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In investigating the research problem the theoretical framework and the methodology informed each other. It is therefore important to outline the methodology of the study.
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exploration of how the oppression of women is interwoven with the exploitation of nonhuman forms of life and a mining of African indigenous knowledge systems such as myths of origin and rituals to see how they may inform the reading of the biblical creation myths to promote gender and ecological justice.
Given that the text (Gen. 1-3) under investigation, is a composite of myths, the study will draw on Rudolf Bultmann’s (1953, 1960) concept of demythologisation to decode the meaning of the myths. Although, arguably a very dated theory, the concept of demythologisation is significant in the African context as it is well established that myths form an important part of the African cosmological worldview (Mbiti 1969:92-95, Phiri 1996, Setiloane 1986). It is also recognised that myths serve to entrench traditional thought patterns and can construct the world in gendered and other ways. In other words myths form an important part of “meaning-making,” which is the process of how individuals make sense of knowledge, experience, relationships, and the self (c.f.
Dirkx 1998).
The term demythologisation refers to the decoding of myths or the reinterpretation of ancient mythical patterns of thought in the biblical text in accordance with contemporary thought patterns. Bultmann argues that contemporary thought demands a modern scientific view of the universe which interprets reality in terms of a closed cause-and-effect natural order (Bultmann 1953:5, 1960:158). While Bultmann applied this concept to the interpretation of the New Testament in the context of miracles, this study will use the concept of demythologisation to detect and decode the ideologies and politics embedded in the biblical myths of origin and in the process of interpretation. As Macquarrie (1977:133) observes, the method of demythologising is not intended to eliminate the mythological statements found in the bible but to interpret them.
Thus, the study seeks to unravel the message that is enshrouded in the myths in order to bring out the gender and ecological message in the biblical text. Such a message can challenge the communities who regard the bible as a sacred text to foster ecological justice. My research methodology and design thus follows steps that are presented below.
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1.6.1. Library research
My methodology for data collection is philosophical and non-empirical. It involved collecting written information on ecological issues found in published and unpublished materials at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and other libraries in South Africa. I consulted books, journals and internet sources such as e-books and e-journals, both in Africa and the global north. I also consulted materials from research centres and universities in South America and India where research has been undertaken on religion, ecology and indigenous knowledge systems. For resources on the Tonga people and territorial cults I consulted libraries and research centres in Zambia.
1.6.2. Data Analysis
My methodology for data analysis was inter(con)textual, employing the gendered demythologisation analytical perspective outlined above. The study draws on the fundamental premise of feminist theory which holds that the starting point of any literary analysis including the bible is the experience of women (Loomba 1998, Fiorenza 2001:171). Fiorenza (2001:171) rightly points out that:
Personal experience is determined socially and religiously, it demands critical analysis and reflection that can explore the social location of experience. Experience is a hermeneutical starting point, not a norm. Only certain experiences, namely the experiences of struggle and liberation for justice and radical equality, can be articulated as feminist norms.
This helped me to measure the value of the resources that I collected. In collecting and analysing my biblical data, I drew on the tri-polar approach of African biblical interpretation. Draper (2001, 2002) shows that “biblical interpretation in Africa typically consists of three poles: the pole of the biblical text, the pole of the African context, and the pole of appropriation”. What this means is that the bible does not speak with one voice. It is a product of a particular community.
Thus, there has been ideological and political contestation in the history of its formation and interpretation. This view is in line with postcolonial thought that contests the predominantly
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western modes of biblical interpretation. Kwok (1995:30) suggests “the demythologisation of biblical authority, the demystification of the use of the bible, and the construction of new models of interpretation of the bible”. But, Segovia (2000:119-132) puts it even more succinctly.
Using the same grid of biblical interpretation as Kwok (1995:30), Segovia (2000) suggests three different but equally important worlds that readers of the bible must investigate. These are the world of the text, the world of modernity and the world of today. Similarly, an African gendered ecological hermeneutic of demythologisation as an analytical tool engages with the world of the text, the world of modernity and the world of today, but using a penta-polar approach.
