The thrust of this article is an attempt to respond to the question whether we can read and interpret the bible in Africa from the child theology vantage point. The author’s answer is in the affirmative in two ways: Firstly, it is that the majority of children in Africa are facing abuses of unprecedented proportions. Historically and traditionally, African scholars always read and interpreted the bible with African lenses. The African bible critic and exegete should be part of the church, the body of Christ which ought to be a lotus of healing. Theologising in the context of the crisis of the ‘child’ in Africa is fairly a new development and needs to be aggressively pursued. The second aspect of this author’s response is that when Christianity entered the Graeco-Roman as well the Jewish milieu, it used the family symbolism such as father, brothers, love, house of God, children of God, and so on. The New Testament authors therefore used family as reality and metaphor to proclaim the gospel. The African theologian, critic and exegete, is therefore in this article challenged to make a significant contribution using the African context in that, ‘… the African concept of child, family and community appears to be closer to ecclesiology than the Western concepts’.
Child theology is relatively a new concept, field of study and a movement in African hermeneutics. However, such a reading and interpretation grid and paradigm are not unfamiliar to Africa. Bunge (
White (
It is appropriate from the onset and up front that I state the position or status of a child in traditional Africa. In traditional African societies, the birth of a child is both physical and religious. Actually, the significance of this birth commences long before the real birth. The pregnant mother receives special treatment from family, relatives and even the community. Indeed, in most African societies, marriage is not fully recognised until the woman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a child
Furthermore, Uka (
Hence every newly married couple look forward to having a child or children shortly after nine months of marriage, believing that they extend their life and immortalise their names especially through their male children. Children are the glory of marriage and in most African societies with a rural agricultural base, having many children is a highly prized achievement. This is one of the potent reasons why marrying more than one woman was upheld. Also providing many children provided a man with an enhanced social stature and much needed labour force. In fact parents laboured to train their children in order that they might support them when they became old, weak and incapable of looking after themselves.
To further underscore the importance and centrality of ‘child’ in Africa, among the Northern South Sotho (The Pedi) people of South Africa, the birth of a child is an event of great importance. Not only does it initiate a new member into a group, but in the case of the first child it confers on the mother (ostensibly to the father too) the status of parenthood which, for the tribe, is synonymous with attaining the full status of a woman/man. The birth of a child also concludes the obligations of the mother’s group to the father and his group; it proves the manhood of the father and perpetuates his lineage. The rites connected with birth centre around the mother and the child. The mother is invested with a new status and the child is accorded the status of a new member of the group (see Mahlangu
It is in this light, as mentioned above – the child occupying such an important place in society that in this article I intend to discuss the fact that ‘child theology’ can be a hermeneutical procedure and paradigm through which the biblical text can be read and interpreted in Africa. In the subsequent discussion, I will submit two reasons for this position. Firstly, it will be indicated that though the child is important in Africa, children today face unprecedented abuses and hardships. Such a phenomenon cannot and should not escape the attention and focus of biblical critics and exegetes in Africa. Historically African scholars have always read Scriptures in the light of current issues encountered by Africans – ‘Reading and interpreting the bible, whether as an “ordinary” or “critical” reader, has always been strongly influenced and shaped by a person’s unique character and life-story’ (Kitzberger
Child and childhood are historically, culturally and socially variable. It is a truism that ‘child’ and childhood are best understood within a cultural context and to attempt to universalise the concept child is a misinterpretation of the world of the child. Children and the notion of ‘child’ have been regarded in different historical epochs, in different cultures and in different social groups (see Ndofirepi & Shumba
just as feminism in the seventies had to learn that sisterhood is not ‘universal’ but comprises different ethnic, national and religious women’s movements, so then the post-modern and post-colonial discourse on children has to take multiple forms depending on geography, culture, politics, gender and religion. (p. 72)
Up to this point of this article, the expression ‘African’ has been constantly and consistently used. Countless books, conference papers and articles about Africa, Africanism and Africanness are written without a clear attempt to state who or what an African is. It is ostensibly taken for granted by the presenter and/or writer that the listener or reader shares the same conception of the definition with them (Mahlangu
Even before Oosthuizen, Mazrui (
In the light of the above definition of who/what and African is, what then is the conceptions of ‘child’ among traditional Africans? This view is closely linked to the African concept of personality and community. Mahlangu (
The traditional African concept of ‘child’ is thus located within a string of kinship and relatedness in community relationships. In Africa, a child is everybody’s child. Characterised by a communalistic philosophy, traditional African communities place the child in close contact with a larger group, socialise the young into the group and the group in turn has the responsibility towards the child. The child in turn responds by offering a duty towards not only the immediate family members but also the larger community. Thus, a reciprocal relationship prevails. The reciprocity principle entails values ‘sharing resources, burden, and social responsibility, mutual aid, caring for others, interdependence, solidarity, reciprocal obligation, social harmony and mutual trust’. The community demands that the child forsakes individual good in order to submit to the collective interests. This is opposed to the Western worldview that attaches great importance to individual interest, autonomy, universality, natural rights and neutrality. The African communalistic worldview stresses the common good social practices and traditions character, solidarity and social responsibility (See Daly
Gbadegesin (
