End of the Road…for now…

Stellenbosch

It’s hard to believe I’ve come to my last full day in South Africa. After ten weeks full of travel, interviews, workshops, sightseeing, and coffee shop exploring, I’m now getting ready to board a plane back home to Chicago.The last week has been spent doing some reflecting, meeting with a few more contacts, and trying to soak up as much of South Africa as possible. I want to wrap up my travel blog with some of these final reflections. To start, since my trip was roughly divided into three parts in three cities, I want to reflect individually on each city.

Cape Town: Arriving in Cape Town, I had no idea what to expect apart from my general knowledge of South Africa.

Table Mountain, Cape Town

I did not know whom I would meet, what I would see, or how easy it would be to adjust to new surroundings. I think Cape Town was the ideal city to start my travels (I picked it—as opposed to starting in Jo’burg—because I would arrive in Cape Town after the last soccer match was held there, making accommodation easier). Cape Town is very tourist-oriented with lots of things to see and do outside of meeting with contacts; this made it very easy to slide into South African life. The city is also very easy to get around: most places were accessible on foot; an easy cab or train ride made anywhere else a quick trip. By the time I left Cape Town, I felt like I had a working knowledge of South Africa and that I had begun to sink my teeth into the questions I was looking to answer with regards to my research.

Pietermaritzburg: In terms of tourist activity, Pietermaritzburg was much smaller, so there was significantly less to do in terms of sightseeing (particularly without my own transportation).

Pietermaritzburg

However, there was plenty to do here in terms of my project: attending classes, conversations and meetings, and most importantly going out to different workshops with the Ujamaa Centre. When asked why I had chosen this project in this country, my answer was always some version of this: Reading Gerald West’s work on Contextual Bible Studies grabbed my interest and excitement, and I wanted to learn more about it. But unlike many ways of reading the Bible, studying this method requires an understanding of context; it cannot solely be represented in a book or an article. So, I wanted to see and learn about Contextual Bible Study off of the pages. After a month in Maritzburg, I feel like I got a great taste for the method and how it is done in practice and how this informs the academic writing done on it. I left feeling like I had seen what I was hoping to see; however, I also feel like there is still a lot more I could have done if I had more time. I think this is always a good way to feel.

Johannesburg: Johannesburg has been an interesting experience. In Cape Town, I felt like I was learning about the context in which I wanted to explore Biblical Studies. In Pietermaritzburg, I was digger deeper into the actual study of the Bible.

Jo'burg

In Jo’burg, I felt like most of my meetings were returning me to the “first step,” yet with the knowledge of what I had experienced previously. At times this was difficult because it feels like taking a step back. At the same time, I have met with some interesting people; stepping back has helped me to start reflecting on my experiences. Jo’burg has been lots of fun, and through the help of friends and contacts, I’ve managed to see a good bit. But transport in this city is very difficult without a car: I can walk to places in the area I am staying (basically, restaurants and bookshops), but to get anywhere out of Melville, I need a ride. You would expect that in such a place, taxis would be thriving; but the taxi system is very disorganized, and I have often waited twenty minutes for a cab to come. A small complaint for an otherwise great trip, but if I come to Jo’burg again, I would make arrangements to have a car in advance.

So, where am I in terms of my project? I feel like I have seen what I hoped to see; there’s a lot more I would like to have done, but this requires more time.

UKZN

I see what I’ve left undone not as a failure but as a reason to return! As I’ve demonstrated on the blog, I’ve found interesting new questions to bring to biblical texts, and I have seen and heard many interesting interpretations of the Bible. I’ve come to understand more fully West’s method of Contextual Biblical Studies. As I return home, one of the major questions that I am considering is how this method, which has been formed uniquely by the South African context, can be applied to my context in Chicago. I’m looking forward to considering this more, especially once I’m settled into my own context.

