African Biblical Hermeneutics

Call For Papers: 1) Reflections on African Biblical Hermeneutics in Society of Biblical Literature. “For over twenty years, African Biblical Hermeneutics has brought rigorous scholarship to the work of the Society of Biblical Literature. This session will host an invited panel to reflect on the history of this work and propose directions forward. Panelists will be encouraged to engage the contributions of John Mbiti and/or Justin Ukpong in shaping the field of ABH; both of whom have transitioned into the world of ancestors and are now a cloud of witnesses to the work of ABH.”   2) Biblical and African Constructions of Bodies in Light of Human Trafficking issues in Africa. Human trafficking is a phenomenon of historical and contemporary trauma in Africa. This session invites papers on the roles of the Bible and African cultures in identifying, describing and addressing human trafficking in Africa. Particular focus should be on the relation between human trafficking and ideological constructions of bodies, through linguistic nomenclature, stories, division of labour, gendered roles, ethnic and racial stereotypes, etc., in African cinema and other forms of media. 3) Disabilities Studies, the Bible, and African Understandings of Health and Wholeness. This session invites a spectrum of papers on African conceptions of disability. Discussions are welcome on methodological, theological and hermeneutical analyses of the role of the Bible, African cultural myths, stigmatization, and religion in defining and responding to notions of abled, disabled, or differently-abled bodies, as well as mental impairments.  4) African Intertextual Readings of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the New Testament. Intertextuality is now in its “Second Wave” – having begun with inner-biblical intertextuality, it has extended to postbiblical intertextuality. This session invites intertextual and intercontextuality readings of canonical texts within or between the Testaments, from African perspectives.

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