The meaning of this is that the child as an extension of the family tree, should be given a name that reflects his/her membership thereof, and it is expected that the name so given will guide and control the child by being a constant reminder to his/her or his/her membership of the family and the circumstances of his/her birth. The African concept of ‘child’ is therefore closely tied with the concept of self and community. (p. 292f)
Kilbourn (
A girl in Africa faces a double sword from within and outside cultural values. In the past and even today she experiences multidimensional forms of discrimination. When a girl does not go to school her rights are abused under the veil of preservation of cultural values. When she is educated, her rights are criticized under the pretext that she does not fit into the cultural context or she is a feminist. Thus, new forms of marginalization continue to haunt the girl child in Africa. (p. 67)
In the article, ‘Karaboyakerekemabapi le ditšhiwana le banabaobalegokotsingkalebaka la HIV AIDS: Maikutlo a sedumedisakapebeleng’,
As stated above the history of biblical interpretation in Africa has always been in cognisance of the African context. Justin Ukpong’s (
From the above discussion, it is clear that African theologians never hesitated to address issues affecting sections of the population, the oppressed, women, HIV/AIDS infected and affected, the poor etc. It is in this context that I argue that the plight of the child in Africa presents a challenge to biblical scholarship in Africa. Despite the staggering magnitude of the crisis faced by the ‘child’ in Africa, there has been a little theological reflection. Maluleke (
The mounting study of the family in the classical period (Graeco-Roman) is gaining momentum and continues to engage among others, biblical scholars. This mounting interest by biblical critics and exegetes is indicative of the fact that the family as reality but also as metaphor could be a hermeneutical procedure, paradigm and methodology through which the bible could be read and interpreted (see Mahlangu
Unlike their Roman and Greek neighbours, the Jews valued children as a gift from God. Du Plessis (
The Jews regarded the male child as more important than the girl. For instance, a boy was circumcised and named on the eighth day (Lk 1:59; 2:21 and Phlp 3:5), while a daughter was named only after a month. Archer (
Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, learned and pious teacher, very different from the other Pharisees,
The discourse between Jesus and Nicodemus (the expression of faith. through the symbol of the new birth) contains some of the most significant metaphors in the Johannine corpus. Hence, Van der Watt (
Jesus ignores Nicodemus’ confession or flattery, ‘… Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him’ (3:2). Jesus confronts Nicodemus with a stunning statement, ‘… I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again’ (3:3). Right from the onset Jesus uncompromisingly states that man, they are, is excluded from salvation, that is, from the sphere of God. Yet, he states that salvation may be possible for him to become another man – a new man.
The terms ‘born from above’ and ‘born of the Spirit’ appear to be used interchangeably and are virtually synonymous. The dualistic framework of John’s Gospel is also encountered in this pericope. The spirit and flesh are mutually exclusive; as flesh begets only flesh and only spirit can beget spirit (3:6; 6:63). The flesh is in this context not necessarily regarded as evil, but it is incapable of effecting salvation (6:63) (see Miller
The Spirit is not a component part of man, but the influence which directs the whole man once he has been reborn. This influence is analogous to the wind (verse 8). The man born from the flesh is a man as he is by nature, impelled by the forces of his own natural endowment. The man born from the spirit is man as he is when open to the influence of God, with all his natural forces brought under the control of the Spirit. (p. 153)
The most important expression in this dialogue is γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν.
The Fourth Evangelist uses the family metaphor of the birth to express a spiritual reality of faith. The word γεννάω implies that another birth has already taken place. Van der Watt (
Still on the question of the social features of the Jesus–Nicodemus dialogue, Rensberger (
The Johannine church therefore appears to have affirmed their identity in terms of their election by the Father: ‘… whoever received him, he gave them power to become children of God’ (1:12), ‘… from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace’ (1:16). Blasi (
An attempt has thus far been made to investigate John 3:1–8 by way of raising questions pertaining to the cultural, social and religious location of the Johannine community. In this process, it has been illustrated that there is a connection between the Johannine ecclesiology and the first historical readers of the Gospel. In other words, the text of John’s Gospel contains an ‘ecclesiology’ and Christological ideology, which has encoded and replicated the community’s cosmology. Jerome Neyrey (
Neyrey (
In the Fourth Gospel, Jesus regarded Himself as a member of the Jewish covenant community (1:45; 5:39; 7:40–44;52). He, however, challenged the manner in which the Jewish faith and Scriptures were interpreted particularly by the Pharisees, as for instance the Sabbath (9:21–24, 5:16, 9:16). Thus the controversy between Jesus and the Jewish leaders further indicates that the grid was low and failing (see Neyrey
Malina et al. (
Child theology is relatively not an old movement but its impact and significance in the hermeneutical landscape especially in Africa is very much promising. This article is indicative of this assertion. In the foregone discussion, the author attempted to respond to the question whether we can read and interpret the bible from the child theology vantage point. The author’s answer is in the affirmative in two ways: Firstly, it has been indicated that the majority of children in Africa are facing abuses of unprecedented proportions. Historically and traditionally, African scholars always read and interpreted the bible with African lenses. The African bible critic and exegete should be part of the church, the body of Christ which ought to be a lotus of healing. Theologising in the context of the crisis of the ‘child’ in Africa is fairly a new development and needs to be aggressively pursued. The second aspect of this author’s response is that when Christianity entered the Graeco-Roman as well the Jewish milieu, it used the family symbolism such as father, brothers, love, house of God, children of God and so on. The New Testament authors therefore used family as reality and metaphor to proclaim the gospel. The African theologian, critic and exegete, is therefore in this article challenged to make a significant contribution using the African context in that, ‘… the African concept of child, family and community appears to be closer to
The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
Furthermore, developing vibrant religious undertakings of children can also empower religious communities to rethink their ministries to children and strengthen their support for all children in need (p. 574).
