Scriptura: Journal for Biblical, Theological and Contextual Hermeneutics

“[B]ury me with my fathers:” Seeking the pastoral relevance of Genesis 49:29 in the Nigerian context

Solomon Olusola Ademiluka — 2024-04-16

Jacob’s instruction to his children in Genesis 49:29 to bury him in Canaan finds relevance in Nigeria in the context of the importance attached to burial on ancestral land. In Nigeria, when it became unlawful to bury in residential areas, the emphasis shifted away from the ancestral land to burial in one’s country home. Hence, employing narrative analysis and the descriptive approach, the article examines the pastoral relevance of the text in contemporary Nigeria relative to burial on ancestral land. It finds that burial on ancestral land in ancient Israel and Nigeria served some socio-cultural purposes. In both contexts, the practice signifies that the deceased has died a good death. Burial sites are also a basis for asserting land rights, identity and belonging. The existence of the deceased’s tombs on the family land reflects the belief in an existing relationship between a people and their ancestors. The work concludes that while many aspects of the burial customs are no more relevant for contemporary Nigerian Christians, burying on the ancestral land still has socio-cultural values, such as inculcating regard for one’s community of origin, the need for regular reunion with relatives, and the importance of acceptable character. Therefore, in contemporary Nigeria, Genesis 49:29 is an appropriate passage for teaching these precepts during Christian burial services.

The Motif of Worship, Prayer, and Prophecy in Luke 1:5–25 as a Bridge between the Old Testament and the Gospel of Luke

Daniel Nii Aboagye Aryeh — 2024-03-20

This article provides an exegetical contribution to the proposition by David E. Garland that the Old Testament period of the promise found fulfilment in the New Testament. The specific contribution of this study is the elements/traces of a bridge between the Old Testament and the annunciation/nativity narrative of Luke 1:5-25. The Gospel of Luke is characterised by people worshipping, praying, and fulfilling prophecy, as evidenced in the first two chapters of the book. There have been studies on the nativity narrative of the Gospel of Luke which usually took a historical comparative approach between the birth narrative of Jesus and that of John, and investigations into the uniqueness of the story to Luke. It leaves out the thematic discussion of some ethoses of the annunciation narrative that seeks to provide an unflinching link to the Old Testament. This article examines worship, prayer, and prophecy in the annunciation and nativity narrative in Luke 1:5-25 to draw possible relationships to the Old Testament. The diachronic narrative-semantic method is used for the study. The findings are that the narrative alludes to Old Testament stories of worship, prayer, and fulfilment of prophecy and suggests a link or bridge between the Old and New Testaments.

Leadership and spiritual resources in the Anthropocene: Some practical theological reflections

Ian Nell — 2024-04-10

Faith communities are found all over the world as spaces where people find a spiritual home and where spiritual formation takes place. For this contribution, the research question is: In what ways can the leadership in faith communities contribute towards spiritual resources for their members in the time of the Anthropocene? Faith communities are spaces where three resources (a shared narrative about climate change, shared values and shared symbols and practices) interact and where each of these can also make a unique contribution to raising awareness of ownership and space in the time of the Anthropocene. If the Anthropocene is considered as the period in which human activities have the dominant influence on the climate and the environment, these three resources offer important contributions for a greater awareness of humans’ influence on the climate and the environment. The congregational leader as spiritual guide in the modes of storyteller, moral compass and symbolic worker can play a significant role in the process of mobilising people of faith in becoming involved in their environment and climate mobilisation.