The Great Lakes Initiative and the Contextual Hermeneutics of Reconciliation La iniciativa de Los Grandes Lagos y la Hermenéutica Contextual de la Reconciliación

Resumo

This essay analyzes the ways African Great Lakes Christians have tried, individually and/or corporately, to contribute to the transformation of conflicts, the diminution of violence within the region, and the healing of communities. As a biblical scholar whose research has been influenced in a large part by participation in the Great Lakes Initiative’s movement of reconciliation through communal contextual scriptural interpretation, context analysis, communal lament, theological reflections, liturgy, rest, and networking, I reflect on what it means to read and understand the Bible within the African Great Lakes context of chronic conflicts and violence. I show that, within today’s African Great Lakes region, biblical interpretation needs to be engaged/ideological, contextual, theological, centered on reconciliation, and collaborative between scholars, practitioners, and ordinary Christians.