Finally, how has this trip impacted me personally? I’ve certainly learned a lot about myself, particularly about how I settle and adapt when I am on the move in an unfamiliar context. As I’ve moved out of my normal boundaries and borders, I’ve discovered which borders are important to me and which borders I need to cross more often. I’ve also refreshed myself: until this summer, I had not taken a real break from school (since I spent last summer in intensive Greek); ten weeks is the longest I’ve been away from Chicago since moving there. Breaking my routine has allowed me to become reinvigorated for the next year; being out of the classroom has made me ready to re-enter it. This summer has been a great and fun learning experience; I’m sad to leave (though already plotting the next adventure!) but also excited to return home.

“In Context”: Matthew 18:21-35

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Through my work with Ujamaa (specifically with Skhumbuzo and the worker justice program) and my engagement with the academic side of Ujamaa’s work at UKZN, I cannot read this passage without noting the economic nature of the parable. The story involves economic debt, hierarchy/kyriarchy, and a system in which servants seem to consistently be unable to repay their masters. I’m curious to probe the story with questions such as: why did the servants owe their respective masters money? Why did the master decide to settle his accounts and how did he become so wealthy? Were the other servants able to repay their debts—and how many servants owed him money? What does the master stand to gain by forgiving the debts? Does this not correlate to the economic state of the world today?

Post-liberation, many churches and groups in South Africa have returned to a theology that emphasizes spiritual needs and moral concerns. The new government (who once relied on liberation hermeneutics and theologies) has publicly celebrated that churches can now stop focusing on the political and can return to their real (spiritual and moral) concerns. As I have noted before, there is still a vast disparity between the wealthiest South Africans and the poor and marginalized majority. Though the ANC came to power with the promise of economic redistribution, most of these goals have been abandoned although many South Africans have experienced little or no economic benefit. When churches try to confront these economic concerns, they are often told that they should focus on the church’s “real [moral] concerns” and leave the economy to the experts. Unfortunately, the Bible has much more to say about economic justice as both a spiritual concern and a moral imperative than it does on any other issue!

I’ve also been thinking a lot about what it means to forgive (is it really as easy to forgive actions as it is to forgive a debt?) and in the words of Antjie Krog, “the limits of forgiveness.” Krog was a radio reporter who covered the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; her book Country of My Skull describes her experience as a reporter as she herself struggles with the meanings of truth, reconciliation, and forgiveness. The book relies on the narratives of the women and men who testified as part of the commission, both victims and perpetrators. Most of these stories are horrifying: this is the hardest book I have ever read. I quickly realized that I could only read one chapter at a time; to read too much at once is to risk becoming desensitized to the horrors described. The question that runs through my mind is “How do you forgive this?” Many do not, and I cannot blame them. Krog records the sentiment of Mrs. Kondile, whose son was brutally murdered by Dirk Coetzee, a well-known member of the apartheid police hit squad:

“It is easy for Mandela and Tutu to forgive…they lead vindicated lives. In my life, nothing, not a single thing has changed since my son was burnt by barbarians…nothing. Therefore I cannot forgive” (Krog 142).

In South Africa, these experiences are real and recent; how does Matthew’s parable of forgiveness apply to a context like this? How do you forgive a system that enforced racial segregation and created the economic disparity that still exists today? These are questions well beyond my ability to answer; they strike at questions that theologians have been grappling with for centuries. They also speak to a context in which I am still an outsider. I can listen to these stories, but I cannot share an understanding of the common experience. But as I hear these stories and learn about people’s experiences, I realize more and more that this lesson about forgiveness cannot be discussed in South Africa without a consideration of the political and economic realities of this context. Further, Matthew’s parable cannot be fully understood without considering the economic and political framework that surrounds the story.

The Bible in Context: Matthew 20:1-16

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

“I know that when someone gets a big slice of pie, it doesn’t mean less for me. In fact, I know there isn’t even a pie, that there’s plenty to go around, enough food and love and air.

But I don’t believe it for a second.

I secretly believe there is a pie. I will go to my grave brandishing a fork.”

