This study is an economic reading of the book of Habakkuk from a Malawian socio-economic and political point of view. CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL LIFE OF MALAWI.
Background and Motivation for the Study
This explains why we deliberately placed this study in the context of the poor and marginalized in Malawi. The goal of the dialogue is to explore what is contained in each context that helps us understand and appreciate both contexts.
Research Problem
A key component of this analysis will address the role of the church in the transformation of Malawi. What are the implications of the role of the church, observed both in its voice and its silence, in the socio-economic and political life of Malawi.
Research Hypothesis
Why are internal and external imperial dynamics in Habakkuk crucial to understanding Malawi's socio-economic and political context. How does poetic form of Habakkuk contribute to the understanding of the prophet's message and how does it challenge the Malawian socio-economic and political context.
Research Design and Methodology
In this case, the socio-economic and political situation in Malawi is our context; The book of Habakkuk is the text of this study; and pole of appropriation brings the biblical text and the context into dialogue. It begins by analyzing the African context, then moves to the biblical text and ends with dialogue.
Thesis Structure
Chapter five is a social-historical analysis of Habakkuk, while chapter six focuses on the literary and narrative context of the biblical text. In other words, the purpose is to show how literary relates to the socio-economic and political world of the book of Habakkuk.
Introduction
The sociological method (a tool used in the social sciences to analyze economics and politics) and the historical method will be used to analyze the context of Malawi. We will also use Marxist theory to analyze the political and economic aspects of the biblical text and the context of Malawi.
The African Contextual Biblical Hermeneutics
Contextualization
In other words, the "pole" of contextualization is about analyzing the context of the translator and his or her community (Nyirimana, 2010:41). Nyirimana further states that it is this context of the translator that determines the type of questions he/she brings to the text, as well as the type of response he/she can expect.
Distantiation
West points out that "before the text" focuses on taking the biblical message to our context. But we must also have the challenge - What does the context say for the text.
Theology of Liberation / Contextual Biblical Study
Liberation Biblical Hermeneutics
Jorge Pixley points out that liberation criticism begins with the hermeneutical insight that biblical interpretation is always influenced by the reader's experience and social location. He goes on to say that liberation criticism is rooted in the experience of oppression, which necessarily influences the reading of the Bible, suggesting that the political and social structure of any context will always influence the meaning of the text.
Postcolonial Biblical Criticism
Nor is it simply a story about the evils of the empire, and a contrast with the nobility and virtues of the native people and their cultures. The task today is not territorial liberation, but freedom from the control of the neocolonial market (Sugirtharajah, 2012: 134).
Methods for Textual and Contextual Analysis
Interpretive Paradigm in Qualitative Research Method
Gale Yee notes that the narratives of the Hebrew Bible recount that Israel endured various structures of imperial control over the course of its history, each with its particular brand of oppressive rule under imperial powers such as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and (for the New Testament) Rome. She goes on to point out that their socio-economic and cultural dominance of Israel makes it an excellent subject for postcolonial inquiry.
Textual and Contextual Methodologies
- Approaches for Analyzing the Socio-Historical Context of Habakkuk
- Approaches for Literary Analysis of Habakkuk
- Approaches for Analyzing the Malawi Socioeconomic and Political Context The Malawi socio-economic and political context will be analyzed using a sociological
Since we are interested in the community that created Habakkuk's text, we will use a sociological approach and a historical critical method to analyze the socio-historical world of the text. In this study, an analysis of documents will be carried out to investigate the book of Habakkuk and its socio-historical context.
Introduction
Therefore, this chapter defines Malawi's position by analyzing its politics and economy, which are the main forces behind the nation's social life. With this in mind, our starting point must be a view of the missionary-colonial era, because much of Malawi's political and economic foundational history stems from this period.
Political and Economic History of Malawi
Missionary-Colonial Era: British Settlement and African Response 1859-1964 Keen observers of the history of Malawi will agree that the account of Malawi‟s political and
- Dr David Livingstone: Contribution to the Making of Malawi
- Scottish Missionaries and Colonial Government
- Economic History of Malawi in the Missionary-Colonial Era
- Opposition to British Rule: Political Organizations in Malawi
Similarly, the threat of the Portuguese, who became increasingly hostile, contributed to the failure of the expedition. The failure of the Zambezi expedition contributed to British reluctance to interfere in Malawi's affairs.