Matthew 18:2 ‘He called a little child and had him stand among them …’
In some societies once the man discovers that the woman is pregnant he may not sleep with her until few weeks or month after birth. Obviously this has little to do with physical considerations but the woman is regarded as religiously or ceremonially unclean at this time. To the Ingessana people of Sudan – once a woman is pregnant she goes back to her home until few weeks/months after delivery. This is a religious affair … the first born baby must be born at his/her mother’s place. For the Mao people of Kenya – once a woman is pregnant there is no direct communication between husband and wife (Mahlangu
The Creator God.
Breutz (
Spelling out the importance of family in biblical criticism, Van der Watt ( The family metaphors played an important role in the formation of early Christianity. The Christian theology was centred upon filiation: God is the Father, Jesus the Son, the converts were the brothers and sisters of Christ and the true heirs of Abraham.
Sundermeier (1998:9) attempts to identify who an African is and states that:
Anyone encountering Africans will find that they are passionate lovers of life. They are not influenced by the philosophy of Plato, who questioned the phenomenological world that gave real ontological value only to the invisible. The philosophy of Descartes, who put a distance between human beings (res cogitans) and the world (res extensa) do not influence them. This led to the domination of nature and animals, which were held in such contempt that in the end the cry of an animal was not valued more highly than the noise of the machine. Africans turn to this world in order to experience wholeness.
Anyanwu ( To define an African as a person born and bred of African stock is really a secular definition, because one then has to define African stock. On the other hand, by African we mean a person born and bred in the continent of Africa, then we have Africans of various types: Bushmen, Pygmees, Nilotics, Bantu, Berbers, Arabs and even Whites, and others. It is a biological fact that these physical types differ from each other in easily recognisable bodily characteristics.
The Zulu concept of self and community is also very interesting. It is informed by the belief in the origin of human beings. It is believed that man originated as a group/family. As a clan they originated from the reeds. Therefore the interests of the community come first more than those of the individual. Therefore the view of man is not individualistic. Persons only become people within their cohabitation with others.
Since 2014 in Nigeria 276 girls remain missing after being abducted by Boko Haram from their school by the terror group Boko Haram. The girls were taken because they were pursuing their education – a reminder to us all of the many obstacles related to culture and tradition that girls in many parts of Africa must overcome to improve their lives.
The English title is, ‘The church’s response towards orphans and vulnerable children as a result of HIV AIDS: A theological biblical perspective’.
In this particular article Ukpong (
See Ernest van Eck’s (
The author’s insertion, in the original quote the ‘child’ is not listed.
Another important milestone hermeneutics in Africa was the publication of Interpreting the New Testament in Africa (Getui et al.
The epistemological privilege is not given only to the receptive audience but equally shared by the three sets of cultures involved in this dialogue. A unique epistemological privilege is granted to the original biblical cultures because of their canonicity, the cultures of Christian traditions benefit from their particular elderliness and the current target cultures are entitled to a peculiar epistemological privilege because of their present livingness in blood and flesh. Intercultural exegesis can also be better conveyed by the expression ‘intercultural mediation’ since the dialogical process under consideration involves not only literary works but also artistic symbols and human heroes who ensure the transmission of the gospel from one culture to another (Loba-Mkole
‘Mama Africa has been struck by a new disease: HIV/AIDS. She is now a nurse. She runs home-based care centres, for her dying children and people. She washes them, feeds them, holds them in her arms and rocks them, singing a little song while she waits for her death. And when they finally die, she rises to close her eyes, to wrap them and bury them. Mama Africa bears it in her own flesh, the wounds of their suffering. And they die in her loving arms … ’
The fact that children were treated like this in the Roman family does not show that they were not important but indicates that the Graeco-Roman world was the man’s world. The ‘significance’ of children could be discerned from the following fact: The manner in which adoption procedures were fully developed proves that a family which was childless and did not wish to divorce, had to have children (Dixon
Who for a pretence made big prayers and made found his phylacteries.
A teacher come from God.
It may be that same question as asked by the rich young man about the qualifications for entering the Kingdom of God (Mk 10:17) or that of the scribe relating to the supreme commandment of the law (Mk 12:28) – these were the matters often discussed by the Rabbis.
Truly Truly I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.
Boldness (my own) to just make explicit the importance of the child.
You must be born again …