-Anne Lamott, Grace (Eventually)

Above is one of my favorite Anne Lamott quotations: as usual, she describes the story of my life. And it perfectly demonstrates why I have always been uncomfortable with the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. I like things to be fair: there is a pie and everyone should get an equal piece. Equal pay for equal work, my feminist instincts cry. Even though I know that there is plenty of pie to go around, I am envious of the landowner’s generosity. As fate would have it, this passage was the daily lectionary at Mass recently, which gave me cause to reflect on it in light of the work I have been doing with Contextual Bible Study.

Hearing the passage with fresh ears, my attention was drawn to when the landowner speaks to the workers hired at five o’clock: “Why are you standing here idle all day?” And they answer: “Because no one has hired us.” Recently, I went out with Skhumbuzo to a group in kwaMpumuza, a township on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg; the members were a self-organized group of unemployed women and men trying to organize and find jobs. Many had hoped the World Cup would bring more jobs than it did; many jobs go to immigrant workers who getting paid less than a living wage (or they are outsourced entirely). Like the workers hired at the end of the day, these workers are not standing by idly because they are lazy; they are standing there because no one will hire them. Just like the workers hired in the morning, they all need a full day’s wages to survive.

In today’s society (and in Jesus’ social setting), many find themselves in poverty due to unemployment, and many women and men who are fortunate enough to find work are often not paid enough to make ends meet. We are not told why the nine-o’clock-workers were hired first (perhaps they had better access to resources allowing them to be in the front of the line)? If the landowner thought he had hired enough workers at 9:00, then why did he need to return three more times to hire more workers? These are crucial questions that must be brought to bear on the interpretation of this text. They begin to get to the root of the potential structural issues that make is difficult or impossible for some people to find work for an adequate full day’s pay. Unfortunately, structural sin makes the simple cry “equal pay for equal work impossible.” In Jesus’ vision of the kingdom of heaven, everyone is given the amount of pie that they need to survive.

Some Reflection on HIV/AIDS

Many of you are probably aware that HIV and AIDS is one of the major problems faced by sub-Saharan Africa. Within South Africa, there remains a high rate of infection; for every two people who are place on Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART), there are five new cases of infection. To talk about the Bible in the context of South Africa, one must confront the realities of people living with HIV/AIDS.

During my time here, I have met with several leaders of HIV/AIDS organizations, which work to provide resources to those living with the disease and to provide information about prevention. This past week, I attended a “Theological Café” at UKZN, where Dr. Beverly Haddad spoke about her experience as a delegate to the 2010 International Conference on HIV/AIDS in Vienna, which she attended as the director of a UKZN collaborative called CHART (Collaborative for HIV and AIDS in Religion and Theology). “The vision of CHART is to increase the capacity of religious leadership in Africa through theological reflection and engagement in order to prevent and mitigates the HIV and AIDS epidemic.”

I spent yesterday in an office that works to support people living with HIV and AIDS, working with Nokuthula, who (among other things) does work with the Ujamaa Centre to use the process of Contextual Bible Study as a means of support for people living with HIV and AIDS. She told me that while many people are initially resistant to the Bible study process—often due to anger with God regarding their diagnosis—those who choose to engage with the process find new hope and new ways to talk about the disease and about their faith. Unfortunately, I will have to wait until next week to see an actual Bible study; but I did get to meet the Patient Advocates (PAs) who work with this organization. PAs make home visits to people living with HIV and AIDS (most often those considered to be VIPs [Very Important Patients], such as mothers, the elderly, children). During these visits, talk with the patients to learn how their treatment is going, to provide a listening ear, and to help patients get connected to support groups. PAs also provide assistance for patients when they have check-ups, telling them what questions they should ask of their doctors. The unfortunate truth is the, especially in poorer areas, doctors will not always give HIV/AIDS patients the most effective treatments—instead these patients may only receive medication to alleviate certain symptoms.