Postcolonial History of Malawi: Banda and the Malawi Congress Party
- Tensions within Malawi Congress Party: Potential Thorns in Banda’s Side
- The Cabinet Crisis and Banda’s Reign of Terror
- The 1992-94 Political Change: Economic Mechanism in the Multiparty Era The church, under such circumstances, could not raise its voice against injustices perpetrated
Dunduzu Chisiza served notice that he would remain outwardly loyal to Banda's leadership for the sake of the nation and independence, but once independence was achieved he would then act unless there was real change in the interim (Ross, 2009:213). Banda's tyrannical mechanism paved the way for the country to have a single party government led by Banda.
Conclusion
At the helm of economies of extraction is the patronage system, which is the root cause of Malawi's problems. The use of recycled politicians encouraging the patronage system was also evident in Joyce Banda's regime and continues in the current administration of Peter Mutharika.
Introduction
ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL LIFE OF MALAWI.
The Church and Social Transformation in Colonial Era
Thought of David Livingstone: A Template for Social Transformation
- Livingstone’s Idea of Three Freedoms: Spiritual, Cultural and Economic Freedoms
In relation to spiritual freedom, Livingstone believed that people needed to be freed from sins and practices (such as superstition) that prevented them from living a life that honored God (Conradie, 2013: 119). As a theologian, Conradie notes, he believed that essential to the missionary task was the connection between biblical faith, social transformation and entrepreneurial development.
The Place of the Bible in Social Transformation
This suggests that the Bible played a crucial role when Livingstone was laying down the basic principles of the missionary task. He believed that the Bible is placed in the proper central location when the church is involved in the social, economic and political transformation of our communities.
Missionary Involvement in the Social Transformation of Malawi
- The Era of David Clement Scott and His Scottish Colleagues
- Responses to Chilembwe’s Rising
- Education Policy as a Consequence of the Rising
This second wave of missionary expansion resulted in the undermining of the Scots' Christian monopoly on the land (McCracken, 2012:105). McCracken says that recruiting staff into the DRC mission was one of the contributing factors to the mission's policy on education.
The Church and the Struggle for Independence 1915-1964
- The Church and the Formation of Nyasaland African Congress
- The Church and Congress versus Federation
Some of the pressing issues that Hetherwick addressed included the hardships of load carriers in the First World War (Amatengatenga) (Ross, 1996a: 188). In Chapter Three we saw the important role that Robert Laws played in the formation of the first indigenous association in Malawi in 1912.
Postcolonial Era: Establishment of Banda’s Rule
The Church under Banda’s Rule
The church seemed to be a compliant supporter of the lifetime president and his repressive one-party regime. 37 Ross (1998:87) points out that the Congress movement was very much the child of the Blantyre and.
The 1992 Catholic and Presbyterian Letters
Felix Chingota (1996:43) points out that the pastoral letter was very critical of the socio-economic and political conditions in Malawi. This discussion begins in chapter seven when we look at the Bible and the context of the poor and marginalized.
Conclusion
A historical and hermeneutical analysis of the role of the Church in the social transformation of Malawi shows that missionaries and local Christians have always turned to the Bible when addressing the pressing issues of their time. In this study, we turn to the book of Habakkuk to find a socio-economic ethic that can help the Church to solve the current problems of Malawi.
Introduction
The first part is a comprehensive analysis of Habakkuk's socio-economic background, which will focus on the dominant modes of production and the role of the temple in ancient Israel. The second part places Habakkuk in the wider geo-political context by mapping the internal and external imperial dynamics that contributed to the anguish of Judah in Habakkuk's time.
Geo-political Landscape of the Ancient Near East
The Fertile Crescent: The Economic Base of the Ancient Near East
- State Formation in the Ancient Near East
- Development of Politics in the Ancient Near East
- The Role of Empires in the Geo-politics of Ancient Near East
Accordingly, Van De Mieroop (2007:23) says that the need for exchange was the single most important element in the founding of a city or state. Miller and Hayes (1986:30) note that the early history of Israel and Judah takes place within the larger context of the Fertile Crescent and neighboring regions, especially Egypt.
