This volume is based on the International Bible Symposium “The Bible and
Politics in Africa” which was held in summer 2010 in Kloster Banz (Germany).
The IBS 2010 was organised by Prof. Kügler’s team at the Chair for New Testa-
ment Studies at Bamberg University and was generously funded and hosted by
the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Munich/ Kloster Banz. Some of the articles pu-
blished here are based on papers presented at IBS 2010. The editors, however,
added some articles to broaden the discussion and to also give a voice to those
who could not be present at the symposium. The topic of Biblical influence on
politics and of political uses of the Bible is of course not merely an African topic.
Christian tradition has always stressed that it not only wants to show ways to
heaven but also to reconstruct this world according to God’s will. However the
topic seems especially relevant in African societies as many of them ascribe
a paramount role to the “Word of God” and thus the Bible seems to be used
most directly as a handbook for political actions. With their critical analytical
approach the contributors of BiAS 7 try to meet this special challenge for Con-
textual Biblical Studies which has to be taken more seriously than it used to be
in academic research.
The Authors
BiAS 7 contains articles written by established and budding scholars from Bots-
wana, Germany, Kenya, Namibia, Netherlands, South Africa, Swaziland and
Zimbabwe: Phillemon Chamburuka, Ezra Chitando (Prof. PhD), Stephanie Fe-
der, Rev. Jephthah Kiara Gathaka, Masiiwa Ragies Gunda (PhD), Jannie Hunter
(Prof. PhD), Joachim Kügler (Prof. Dr. theol. habil.), Francis Machingura (PhD),
Tapiwa Praise Mapuranga (PhD), Canisius Mwandayi (PhD), Moji Ruele (PhD),
Eliot Tofa (PhD), Adriaan van Klinken (PhD), Elizabeth Vengeyi, Obvious Ven-
geyi, Pieter Verster (Prof. PhD), Gerald West (Prof. PhD).
UNIVERSITY OF BAMBERG PRESS
ISBN: 978-3-86309-091-3
http://www.uni-bamberg.de/ubp/
