Gunda & Kügler, Introductionstatus quo. Tofa contends “while the argument that God is on the side of
the oppressed is Biblically and spiritually true; this is hardly applicable
in contemporary politics. It gives the oppressed a passive approach to
fighting against their oppressors and oppressive institutions. The fight
against authoritarianism in contemporary societies requires the adop-
tion of affirmative action.” While Tofa calls for affirmative action on the
democratic processes, Jannie Hunter calls for affirmative action on de-
velopmental justice as he tackles the plight of orphans in Namibia. The
Bible is taken as a resource from which principles on good care and
understanding of the importance of children can be gleaned. “The Bible
can at most provide us with certain principles, which we find with sound
and thorough interpretation of the Bible and which we may now call
‘ethical’ principles.” For communities that already live on and off the
Bible, the appropriation of principles for contemporary living is not
totally impossible. “The Bible describes children as part of the religious
community or covenant community and they have to be respected and
taught within this community, not only by the parents in their early lives
but also later by the priests and others responsible.” In other words,
children with or without parents are supposed to be fully catered for by
the entire community for the future of the community is dependent on
the future of the children.
Pan Africanism as an ideology that seeks to galvanize African opinion
against western and imperial ideologies has been a part of the African
political and religious landscape for the past half-century or more. This
however is not to say it is unanimously agreed upon. In this volume,
Obvious Vengeyi focuses on how a Zimbabwean pan-Africanist has
deployed the Bible in entrenching and augmenting the Pan-Africanist
arguments. This is especially interesting for a Pan-Africanist to adopt a
text that has clear colonial connections. “Dr Tafataona Mahoso could be
described as one of the most faithful, if not pious, disciples and rabbi
(teacher) of pan-Africanism... Of late however, Mahoso has added the
Bible to the list of ‘weapons’ in his quiver. While he has been citing or
mentioning biblical characters in his analyses, Mahoso’s citation from
the Bible is becoming more pronounced, more elaborate and even sus-
tained” writes Vengeyi. By drawing connecting lines between the African
and the Israelite, it appears the western connection is sidelined in this
pan-African biblical exegesis in such a way that pan-Africanism itself
becomes biblical. While Vengeyi looks at Mahoso, Gerald West looks at