Following yet another spate of xenophobic attacks targeting mostly foreign nationals of African descent living in some parts of South Africa in August this year, debates emerged towards finding long-term solutions to this now endemic occurrence. To-date, various institutions – religious, government and others continue to engage at various platforms – from communities affected by xenophobia to parliament and conference rooms. The Ujamaa Centre, has through its CBS programme based on the SEE, JUDGE and ACT mantra engaged theological students on the practical Biblical steps towards abating the occurrence of such inhuman acts.
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By Gerald O. West – School of Religion, Philosophy, and Classics & Ujamaa Centre, University of KwaZulu-Natal
The Pietermaritzburg Cluster of Theological Institutions (Cluster) has a vibrant student organisation, which facilitates a range of activities that bring students from the various theological institutions located in Pietermaritzburg together. One of the activities was a Contextual Bible Study (CBS), hosted by the Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary, bringing together as well students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, St Joseph’s Theological Institute, and the Congregational House of Formation, on the 3rd October, 2019.
The Cluster students invited the Ujamaa Centre for Community Development and Research (based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal) to facilitate a CBS on the theme of ‘xenophobia’. The request was not strange, given the make-up of the student body, for a large percentage of Pietermaritzburg’s theological students are Africans from ‘outside’ South Africa. The Ujamaa Centre regularly works with organised formations such as the coordinating team of Cluster students. We look forward to being summoned to serve such formations through forms of Bible study that offer resources for systemic change. It seemed appropriate, and somewhat overdue, to do a CBS on xenophobia. Though the South African state seeks to avoid the label of ‘xenophobia’ for the violence against what they and the media refer to as ‘foreign nationals’, ‘xenophobia’ is an appropriate designation.
The invitation to facilitate this CBS came in April, so we had plenty of time to reflect on what we might offer by way of a CBS. What biblical text might offer resources for reflections on xenophobia? Within the Ujamaa Centre, we say that we seek either to read unfamiliar texts or to re-read familiar texts in unfamiliar ways. The text we chose is probably an example of the latter. The biblical story is itself quite well known, but re-reading it from the contextual perspective of xenophobia is unusual.
What is unique about the Ujamaa Centre is that it inhabits the intersection between academic biblical studies and local community Bible reading/hearing. In this case, the CBS on xenophobia began to emerge through tangential discussion in a biblical studies class in the University. Sam Tshehla and I were teaching a third-year class on a variety of contextual concerns. We had been focussing on ‘masculinity’, reflecting on the anxious and destructive masculinity of Abimelech in Judges 9, the inclusive masculinities of Jesus and Jairus in Mark 5, and the gospel of Matthew’s emphasis on the anomalous masculinity of the community of disciples Jesus was constructing. We had noted, in the midst of discussions about marriage, that Jesus had held up the eunuch as an example of discipleship. We then followed the biblical trail of the eunuch into the book of Acts, analysing the story of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8). In addition to our interest in the ‘eunuch’ as a kind of masculinity, our analysis concentrated on how the term ‘eunuch’ has been translated in various African vernaculars.
Acts 8 offered further, unanticipated, resources. What, we wondered, if we read this story from the perspective of ‘xenophobia’? Moving laterally, we began to explore with the third year biblical studies students, some of whom are ‘foreign nationals’, how they thought this biblical text might offer resources for reflecting on the topic of ‘xenophobia’. They were enthusiastic, indicating a number of ways in which Acts 8 engaged aspects of life as a ‘foreigner’. Based on these reflections we constructed and then facilitated the following CBS:
The biblical text we will reflect on today shifts the focus in the book of Acts from the inclusion of familiar foreigners – the Samaritans – to unfamiliar foreigners – an Ethiopian eunuch.
Violence against Christians causes many to flee Jerusalem. Philip finds refuge among the Samaritans, the remnant of the northern tribes of ancient Israel. They receive him as a familiar foreigner, and he contributes healing and wholeness to them through the sharing of the good news. When the Christian leadership returns to Jerusalem, Philip is directed by God to go to road in the wilderness area near Gaza.
- Listen to a dramatic reading of Acts 8:25-39. What do you think this text is about?
- What do we know about the two main characters, Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, from this text?
- In what ways is the Ethiopian eunuch a ‘foreigner’?
- What different roles do God and Philip play in including and journeying with this ‘foreigner’?
- What role does the Ethiopian eunuch play in the relationship with Philip?
- The Ethiopian eunuch is drawn to this text from “the prophet Isaiah” (verses 32-33). Re-read these verses. In what ways might the Ethiopian eunuch identify with the experiences described in these verses?
- Verses 34-38 make it clear that Philip and the Ethiopian journey together for quite an extensive period of time. What role does time play in the forging of inclusive and redemptive relationships?
- What aspects of this text resonate with our experiences of being a ‘foreigner’?
- What other scriptures might be useful in our reflections on ‘xenophobia’?
- What is the next step for this group as we continue to work together on ‘xenophobia’?
This particular CBS follows the See-Judge-Act methodology of the Ujamaa Centre’s praxis. We began with ‘seeing’ (See) an African contextual issue, namely ‘xenophobia’. Having analysed this contextual reality, we constructed a CBS that might ‘judge’ (Judge) this reality, and which would lead to forms of ‘action’ (Act) that had the potential to transform the reality of xenophobia.
The CBS questions move from a thematically open question (Question 1) to a series of text-oriented re-reading questions (Question 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), delving into the detail of this familiar text but probing unfamiliar aspects of the narrative. The CBS then concludes with a number of questions that return to our contemporary African context and summon us to action (Questions 8, 9, 10).
The group of 150 students, at least a third of whom are ‘foreign nationals’, were divided into twelve small groups, each of which moved through these CBS questions in a process facilitated by the Ujamaa Centre. We worked together for more than three hours, with each small group sharing its responses to the questions with the others. Though a facilitated process, CBS is a participant driven process, so we had few preconceived ideas of how the participants might respond. The responses were remarkable, offering insights, analysis, and commitments that made it clear that participants had delved deeply into the many dimensions of ‘xenophobia’.