Dr. Haddad noted that the catchphrase at the Vienna Conference was “Treatment is Prevention.” Being on ARTs has been proven to be one of the more effective ways of preventing the spread of HIV. It also enables patients to live healthier, longer, and more active lives. One of the primary goals of the PA home visits is to encourage patients to continue taking their medications and to determine how often each patient is taking them (the goal is at least 80% of the time).

When I met with Bongi last week, she drew a comparison between treatment of diabetics and HIV/AIDS patients. As a diabetic since age four, I was struck by this comparison and how apt it is. In the past week, many of the people I am living with have asked me about my Insulin Pump, an invention they have never heard of. In the U.S., insulin pumps are generally considered medically necessary: they allow significantly better control over juvenile diabetes and help to prevent further complications of diabetes. Both diabetes and HIV/AIDS become significantly easier to manage when one is on the most advanced treatment; lack of treatment leads to complications and a much earlier death. In the first world, there is significantly better and cheaper access to treatment.

However, there is a significant lack of funding and advanced treatment for HIV/AIDS outside of the first world. Nokuthula and the PAs were noting that their work is becoming much harder because many NGOs are unable to provide the same amount of funding. As the economy has tighten, funding for HIV/AIDS treatment is decreasing. South Africa has also fallen out of international focus for HIV and AIDS relief: it is no longer considered to be in the same amount of desperate need. Southeastern Asia is now the area with the fastest growing rates of infection; in the aftermath of the World Cup, the positive image of South Africa has made it less of a target for international aid. While in many ways the positive post-World Cup image is a boost for the country, the image does ignore the economic disparity and poverty that still exists throughout South Africa.

So there is a beginning reflection on the state of HIV and AIDS in South Africa and on some of what I have seen and heard about it. There is still a lot more to say, particularly about the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, the social issues that are adding fuel to the epidemic, and the work being done by theologians and activists to combat all of these issues. (So stay tuned…and feel free to ask questions that I can perhaps address in later postings!)

Contextual Bible Study in Ladysmith

Within a day of arriving in Pietermaritzburg, I started my work with the Ujamaa Centre for Contextual Biblical Studies. Having been told I would be picked up between 8:00 and 8:30, I was awake and ready to go by 8:00 though expecting to wait until 8:30. It was definitely a day of running late—or on “South African time” as it is called here. Skhumbuzo arrived at 9:00, but when we arrived to get materials at the University, he realized he’d left his memory stick at home so we had to take a detour to pick it up. By a little after 10:00, we were on the road toward Ladysmith, arriving at the small town’s library around 11:30 (the group had long been awaiting our arrival). The transition from Pietermaritzburg to the rural area of Ladysmith marked my first encounter with the poverty in which many South Africans live. It was a huge contrast to the life I had seen in Cape Town; the houses are small, most about the size of one bedroom. They are generally made with mud and many have straw roofs. When I met with Bongi Zengele, who coordinates the Solidarity Program for People Living with HIV/AIDS of the Ujamaa centre, she told me that this poverty is the reality of many South Africans and that there has not been a fair redistribution of resources in the years after liberation. While many of these homes have electricity and television, the people who live in them want real houses.

So, we had arrived (late) in the meeting room of the town’s small library where a group of fifteen had been waiting for us: there were four women and the rest were men. Though I was the only person who did not speak Zulu (the language in which the workshop was conducted since not everyone here could speak English), it was still a great experience. We started with introductions, and I was invited to introduce myself in English and have what I said summarized to the group. This was the first time that this particular group was meeting, so the main goal of the meeting was to explain what contextual Bible study is and to conduct a needs assessment of the group. The Ujamaa Centre does not want to simply impose themselves or their methods onto a group; instead they want to promote an organic theology that the participants themselves develop through their engagement with their community and the Bible. After the introductions and a lengthy explanation from the Ujamaa staff, the group read from Exodus 3:7-10:

Then the Lord said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, ⁸and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’

Skhumbuzo used this text to introduce a model of Seeing (God observes the Isrealite’s suffering); Judging (God does not approve of this); and Acting (God will deliver God’s people). This becomes a way of engaging with the problems faced by a community.

