context of each Bible reader. if Bible reading was important to Europeans, so it was also vital to Koreans and South Africans. This is because the Bible has been interpreted on the basis of Bible readers’ context in history, whether in European, Korean or South African cultural and political contexts. On this ground, there is no reason why Korean and South African biblical hermeneutics should be disregarded by European biblical hermeneutics. In the name of Korean Christianity or South African Christianity, they must have their voices. Secondly, biblical hermeneutics of Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs)' is marginalized in the name of heresy by Christendom, which includes mainline churches in Europe, South Africa and Korea. However, their biblical hermeneutics plays important roles in unifying people of different contexts on the basis of the same Bible. Therefore, this thesis reveals the significance of their ‘decontextualized biblical hermeneutics’ through exemplary biblical interpretations. In the process, their voices have significance. From a cultural aspect, JWs' missionaries arrived comparatively later than mainline church missionaries. Accordingly, they did not have to get through cultural conflicts between traditional cultural norms and biblical norms. On this ground, their biblical interpretation could be applied in a global dimension, which reveals a sur-cultural aspect. In particular, their ‘house-to-house preaching work’ and ‘abstaining from blood transfusion’ are their representative religious practices, whether in Korea or South Africa. From a political aspect, .JWs have not participated in wars, military service or military training. Therefore, they have been persecuted by governments and military authorities. Worse still, they have been branded as heretics by Christendom. Nonetheless, on the basis of ‘decontextualized biblical hermeneutics’, this thesis puts an emphasis on various biblical reasons why they consistently have rejected and continue to reject military service. Central theme of their Bible reading is based on God's Kingdom beyond their political and cultural context. Nonetheless, this theme of God's Kingdom provides JWs with great strength, with which they are able to live in global unity. On this stance, they did not take part in the past tragic political history, whether in Korea or South Africa. Lastly, even though diverse and pluralistic biblical interpretation was a threat rather than a productive challenge to church authority, this thesis reveals that a dichotomous category could be the first step in reading the Bible for contemporary Bible readers in the name of ‘contextualized and decontextualized biblical hermeneutics.’
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/8607 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Kim, Hyangmo |
| Contributors | Mazamisa, Welile |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Religious Studies |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MSocSci |
| Format | application/pdf |
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