Biblical Text and God's Character Research Proposal

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Introduction

In Judaism and Christianity, the Bible is attributed to a sacred status upon which rests the conviction that the Word is the receptacle of revealed divinity. However, among humanity, the knowledge that the Bible is the Word of God has not served to generate a common, uniform, and universal hermeneutical principle for its interpretation. Across human history, the Bible has been interpreted diversely, with some arguing that interpretation of the Bible must be literal because, by being the Word of God, it is explicit, express, and complete[footnoteRef:1]. Others have argued that the Words in the Bible bear a deeper spiritual meaning because the message of God and his truth are self-evidently profound. Hermeneutic liberationist is one of the ways of interpreting the Bible. [1: William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr. Introduction to biblical interpretation. Zondervan Academic, 2017.]

Throughout history, the Bible has been used to oppress those perceived to be weak, poor, or inferior. One of the best examples being slavery during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade were slaves were required to submit to their Masters, for they were superior based on their White skin color. To help maintain slavery, the white slave masters developed white supremacists' theories, which were founded on a biased interpretation of the Bible[footnoteRef:2]. The superiority story has always been drawn from the Noah story in the Bible, where he cursed Ham and declared Shem to be able all[footnoteRef:3]. In this sense, the Bible and its Euro-centric, male-dominant, White supremacist interpretation have been the source and cause of privilege and prejudice across the globe. However, through hermeneutic liberationist, the reader of the Bible develops a completely different understanding of the Word of God as revealed in the Bible, and as a consequence, a different understanding of the nature of God. [2: Gerald O. West. "Locating 'Contextual Bible Study' within biblical liberation hermeneutics and intercultural biblical hermeneutics." HTS Theological Studies 70, no. 1 (2014): 1-10.] [3: Genesis 9:20-27]

The goal of this research

This study is meant to determine the character of God as revealed in the biblical text, under the hermeneutic liberationist lenses of reading the Bible. This research seeks to explore how contextual biblical hermeneutics, in general, can be put in conversation with the historical-critical (original context) of the approach.

Research question

To help in meeting the study goal, this research will seek to answer the question: How could read the Bible (or specifics biblical texts) with a liberationist biblical hermeneutic impact a reader's understanding of the character of God?

Definition of terms

Hermeneutics: the interpretation of the biblical text to make sense and be useful to the reader[footnoteRef:4]. [4: Anthony C. Thiselton. Hermeneutics: an introduction. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2009.]

Exegesis: the critical explanation of bible scripture[footnoteRef:5]. [5: John H. Hayes, and Carl R. Holladay. Biblical exegesis: a beginner's handbook. Westminster John Knox Press, 2007.]

Liberationist theology: the synthesis of the bible text within social, economic, and political circumstances concerning persons who are oppressed[footnoteRef:6]. [6: Supra, note 2, at 1-10.]

Literature review

Liberationist hermeneutics

The theology of liberation began to gain ground as a theological movement in the early years of the 1970s[footnoteRef:7].

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Hermeneutics liberationist is a complex phenomenon, and it should be oversimplified. The beginning of this approach of interpreting the Bible is to be found from two church events; the Second Vatican Council with the declaration of aggiornamento and the need to orient the work of clerics to the needs of the common man, and the Second General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin[footnoteRef:8]. These two events were focused on the economic, social, and political events of Latin America. The movement then spread to other areas of the globe, including Asia, Africa, and the Black population within the United States. [7: Pontifical Biblical Commission. The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church: Address of His Holiness Pope John Paul II and Document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1993.] [8: Ibid]

Liberationist hermeneutics…

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…theology, which the Bible is replete of, the minority and oppressed community have come to understand the true value and character of God and his position on the oppressed[footnoteRef:13]. Therefore, the oppressed can see God through their circumstances. [13: Supra, note 10, at 15-52.]

For the Latino and Black Church in America, the Asian Christian community in Asia, and the Christian Church in Independent Africa, the ideas that will be generated in these findings will add to the resource that is helping congregations in better understanding the nature of God as depicted in the Bible. This will be possible by providing the Word through the liberationist perspective and though individual stories and their collective congregational stories. It is expected that this research will improve the practice of discipleship and help to create an intimate relationship between the formerly oppressed communities and the God of the Bible. The principal investigator will be able to learn and provide useful information to add to how Biblical text is read and how this reading has informed the individuals and the worshipping community. Expected outcomes include the sharpening of Biblical reading and interpretation and the ways to proclaim and live that interpretation. This will lead to overall thinking of the congregation(s) towards a more ethical understanding of God's character.

Influence by third-parties

Thus far, this research has been influenced by various third parties among them; the research supervisors, and library staff at the Pitt Library reference staff. This influence is expected to continue into the research and reporting phases of the project. The influence of supervisors has played a crucial role in streamlining the current study, especially in the determination of the appropriate research method for this study. The Pitts Library reference staff has influenced this proposal in pointing the researcher into the right references for this study. Secondly, in the determination of the appropriate databases to search, so far, materials provided by the library reference staff has been significantly resourceful.

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