Comparing The Bible, Africa, And The Church In The Postmodern Era

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The Bible, Africa, and the
Church in the Postmodern Era” Jews and Christians consider the books of the Bible to be a product of divine inspiration or an authoritative record of the relationship between God and humans. However, today (postmodern era), the Bible is being read with one’s own meaning being added to the text. If understanding correctly, numerous important issues of the Bible are questioned also disputed in postmodernism. It seems as though the Bible and its truth is being put on trial. Not to mention, in the postmodern era, they cannot connect between the timeless principles of Scripture and the ever-present problems of day-by-day living. In this case, postmodernism must realize and accept (John 14:6, “I am …show more content…

In biblical times Africa included much of what European maps have come to call the “Middle East.” The Bible never mentions England nor Germany however, Africa is mentioned so many times in the Bible that one would presume that its extensive political, cultural, also economic significance in the Biblical period was common knowledge. Many biblical and extra-biblical ancient sources mention Egypt and Ethiopia together, almost interchangeably. In fact, the Bible provides extensive evidence that the earliest people were located in Africa. The Garden of Eden account, found in Genesis 2: 8-14, indicates that the first two rivers of Eden were in ancient Cush, the term that the Greeks would later transpose as “Aithiops,” or Ethiopia, meaning literally, “burnt face people.” Genesis 2:11-12 connects the Pishon River with Havilah a direct descendant of Cush (Gen 10:7). It was believed that in the beginning Adam was formed “from the dust of the earth.” This very “dust” was envisioned as soil of Africa. Accordingly, generic man was African/Edenic; generic man in a word was black by modern classifications or racial typologies. Whether one interpret Adam to have been an individual or a nation of people, it is clear that there is one Father (God) and one Mother (earth). The earth was of Africa/Eden (Yamauchi …show more content…

The Afrocentric interpretation of the Bible does provide a different perspective about things that happened in the Bible and the people who are mentioned in the Scriptures. However, it is important that the Afrocentric scholars don 't push their thesis to extreme conclusions that would their credibility. And yet, Afrocentric biblical interpretation is needed considering it is critical for our Christian faith as African Americans. In the Original African Heritage Bible (KJV) Edition, it states that some struggle with the meaning of Afrocentrism in biblical interpretation. Again, the black or African presence in the Bible embraces much of black theology also biblical interpretations based upon the meaning of blackness as applied to religious experience. However, Afrocentricity constitutes a new way of examining this data, carrying with it the assumptions about the current state of the African world. We know all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God and II Timothy 2:15, states to “study to show thyself approved unto to God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Therefore, the author Yamauchi, shares how we should thank Afrocentric scholars for calling attention to the neglected evidence of significant passages that refer to blacks in both the Old and New Testaments. Ultimately, Afrocentric biblical interpretation is needed considering the contributions of

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