After lunch, things got more interesting (it becomes hard to follow one person speaking in a different language): they broke into three small groups in order to answer questions revolving around the church communities to which they belonged: where is your church; describe it; what it its biggest problem; how does this relate to the larger community; is this a political, economic, social, or religious problem? After the groups discussed, they came back together to share their conversations. There seemed to be some confusion with the process at this point, but Skhumbuzo followed up each response with clarifying questions. Sometimes, this produced a good deal of laughter. Everyone seemed very engaged with the process and excited to come back for the next meeting in a month.

On the drive home, Skhumbuzo told me that in the third group (during which I had sensed the most confusion) the church members had been described as being “outside the community” but that when someone from the church died the community would give them space and welcome for a funeral. They then said that their biggest problem was not having their own building, and when Skhumbuzo asked Why?, they had replied that they needed a space to hold funerals. The laughter had occurred because they had just said they had been given spaces to hold funerals: so why was this a major problem?!

Overall, Skhumbuzo was excited about this group, saying that they had already made good connections between the roles of the church, community, and society. I had sense a good deal of excitement in the group; they seemed eager to participate and share their ideas, even at points when I detected confusion. I’m not sure I will get to interact with this group again, but it was good to start my time here by seeing the beginning of the process. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this process progresses and makes further connections with Bible study.

A Whirlwind Welcome to Pietermaritzburg!

My time in Cape Town came to an end on Monday, when I boarded a plane bound for Durban, a large city on the East Coast. From Durban I took a shuttle (it arrived an hour and a half late!) to the Emaphethelweni Dominican House of Pietermaritzburg. Arriving in Pietermaritzburg was a huge shift from Cape Town: the first thing I noticed was the temperature difference—it’s much warmer here (about 70 degrees)! It’s also much dryer: winter is the wet season on the west coast and the dry season on the east coast. But the biggest change is moving from a big city to a small town: there is no longer a “Western” feel here, which is in many ways a welcome change: I feel like I am getting a true South African experience. I’m also staying with the Dominican brothers, which means I am getting to interact with students, many of whom have grown up in South Africa. It’s been a bit of an adjustment, but I feel like I am definitely getting what I came here for.

And that extends to my project as well! Within thirty minutes of my arrival, Dr. Gerald West came by to welcome me, give me some general details, and walk me around the campus. “You’ve come at a great time,” he told me, “because everything is just starting back up after the break.” He told me that thee should be lots to do and that if I ever found myself bored to just prod him or other staff members. Then, he introduced me to Skhumbuzo Zuma, who works with the Ujamaa Centre for Contextual Bible Study and is a student/staff at UKZN (University of KwaZulu-Natal); the next day, when Dr. West would depart for a conference in Germany, I would be going out with Skhumbuzo to observe a Contextual Bible Study in action. Things seemed off to a great start! [More on this to come!]

Dr. West then gave me a tour of the campus, showing me the library and eventually arriving at the home of the Theology faculty. As we walked, we ran into several students and staff members to whom I was introduced. Dr. West also suggested several classes that I could sit in on while I am here so that I can see how the work of Contextual Bible Study also makes its way into the classroom. I must admit that when I left Cape Town, I was somewhat apprehensive about having enough to do in Pietermaritzburg, but I felt welcomed with open arms. It was clear that there was a lot going on and plenty of things for me to do while I am here. Perhaps my excitement can best be summed up by one of the faculty members I met: “You’re only here for a month? That’s no time at all!” It was a relieving comment to hear after having the thought going through my head: “I’m staying in one new place for a whole month.”

