BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
declare the knowledge of God and we believe the text itself to be the
word of God. Benson reminds us that the interpreter must allow his own
presupposition and his own understanding to be modified or even com-
pletely reshaped by the text itself and urges that there must be a constant
dialogue between the interpreter and the text for the hermeneutical
circle is not only unavoidable but desirable.^39 He rightly points out that
cultural presuppositions explicitly affect Kenyan churchmen’s under-
standing of the Bible. While discussing eschatology as a central herme-
neutical concern he rightly concludes that ‘the Bible’s message, it was
claimed, demand and immediate response to God in the choices of the
moment.^40 This is why we are at the moment looking on the subject at
hand. Gitari whom we intend to see how he has used the Bible in order
to agitate for political pluralism and democracy sees the Bible as the
product of God’s interaction with the ancient writers and their particular
circumstances.^41 He therefore has the justification to touch on political
issues returning repeatedly to the eschatological theme of judgment on
those who reject justice.
One Party System of Governance and Quest for Political
Pluralism
Most of the African governments attained their independence in the 60s.
It was thought that after independence the African leaders would lead
their countries guided by justice. Therefore there were great hopes that
issues of human rights, equal distribution of wealth, good governance
and elimination of all forms of discrimination would be things of the
past. It was hoped that tribalism would not be practiced in the so called
new nations as there was deep commitment to nationhood. Now that the
colonialist had gone it was expected that Africans would respect one
another. The economy was expected to grow and there were expectations
of distribution of the resources to all. In fact there were feelings that all
would be joyous in the countries. In Kenya the slogan was that inde-
pendence would accelerate and bring to an end three enemies, namely,
ignorance, disease and poverty. People expected that the rule of law
would be adhered to. The leaders were expected ensure that disease,
poverty and illiteracy was reduced. Many of these countries had started
(^39) Benson, Ideological Politics versus Biblical Hermeneutics; p 189.
(^40) Benson, Ideological Politics versus Biblical Hermeneutics; p 190.
(^41) Benson, Ideological Politics versus Biblical Hermeneutics; p 189.