Firstly, it engages with the pole of the world of the Ancient Near East, the world in which the biblical myths were written and edited. Secondly, this hermeneutic engages with the pole of the text itself. The language that has been used by the narrator or the editor can encode patriarchal and anti-nature ideologies. The third pole analyses what Segovia (2000) refers to as “the world of modernity”, analysing the history of biblical interpretation. The biblical text not only has its own historical world and environment, but has been interpreted in history and continues to rewrite its story, leaving its original text and readers far behind. The west and European imperialism have influenced the interpretation of the biblical text. In other words, bible and western modes of interpretation should be “demystified” (Kwok 1995:30). Demystifying the bible involves a sustained level of suspicion as regards the text, its culture, the culture of the reader and the influence of western imperialism.
The fourth pole consists of the African context. This pole holds that the analysis of the reality of the reader’s world is as important as the worldview of the writer or narrator of the biblical text. It is for this reason that African indigenous knowledge systems offer important resources for the reading of the bible. Thus, Tonga myths and other indigenous ecological resources have something to offer to reading of the bible in the context of the ecological crisis. The fifth pole consists of the method of appropriation. It brings the reader and the text into dialogue (West 2008:3).
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The penta-polar approach shows that western models of biblical interpretation should not be universalized because they represent a limited worldview. Furthermore, the bible is a culturally conditioned book whose authority is contextual and dialogical (Schneiders 1991:55-57). And so, the starting point of biblical interpretation is with the marginalized, be they human or non- human. The penta-polar approach will be used as discussed below.
1.6.3. The pole of the world of the ANE
This pole attempts to give a voice to the text by locating it within its social-historical context using historical-critical tools (West 2008:10). This is important in order to understand the biblical myths of origin. The social-historical context is used as springboard for understanding the text itself.
1.6.4. The pole of the biblical text
Fiorenza (1998:67) insists that “all biblical texts are rhetorical texts”. This implies the need to locate the text within its linguistic and literary context. The concerns for external issues such as the world behind the text are therefore used in this study to create an understanding of the literary world of the text (Trible 1978:8). The exegesis of Genesis 1-3 is undertaken employing the traditional exegetical tools with the help of relevant literature to understand the literary text and then appropriate it in a Zambian context.
1.6.5. The pole of modernity
As has been pointed out, the biblical text has been interpreted throughout history and it continues to rewrite its story in the modern context (Kwok 1995:30). This pole looks at the text and how it has been influenced by the history of European imperialism and by modernity.
1.6.6. The pole of the African context
Nadar (2001: 161) underscores the importance of engaging with the biblical text and of being aware of ways in which the social location of the reader shapes its interpretation. This stage therefore considers the message of the text (Gen. 1-3) in the light of its meanings for the original
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readers and for readers today in the Zambian context. Although I have not used a contextual bible study, I acknowledge the importance of engaging with the context in biblical interpretation.
My data for the African context is produced on the basis of indigenous knowledge systems15 among the Tonga people of Zambia. This stage leads to the appropriation of the message of the biblical text into the Zambian context.
1.6.7. The pole of appropriation
As West (2008:3) puts it, the pole of appropriation brings the reader and the biblical text into dialogue resulting in praxis. At this stage there is a need to shift the focus from the reader and her individual interaction with the biblical text towards a consideration of broader social implications for women of reading such a text (Milne1997:48, 56). West (2008:3) notes that “the kind of contextual change and transformation envisaged in particular African contexts shapes how the biblical text and African context are brought into dialogue”. For West, inculturation hermeneutics, liberation hermeneutics, feminist hermeneutics and postcolonial hermeneutics represent forms of appropriation in African biblical scholarship (West 2008:3-6). This study adds ecological hermeneutics as another form of appropriation emerging in African biblical scholarship.
It must be noted that people in communities of faith who regard the bible as a sacred text view it as a source of inspiration. Nadar (2003:3) argues that “there is overwhelming evidence of the pivotal role the Bible plays in most communities of faith”. In other words, readers of the bible in communities of faith begin with a hermeneutic of trust. They do not regard the bible as a scholarly book to be critiqued. Recognizing that the way in which the bible is interpreted can either liberate or oppress, and given the implications that a patriarchal interpretation of the bible may have for women and the natural world, the study employs a hermeneutic of suspicion as its starting point. A hermeneutic of suspicion scrutinises the biblical text and holds that authority for biblical interpretation does not reside within the text (Fiorenza 1992:53). The study therefore,
15“Indigenous knowledge systems” is a new field in the academy and has as such been contested by some scholars. I
will use a gendered cultural hermeneutics (Kanyoro 2002) to critically analyse the resources collected.
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develops an indigenous interpretative model that exposes patriarchy in the text but also retrieves that which empowers women and the natural world.