The Land of Palestine: The Geo-political Landscape
- The Geo-political Importance of the Land of Palestine
Investigations into why Egypt is part of the Fertile Crescent require our knowledge of Egypt's relations with the ANE states. The conditions of Mesopotamia and Egypt were completely different from those of the land of Palestine.
The Age of Empires 3100-300 BCE
Like most of the ENE outside of Egypt and Mesopotamia, Palestine lacked any major rivers that could be used for irrigation (Gottwald, 2009:24). In short, this geopolitical description of the ANE should give some of the reasons for the inclusion of Egypt as part of the Fertile Crescent.
The Socio-Historical Location of Habakkuk
Economic Systems Used in Habakkuk’s Time
- The “Household” or “Communitarian” Mode of Production
- The Tributary Mode of Production (TMoP)
West agrees, asserting that the mode of producing tribute was characteristic of the imperial political economies of the ANE. The main role of the tribute was the maintenance of the temple-city complex and the great imperial state (Boer, 2007:41).
Internal and External Imperial Dynamics in Habakkuk: The Occasion of Prophecy
- The Righteous in Habakkuk
- Who are “the Wicked” in Habakkuk?
- To Whom Does the Mock Funeral Song Apply?
It is clear from the text that Habakkuk 1 and 2 provide clear clues to the date and circumstances of the prophecy. It is the anonymity of the wicked that makes this passage crucial to this study.
Conclusion
Indeed, this dissertation will address the question of the relevance of Habakkuk's prophecy to the contemporary context in Malawi. LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO HABAKKUK'S POETRY.
Introduction
Habakkuk was busy with his poetry because it was not only what he said, but how he said it that was part of the persuasion and transformation of his situation.
Why Habakkuk?
In this sense, structuralism is understood as a language that appeals to those in power. This undertaking will help connect the kind of economic work behind the text covered in Chapter Five with the literary work on the text that will be covered in this chapter.
Literary Context of the Book of Habakkuk
Habakkuk as one of the Minor Prophets belongs to the umbrella group of Later Prophets that form a unique corpus in the Hebrew Bible. Their message centered on the fall of Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom, which was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC.
The Message and Intent of Habakkuk
It was a heavy oracle of judgment and difficult to bear because Habakkuk was instructed to announce God's wrath on his countrymen. In this spiritual journey, Habakkuk learned that from God's perspective, everything works together for the believers' good and for His glory.
The Structure and Literary Genre of the Book of Habakkuk
Understanding the word hz"x' “saw” in the Title
Previous claims that the word hz"x' ḥāzâ is a loanword from Aramaic, where the verb and its derivatives are the common words used to indicate the act of seeing. This suggests that the word hz"x' ḥāzâ is different from the word hz"x' ḥāzâ. verb ha'r' rā'â "to see." Of course the verb and its derivatives appear in the First Testament alongside the verb ha'r' rā'â for all kinds of sight and vision , but are especially associated with the visions of the prophets (Prior, 1998:208).
Lament Used in a Dialogical Complaint (1:2-2:4)
- An Individual Lament: Habakkuk’s First Complaint (1:2-4)
- A Judgment Oracle: Response from God (1:5-11)
- An Individual Lament: Habakkuk’s Second Complaint (1:12-2:1)
- A Complaint-Response Oracle (2:2-4)
God's answer (1:5-11) is indirect and creates a more serious problem for Habakkuk, as it is not an oracle of deliverance (Gowan, 1998b:93). Habakkuk's second prayer ends with a declaration of faith (2:1), awaiting the Lord's answer to the dilemma (Armerding, 2008:617).
The Woe Oracles Given as Taunts (2:5-20)
- The Use of Woe Oracles in Habakkuk
Although there is now no evidence of blessing for the righteous, and that the temptation to doubt God's power (cf. Sweeney notes that the form of the rhetorical question (2:6) actually involves an assertion that everyone does indeed engage in such mocking the oppressor.
The Psalm of Habakkuk (3:1-19)
- A Theophanic Psalm (3:3-15): A Hymn of Praise and Exaltation
- A Psalm of Trust (3:16-19)
The psalm offers hope for Yahweh's decisive response to the prophet's challenge to God's justice. The effect of God's power is seen in the crumbling mountains and sinking hills (verse 6).
A Summary of the Literary Analysis of the work of Habakkuk
