The Old Testament & the African People

Modern studies have recognized the gravitational movement of the centre of Christianity from Europe and North America to the regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The marginality of the African biblical scholarship from the mainstream discourse of Europe and North America is gradually given way to a more inclusive reading of the Bible from the perspectives of people in these regions. This paradigmatic shift clearly demands the necessity of a critical dialogue between the Bible and the people of the global South. In Africa, the fascination for the Old Testament by the African people could be seen everywhere from the responsorial chanting of the Psalms in mainline churches to the imprecatory use of these same Psalms in African Independent Churches. In particular, there is a perceived cultural affinities between the worldviews of the African people and the people of ancient Israel. To enrich this enterprise further, the work filters modern Old Testament scholarship from the perspectives of the African people, and seeking to critically strengthen the instinctive attraction to the world and stories of the Old Testament by the African people.