BIBLE AND ORALITY IN AFRICA: INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES

BIBLE AND ORALITY IN AFRICA

The papers offered in the present volume explore the connections between the Bible and orality in the African contexts to share more theological knowledge about and through oral communications. Each paper tackles this topic from the perspective of a given theological or related discipline, using methods such as narratology, literary analysis, media criticism, socio-anthropological, theological, liturgical, ethical approaches and others. Owing to the interconnectedness between the continents, this initiative welcomed papers in two languages (English and French), addressing the same issue and using similar or different methods relevant to their own contexts.

Common to most African cultures is the use of orality in different forms of communication. Demonstrated in various ways with examples drawn from African cultures and Biblical texts, the various authors of widely researched articles that are compiled in this book reveal the importance of orality both in Africa and in the world of the Bible. The book will be of immense help to researchers of all walks of life, particularly persons in interdisciplinary studies, sociologists and Biblical scholars (Mary Jerome Obiorah, IHM, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria).

This very rich collection of articles on the Bible and Orality in Africa by scholars from various parts of the world will enable Bible readers to engage with it through fresh insights. Greater attention to oral tradition makes us appreciate how the Bible has emerged from the hearts of people pondering and sharing together their experiences of life and of God. This process is very familiar to African communal life and these studies will stimulate the practice of turning the written text again into a sharing of present day experiences of life and God (Paul B Decock, OMI, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa).