Maasai Women and the Old Testament

Are the popular interpretations of the Bible in Africa improving or downplaying women's status on the continent? This book analyses the reading of some biblical texts in the Maasai context.

The research presented in this book is a critical study of some effects of popular biblical interpretations in the context of an East African ethnic group, the Maasai. The book focuses on parallels between concepts of female inferiority in biblical texts and in Maasai traditional culture. It investigates some parallels and analyses their problems as they are conceptualized in popular Maasai biblical interpretation and how these affect the social transformation of the contemporary Maasai women.

Therefore, this book aims at sensitizing readers of the Bible about popular interpretation of biblical texts that consciously, and more often unconsciously, function as a legitimizing force, which authorizes or reinforces socio-cultural structures that oppress women. However, it demonstrates the potential of reading biblical texts from emancipatory perspectives, both in popular and academic critical contexts. Also, this book demonstrates how some popular Maasai biblical interpretations contributes in the academic works for the emancipation of women. Moreover, this work develops its own contextual hermeneutics approach of woman liberation known as enkitok. The new approach borrows some aspects from social fields and it has been employed in this work on some selected biblical texts.

Autorentext

Hoyce Jacob Lyimo-Mbowe is a Tanzanian, currently working in Zambia. She is Executive Director of Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation in Kitwe, Zambia. The present work was written during her time as a postdoctoral fellow at VID Specialized University, Stavanger, Norway, where she was part of VID s Maasai Bible Project.

Inhalt

Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction Case Presentation Research Problem Aim of the Project Methodology Ethical Considerations Who Are the Maasai? Research Context Summary Bibliography and Reference to Informants Theoretical Perspectives Terminology Clarifi cation of Feminist and Womanist Womanist Hermeneutics African Womanist Biblical Hermeneutics Examples of African Women Interpreting the Bible Action Research Reading Other-Wise, Ordinary Readers, and Reading With The Enkitok Approach Summary Bibliography and Reference to Informants Reading Four Old Testament Texts with Maasai Informants Maasai Informants Interpreting Genesis 1:27 Maasai Informants Interpreting 1 Samuel 1:128 Maasai Informants Interpreting Exodus 21:10 and Deuteronomy 21:1517 Summary Bibliography and Reference to Informants Dialogical Hermeneutics: Critical Analysis of the Interpretation of the Old Testament with the Maasai Informants Dialogical Analysis of Genesis 1:27 Dialogical Analysis of 1 Samuel 1 Dialogical Analysis of Exodus 21:1011 Dialogical Analysis of Deuteronomy 21:1517 Summary Bibliography and Reference to Informants Summary and Concluding Remarks Bibliography and Reference to Informants Index.