Through the Eyes of Another

544 Pages·2004·1.82 MB·English

Through the Eyes of Another

Through the Eyes of Another
Intercultural Reading of the Bible
Edited by
Hans de Wit, Louis Jonker, Marleen Kool, Daniel Schipani
Institute of Mennonite Studies
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Copyright ©2004 by Institute of Mennonite Studies
3003 Benham Avenue, Elkhart, Indiana 46517-1999
http://www.ambs.edu/IMS/
Published in collaboration with the Free University, Amsterdam.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America by Evangel Press, Nappanee, Indiana
Institute of Mennonite Studies ISBN 0-936273-36-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Through the eyes of another : intercultural reading of the Bible / edited by Hans de
Wit ... [et al.].
p. cm.
ISBN 0-936273-36-4 (alk. paper)
1. Bible. N.T. John IV—Reader-response criticism—Case studies. 2.
Multiculturalism—Religious aspects—Christianity—Case studies. 3. Samaritan
woman (Biblical figure) I. Wit, Hans de (J. Hans de)
BS2615.52.T47 2004
226.7’06—dc22
2004013087
Book design by Mary E. Klassen. Cover art: “At the Well” by Sadao Watanabe. Used by
permission of the Asian Christian Art Association (Jatimulya Yogyakarta, Indonesia).
Unless otherwise indicated, the Scripture quotations in this book are from the New Revised
Standard Version Bible, copyright ©1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, and are used by permission.
Contents
Preface ix
Part 1 Introduction to the project
1 Through the eyes of another 3
Objectives and backgrounds
Hans de Wit
2 Tableaux vivants 54
Hans de Wit and Marleen Kool
Part 2 Case studies on intercultural reading
and communication
3 Listening with the heart 89
The reading experience of the Dutch groups
Arie Moolenaar
4 Is God’s will the same for Groningen and Nicaragua? 118
Saskia Ossewaarde–van Nie
5 Jesus’s surprising offer of living cocaine 131
Contextual encounters at the well with Latino inmates in U.S. jails
Bob Ekblad
6 Intercultural Bible reading by Catholic groups of Bogotá 142
Edgar Antonio López
v
7 Through different eyes 161
Indonesian experiences with an intercultural reading of John 4
Jilles de Klerk
8 Unresolved tensions and the way forward 176
Eric Anum
9 The eyes of the other as porthole and mirror 196
The communication between Sokhanya and Zaandam
Danie van Zyl
10 Artful facilitation and creating a safe interpretive site 211
An analysis of aspects of a Bible study
Gerald West
11 Continuing that miraculous conversation 238
Intercultural reading of John 4
Marleen Kool
Part 3 Multidimensional analysis of the project
12 A Nicaraguan perspective on Jesus
and the Samaritan woman 249
Azucena López Namoyure
13 Shaping our lives, transforming our communities,
reaching out to the world 261
The power of reading the Word together
Evelyn Miranda-Feliciano
14 South African intercultural biblical interpretation 273
Toward a global postcolonial ethic of interpretation
Mark Rathbone
15 Making things in common 288
The group dynamics dimension of the hermeneutic process
Alma Lanser–van der Velde
16 Biblical scholars and ordinary readers dialoguing
about living water 304
Hans Snoek
vi Contents
17 Jesus among the ancestors 315
Continuity and discontinuity
Louis Jonker
18 Reading John 4 in the interface between ordinary and
scholarly interpretation 334
Néstor Míguez
19 “When people discuss
the Word of God with one another,
everything becomes real” 348
Jan Hartman
20 Intercultural Bible reading as a practical setting
for intercultural communication 360
Marleen Kool
21 Living water 377
Wonderful words of life
Janet W. Dyk
22 Codes and coding 395
Hans de Wit
Part 4 Further implications of the project
23 Through the eyes of practical theology
and theological education 437
Daniel Schipani and Mary Schertz
24 From bipolar to multipolar understanding 452
Hermeneutical consequences of intercultural Bible reading
Rainer Kessler
25 Intercultural hermeneutics 460
Conversations across cultural and contextual divides
John Riches
26 Intercultural Bible reading
and hermeneutics 477
Hans de Wit
Contents vii
27 The ecumenical relevance of intercultural
Bible reading 493
Theo Witvliet
Epilogue 503
Hans de Wit
Appendix 513
List of participant groups
Index of names 521
viii Contents
Preface
This book documents an unprecedented three-year research study focused on the
story of the encounter of Jesus with a Samaritan woman presented in the Gospel
according to John.1 Readers can appreciate the extraordinary nature of the study by
noting three characteristics that researchers deliberately affirmed from the very be-
ginning. First, the project needed to stem from and reflect a close collaboration
among institutions and programs representing the academy, the church, and devel-
