THE INCULTURATION HERMENEUTICS OF JUSTIN S. UKPONG
3. The Inculturation Hermeneutics of Justin S. Ukpong 11
3.3. The Text in Ukpong’s Method
Some considerations are required in order to approach a biblical text by his method.
For Ukpong, the text contains a threefold dimension: it refers to an old book which bears a very ancient and venerated text. The textual and literary contexts are of significance in the interpretive process. The contextual reading of the text brings about social change.
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Being an ancient document, the interpreter must pay attention to the historical context to explain the text. This implies that the analysis of such texts will explore the historical origins of these texts, which will prepare the contextual reading. It clarifies one of the poles of the contextualisation process (Ukpong 2000:17).
3.3.2. The Literary Context
After examining the historical context, a Congolese reader has to be attentive to the textual and literary contexts of the texts on semah. These literary aspects are:
structure, rhetoric, poetic, narrative features and inner logic which are important to understand the text (Adamo 2008:578). This aspect of the analysis links the African exegete to Western ones. It does not depend on the reader‟s context but only on the context of the Oracle on „branch.‟
3.3.3. A Transformative Oracle
The Oracles on „branch‟ have messages which could transform the readers‟ lives. This happens in the process of „appropriation.‟ African (Congolese) exegetes and those from other developing countries commit themselves to focusing on social change in Africa (Ukpong 2000:17; Adamo 2008:579). They would use the analysis of texts on semah as a transforming instrument for the current Congolese leadership situation.
The Oracles on „branch‟, as analysed in its socio-cultural context, are of significance for the current leadership situation in the Congo. Jeremiah‟s promise to the people of the time has a potential power to transform the mind of Congolese leadership for the better (Sugirtharajah 1991:438).13 Ukpong (2000:17) recognises that the reader‟s context is a „partner‟ to the contextual reading of a text. In entering into the text, it
13 Sugirtharajah‟s approach adds an important dimension to the interpretative task; namely, it highlights the need „for interpreters to have goals‟. Liberation hermeneutics has forced interpreters to address themselves constantly to the question of specific goals. According to Sugirtharajah, interpretation is undertaken not primarily to solve intellectual queries: “the paramount concern of hermeneutics is to transform society” (1991:438-9). Here, I specify one can, through interpretation, propose a way to restore the community.
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evokes a critical awareness about the current Congolese leadership situation. It provokes the reader to make appropriate reactions, to give responses and to make commitments about the situation.
Taking into account Mbiti‟s statement, “I am because we are” (1969:108), I am aware of the Congolese leadership situation today. I am involved in the struggle for social justice, peace and prosperity in the DR Congo. In undertaking this contextual reading, my concern is to contribute towards a fruitful reflection on how to restore the State and church leadership in the DR Congo. It would be done through the rhema from the texts on semah. This provides the Congolese leadership with a possibility to be transformed (Ukpong 1995:7).
3.3.4. Conceptual Framework
The fourth component is the African cultural framework with its basic cultural assumptions (Ukpong (1995:8). Ukpong (1995:8)14 recognises some aspects of life which are common among all Africans. He focuses on four features of the African worldview:
i. There is continuity between the visible and invisible world;
ii. Africans believe in a divine origin of the universe;
iii. The African existence is defined in a community;
iv. Africans apprehend a concrete reality rather than an abstract one (Ukpong 1995:8; Snyman 2003:383).
3.3.4.1. The Nature of the Visible and Invisible World
Africans (Congolese) have a particular way to apprehend life in the world they live in.
In Congolese cultures for instance, a person is considered as composed of a visible and invisible dimension (Okure 1998:10). Ukpong (2002:15) says that Africans do not separate matter from spirit, secular from religious. There is continuity from the
14 Victor Turner (1974:34-35), states that “a root paradigm is a pattern of assumptions about the fundamental nature of the universe...These assumptions are usually unconscious but become visible in particular times of crisis”
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living dead to the living. Bakongo people, in Lower Congo Province (the DR Congo), affirm „bafua bena yeto kituadi’15 which means „the dead are always with us‟ (Okure 1998:10).
This reality influences the way Congolese leaders assume their responsibilities in ruling over the State albeit sometimes also in leading the church. The leadership pays great regard to the spirit world as a source of authority and power (Ellis and ter Haar 2004:3-4). In this regard, to get out of a difficulty, some leaders consult traditional healers to seek solutions to their problems. However, social problems often require hard work rather than consulting „religious‟ or „spiritists‟ (Ellis and Ter Haar 2004:4). In point of fact, in many cases the communication with the „spirit world‟
presents a particular interest to the Congolese leadership.
3.3.4.2. A Divine Origin for a Two-dimensional Universe
Congolese believe in God whose presence is effective in his creation. The creation is understood as a system which relates God, the world and the rest of the cosmos (Ukpong 2000:17). The two dimensions are God and humanity on the one hand, and the living and living-dead on the other. As Okure can argue:
Though God is the giver of life, the ancestors mediate this life. Bloodline establishes an unbroken chain of relationship between them and their descendants through the other living dead and elders of the clan (1998:12).
For the Congolese, life is no individual existence; it is a collective phenomenon. Life relates the living people and living-dead from the family (1998:12; LeMarquand 2004:23). This is quite the opposite to the Western conception of life as we can see in the following section (Draper 2002:15).
15 This language is „KIYOMBE‟, one of the Bakongo ethnic group languages in the Lower Congo Province, DR Congo, but also in South-East of Congo Brazzaville and the North of Angola. Kiyombe language is my mother tongue.
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3.3.4.3. The Communitarian Character of African Culture
Western philosophy as defined by Descartes cogito ergo sum states „I exist because I think.‟16 It expresses people‟s particular thinking and being which are individualistic (Draper 2002:15). However, the being of the Congolese people, in their thought system is understood “by „cognato ergo sum’ [sic] which means „I am related by blood, I belong to a family therefore, I exist.‟”17 For this, a man or woman is not an isolated individual, but a community individual. Mbiti (1969:108) recognises that the communitarian character of the African culture defines people‟s „existence in a community.‟ It expresses „I exist within a community.‟ It implies that a leadership in the Congo acts as „a network in a group.‟ For Ukpong, an African „identity‟ is constituted by her or his „belonging‟ to a group. This explains the way the individual leadership is assimilated with the rest of the team. It reflects also the way the leadership is considered in the Congo. The current difficulties in the Congo reflect from the consequences of the affected cultural identity of the Congolese leadership.
3.3.4.4. The Concrete and Not the Abstract
Congolese thought has a particular accent on the concrete realities instead of on the abstract (Ukpong 1995:9). The African way of thinking does not so much work with abstract concepts. It works with concrete examples, symbols and the importance of stories which relate to the concrete realities of life. This leads the African (Congolese) mind and heart to deeper reflection without any attempt to seize the thinking in clear cut concepts. This defines an aspect of the African being which determines her or his identity (Simpson and Weiner 1989:673). The issue of concrete and abstract impact on the way Africans (Congolese) understand or address several issues. It implies that the stories of good leadership will be more effective than abstract discourses.
16 Gamehacking, <http://www.gamehacking.com/sites/aboutces.php/> [Accessed May 26, 2009].
17 Grant LeMarquand, 2004. Siblings or Antagonists? The Ethos of Biblical Scholarship from the North Atlantic and African Worlds, <http://www.tesm.edu/pubs/writings/Document.2004-03- 02.4152592369/siblingsorantagonists/> [Accessed November 29, 2004].
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