Masiiwa Ragies Gunda & Joachim Kügler
Introduction
Since the beginning of 2009, we started thinking about the creation of
platforms for collaboration between African biblical scholars and their
European counterparts, especially German scholars. We were thinking
of how we could expand our collaboration, which had started in 2006.
The first major breakthrough was our decision to co-edit a series, Bible
in Africa Studies (BiAS), soon in its tenth volume. Further, we came up
with the idea of organizing a conference that could be a starting point in
establishing some kind of networking between biblical scholars of the
north and south. As our idea gained traction, we were extremely elated
when the Hanns Seidel Stiftung (HSS) saw value in our idea and de-
cided to become our partners. Our idea and the conference, running on
the theme “The Bible and Politics in Africa (and the West?)”, was there-
fore made real through the funding of the HSS. Between 29 July and 1
August 2010 biblical and theological scholars coming from Africa (spe-
cifically Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Namibia,
South Africa and Zimbabwe), coming from their different bases in Af-
rica, Europe and the United States of America converged at Kloster
Banz, Bad Staffelstein, Germany alongside European biblical, theological
and missiological scholars with interest on Africa, coming from Ger-
many and the Netherlands. The conference delegates eventually agreed
to alternate the conference between Germany and Africa, with the follow
up conference being hosted in Botswana in July 2012. We hope this is
the beginning of a long and productive collaboration.
The theme “The Bible and Politics in Africa (and the West?)” shows that
the Bible was a significant component of the conference discussions
because we thought the Bible was a powerful resource for both good and
bad. This interest was based on the observation that “the Bible has so-
cially occupied an uncontested place in the hearts and minds of many
Zimbabweans [African Christians in general]; making Zimbabwe a de
facto Christian state” (Machingura in this volume). In situations where
the Bible is “the last court of appeal” (Gunda 2010:21), it is only logical
to expect the Bible to be among the most important resources for trans-
formation. When one considers the words of Gerald West’s protagonist
in his article in this volume “You will see; Jacob Zuma knows the Bible