So, I’m excited about the month to come. I’m really enjoying getting to know the brothers at the house, and I am slowly adjusting to the new pace of life. Moving from one city to another is difficult—especially when going from somewhere big (with lots to do outside of research) to somewhere much quieter. I had a slight moment of homesickness the other day, after returning from a busy day of Contextual Bible Study. It mainly revolved around my food situation: we had hot dogs and fried chicken for lunch, hardly vegetarian fare. So, I came home hungry and tired with the realization that I had no idea if dinner would be any better: at Emaphethelweni, all of our meals are prepared. This is nice because I can eat with a community, but it’s difficult for someone who has grown accustomed to planning and preparing his own meals. But, I am getting vegetarian options prepared to accompany my meals here, and now that I am operating on a fuller stomach, I have a bright and excited outlook for the month to come!

But on that note, do keep in touch. My internet is slower here (probably meaning no photo uploads), but I love hearing from you all!

Going to Church

My experiences attending worship services have been diverse and interesting.

Best photo I could take of the Old Lutheran Church

On my first Sunday, I decided to attend a morning service at the Old Evangelical Lutheran Church (nearby and English speaking) and evensong at St. George’s Cathedral. To briefly interject here, I had been warned that one of my biggest difficulties with attending church services would be the language barrier because many services are not conducted in English. This may have been one of my biggest surprises/adjustments to life in South Africa: though almost everyone speaks English (and it is the lingua franca in terms of business), most people do not speak English as their first or primary language. This means that on the street or in a coffee shop, it is usually the case that most conversations are not in English. None of the church services I have attended have used printed orders of worship: bulletins contain information about weekly events, but the service is conducted orally (“Now we will sing…”). Hymnals usually do not contain music, only the lyrics to the songs; the Presbyterian church I went to used overheads for music.

My most interesting reflections have come from the sermons I heard preached. I was surprised by the sermon at the Lutheran Church, as the older pastor had seemed quite genial at the start of the service. The congregation was small (the pastor blamed the cold weather and the World Cup final) but seemingly diverse.

In front of St. George's Cathedral

The sermon, which used Romans 6 as a starting point (and only as a starting point) was about how we are all sinful and need to avoid the (undefined) demands of the flesh. Eventually, he spoke about how Jesus died for our sins. Throughout the sermon, he threw in a lot of Bible references, and I was quickly lost in exactly where the sermon started and where it was trying to go. In some ways, the sermon seemed too simple, and I could not help but wonder if every sermon he preaches had this same message since it was not particularly tied to the original passage. The sermon felt very distant, like he was preaching from a script that he had to use. I was forced to call to mind how last year I was told to be conscious of how I adopt a “preacher voice” in the pulpit: I think this pastor did this to an extreme. He never seemed to speak as himself, from his own experience, using his own voice.

The service at St. George’s was more formal and Anglican, but the sermon was also in my opinion lacking.

St. George's Cathedral

It seemed to flutter and again I got lost and eventually distracted by the vuvuzelas blasting in the background in preparation for the final game. The preacher did say something that caught my attention: people often quote scripture as the “word of God” but they lift the words out of context. He then said that the word of God must be read and found in context. The evensong sermon the following week was about the healing of the paralytic in Mark and spoke about interruptions; overall, it seemed to stick closer to this text and also took into account specific situations such as the World Cup and xenophobia.

Perhaps I have a Presbyterian bias, but I think my best worship experience was this past Sunday morning at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, a member of the Uniting Presbyterian Church (which has a partnering relationship with the PC(USA)). The crowd was diverse, and on the whole, there seemed to be a greater number of younger people in the congregation. A common practice seems to be giving testimonies, which are similar to a testimony back in the States (I think) with perhaps a slightly less evangelical edge to them. This story was about a young man’s experience going with his boss to the Germany vs. Argentina game and being the only person in his group cheering for Germany. What I was most struck by was that he asked us all to move to the front pews at the end of the testimony, which we did. It was definitely a much more communal experience of worship when we were all invited to sit together.

