Explorations in African Biblical Studies

Book excerpt: Finally I have managed to read the Manuscript of your book, Exploration in African Biblical Studies. I read it with much and personal interest. You have taken up a set of very interesting and important issues, which relate directly to the theological tasks of the Church in Africa. I appreciate the contributions you are making in this area - informative, challenging and stimulating. They show a good grasp of Biblical knowledge, so that you speak with a good measure of authority. As the book is a collection of essays, each would need to be judged on its own merit. There is no clear flowing link between them, so as to form a unit. I liked especially your treatment of African Cultural Hermeneutics. This area has not received much attention and your essay would be instrumental in opening the way in that direction. I do not feel so comfortable about the essay dealing with African-American Hermeneutics. My general feeling is that this is an area for African Americans to handle, just as areas dealing directly with Africa should be left to us to tackle. The essay on Cush-Africa in the Old Testament is fascinating and informative. You have made a very good case, which, among other things, demolishes the Anti-Africa attitude of many Western scholars. What you have demonstrated here should be said a hundred times over, and be said in the great centres of Biblical study the world over. Professor J. S. Mbiti, Germany