opment and other organizations. Second, the study was to be carried out in sus-
tained partnership involving diverse kinds of participants: committed and creative
ordinary readers, expert teachers and other pastoral leaders, and Bible and theology
scholars; those participants would also represent different cultures and languages
and many countries on five continents. Third, the project was uniquely designed to
consist of three phases: Bible study groups from around the world first read the
John 4 story in their own terms. Then each group exchanged their carefully pre-
pared hermeneutical report with another group from a completely different cultural
background, thus making it possible for everybody to reread the text “through the
eyes of another.” Finally, each group responded locally to the readings and again
addressed the partner group, including the possibility of further interaction and
collaboration.
The book starts with a thorough description and explanation of the research
project. It is followed by a number of tableaux vivants, colorful windows on the
actual experience of groups who read the John 4 story and interacted with other
readers from very diverse social and cultural settings.
The second part includes nine case studies centering on intercultural reading
and communication. They discuss numerous specific dimensions of the experience.
These studies supply extended illustrations meant to shed light and to deepen
observations and understandings. Special attention is given to contextual and
intercontextual dynamics at play in different social situations.
ix
In the third part of the book, eleven critical analyses consider various aspects of
the hermeneutical and communication processes involved in the experience. The
authors employ a variety of perspectives and study tools resulting in a multidimen-
sional interpretive view.
The fourth part includes five essays that point to a number of ramifications of
the project. Implications are drawn for practical theology and theological education,
hermeneutical practices and studies, and ecumenical and missiological endeavors.
The voices of the writers presented in this book nicely symbolize the poly-
phonic readings and conversations that took place around the text of John 4. En-
glish is a second or third language for the vast majority of these authors, and the
editorial team of the Institute of Mennonite Studies made an effort to preserve the
original characteristics of each individual contribution. That feature, together with
the fact that the publication project consisted by design of different kinds of essays,
has made of this book a heterogeneous collection of articles. Nevertheless, we trust
that it will be possible to appreciate the comprehensive nature of the project and the
integrity of the contributions.
It is our conviction that readers will find in this volume a special testimony to the
fascinating nature of intercultural Bible reading and its potential contribution to
the life of faith communities and to the work of church agencies and scholars. Far
from considering this effort a finished product, the editors present it as an invitation
to further reflection, dialogue, and collaboration.
The research project leading to the publication of this book was initially supported
by the Uniting Protestant Churches in the Netherlands and the Faculty of Theol-
ogy of the Free University in Amsterdam. Such support continued even after the
formation of the Intercultural Bible Collective (IBC), the network responsible for
providing overall coordination and supervision to the research project. The steering
committee named on behalf of the IBC was chaired by Louis Jonker (South Africa).
Other members included Eric Anum, Ghana (Africa representative); Sientje
Merentek, Indonesia (Asia representative); Pedro Triana, Cuba (Latin America rep-
resentative); John Riches, Scotland (Europe and USA representative). Hans de Wit
and Piet Schelling, the Netherlands, served as ex-officio members representing the
international and the Netherlands secretariats respectively. An editorial committee
was appointed to be in charge of the publication project, and its four members—
Hans de Wit, Louis Jonker, Marleen Kool, and Daniel Schipani—eventually be-
came the editors of the present volume.2
Financial and other contributions were granted by two Dutch groups which
became project partners: Solidaridad, a development organization, and ICCO (Inter-
church organization for development cooperation). Further financial assistance was
provided by the Dutch Bible Society, which became a valuable project sponsor.
Many nongovernmental organizations, church-associated bodies, and faculties
and seminaries made it possible for their members to participate in the project in
x Daniel Schipani