In the courtyard in front of the church (I didn't snap a photo of the church)

I was particularly excited that the pastor was a woman because I had been given the impression in my first few meetings that it was very rare to find female pastors. I really enjoyed her sermon, which felt similar to what I am used to hearing in the States. She referred to both C.S. Lewis and Walter Bruggeman, and her sermon stuck to the texts that we had read—mainly focusing on Genesis 18 and the story of the messengers announcing visiting Sarah and Abraham. She made references to personal experiences and to the spirit in South Africa during the World Cup. She focused mainly on the hopelessness of Abraham and Sarah and about the need to trust in God’s promises.

So, overall, I’ve been to several churches (more tomorrow: I will go to St. George’s in the morning for a full service with Eucharist).

St. Mary's Cathedral (Catholic)

People have been friendly: I was encouraged to return at every church and was even formally welcomed at the Lutheran church (they had a parishioner who must have been specifically assigned to greet visitors, find out where they are from, and report to the pastor!). Each experience has been different, which is helping me to slowly paint a picture of the church in South Africa; and this is giving me a window into biblical interpretation in this sphere.

What Am I Doing?

As I enter the final week of packing and trip prep, I find myself asking this question a lot; that or asking What was I thinking?

But on a more serious note, I wanted to post some more details about my project and plans and goals for my ten weeks in South Africa. Contextual Biblical Studies is a method of reading the Bible that originated in South Africa by scholars like Gerald West: “While Western forms of biblical interpretation have tended to hide and elide the contemporary context of the biblical interpreter, African biblical interpretation is overt about the context from which and for which the biblical text is interpreted” (West 2008, 10). Our context (or “social location”) affects how we hear, read, and interpret the Bible. West and others specifically explore “[...] the kind of biblical scholarship characterized by an explicit collaboration between the biblical scholar and ordinary, nonscholarly readers of the Bible” (West 2007, 1). I am interested in this method of scholarship.

The first part of my project involves what West identifies as “ordinary” readers–those who are not trained by the academy as “bible scholars.” I will meet with church leaders and others involved in church-like groups who intentionally engage with the Bible. My broad questions are (some which will remain unasked by guide my questions/conversations): How do you read and interpret the Bible? How is your reading specific to your context? What do you believe about the Bible and why is it important? Do you have a goal/purpose in reading the Bible and if so, what is it? If you lead  some form of Bible study, how do you do this? As it is feasible, I will meet with leaders who work with biblical texts, observe or participate in groups who are engaging in Bible studies, interview people who participate in such groups, see how biblical texts are used in sermons, worship, and other activies, and learn how the Bible is being used in the political or public square.

The second part of my project involves the specific method of Contextual Biblical studies. As scholars colloborate with these ordinary readers, how do they explicitly use this in their work? How is this method taught to students pursuing degrees in Biblical Studies? What draws students and teachers to study the Bible with this specific method?

Broadly, those are my questions and what I will be doing with my ten weeks in South Africa. I start in Cape Town for three weeks on July 8, where I will stay at the Scalabrini Guest House, run by a center that works with poor and refugee communities in the Western Cape. As I meet with church leaders and some contacts at the University of Stellenbosch, I will also spend some time volunteering at their soup kitchen. From July 26 – August 26, I will be in Pietermaritzburg at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where Professor West teaches. I will make the final leg of my trip in Johannesburg, with similar plans to what I will be doing in Cape Town. I return home on September 15.

What you can expect in blog posts [Post Category in brackets]: reflections on my project centering around the above questions [Project], observations/reflections about my experiences in South Africa [S. Africa], stories from my travels [Stories], and maybe some personal reflection [Personal]. One personal goals of mine is to get a lot of non-academic reading done: I have several books by South African authors that I hope to read as I travel. I begin with Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton.

So, there we go. The beginning of my project and a great ten week journey. It’s hard to believe that in a week I will be in South Africa ending my long trip from Chicago to Cape Town. I’m so excited yet so nervous at the same time: ten weeks is a long time to travel solo. So please keep in touch: send e-mails, reply to posts, call once I get a phone! So, stay in touch and I will see you again in September…