The Series: Studies in African Philosophy is a forum for the publication and wider dissemination of researches and reflections of value on all aspects of African philosophy. While recognising the special advantage of interdisciplinary approach in modern scholarship, it retains a special predilection for works that have special African philosophic import. Although Theophilus Okere's book African Philosophy has made remarkable impact on African philosophical scholarship, many may not be aware of the way he tried to apply his preferred method to other areas of the philosophical investigation in Africa and to overcome the risk of relativism through the promotion of intercultural dialogue in philosophy. The essays published in this volume bear testimony to the multivalent character of Okere's contribution to African philosophy. Most of the essays are about Okere's hermeneutics of culture. Some of the authors examine the method in itself, while others focus attention on its application to specific philosophical themes. Book jacket.

A Short History of African Philosophy discusses major ideas, figures, and schools of thought in philosophy in the African context. While drawing out critical issues in the formation of African philosophy, Barry Hallen focuses on recent scholarship and relevant debates that have made African philosophy critical to understanding the rich and complex cultural heritage of the continent. This revised edition expands the historical perspective, takes account of recent discoveries and new canonical figures, highlights new discussions about gender as a cultural and philosophical phenomenon, clarifies issues regarding indigenous cultures and human rights, and builds on the notion that African philosophy shares methods and concerns of philosophy worldwide. This short reference is an essential resource for students, scholars, and general readers.

The once acrimonious debate on the existence of African philosophy has come of age, yet the need to cultivate a culture of belonging is more demanding now than ever before in many African societies. The gargantuan indelible energised chicanery waves of neo-colonialism and globalisation and their sweeping effect on Africa demand more concerted action and solutions than cul-de-sac discourses and magical realism. It is in view of this realisation that this book was born. This is a vital text for understanding contextual historical trends in the development of African philosophic ideas on the continent and how Africans could possibly navigate the turbulent catadromous waters, tangled webs and chasms of destruction, and chagrin of struggles that have engrossed Africa since the dawn of slavery and colonial projects on the continent. The book aims to generate more insights and influence national, continental, and global debates in the field of philosophy. It is accessible and handy to a wider range of readers, ranging from educators and students of African philosophy, anthropology, African studies, cultural studies, and all those concerned with the further development of African philosophy and thought systems on the African continent.

Interpretation of Scripture occurs within one’s worldview and culture, which enhances our understanding and ability to apply Scripture in the world. However, few books address Bible interpretation from an African perspective and no other textbook uses the intercultural approach found here. This book brings both an awareness of how one’s African context gives a lens to hermeneutics, but also how to interpret texts with integrity despite our cultural influences. African Hermeneutics was born of Prof Elizabeth Mburu’s frustration at only having textbooks that predominantly followed a Western worldview to teach her African students. Mburu’s approach to hermeneutics is one that begins in Africa, moving from the known to the unknown as students learn to apply her ‘four-legged stool model’ to biblical texts, namely examining: the parallels to African contexts, the theological context, the literary context, and the historical and cultural context. This textbook will help students and pastors interpret Scripture with greater accuracy in their own context, allowing for faithful application in their local contexts.

With language at the center of interpretation and understanding, Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutics claims to provide a solution of the intercultural problem of language and hermeneutics. He moves us to a higher universality, especially with regard to literature or texts and inner meaning. If this is the case, his approach would be relevant to the problems present in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Hence the goal of this book is to apply this claim to universality to a hermeneutic or narrative text like Achebe's. Achebe's narrative text, like the Greek texts, is an excellent work for the application of universal hermeneutics. I am not questioning the validity of the universality of hermeneutics, but rather expressing how significant Gadamer's approach is to understanding other people, cultural texts and worldviews if hermeneutics is universal. Gadamer provides the philosophical optimism and platform that most African scholars' need in the interpretation and understanding of their own cultural texts andbeing understood by other non-African and European cultures and philosophical persuasions. Hermeneutics considers every text or people's worldviews as interpretive or capable of communicating meaning despite being different, foreign or strange to us. The universality of hermeneutics at its best leads to a dialogic hermeneutics in a world of global understanding/peaceful co-existence.

Hermeneutics has frequently been dismissed as useful only for literary and textual analysis. Some consider it to be Eurocentric or inherently relativistic and thus unsuited to social critique. Lorenzo C. Simpson offers a persuasive and powerful argument that hermeneutics is a valuable tool not only for critical theory but also for robustly addressing many of the urgent issues of today. Simpson demonstrates that hermeneutics exhibits significant interpretive advantages compared to competing explanatory modalities. While it shares with pragmatism a suspicion of essentialism, an understanding that disagreements are situated, and an insistence on the dialogical nature of understanding, it nevertheless resolutely rejects the relativistic accounts of rationality that are often associated with pragmatism. In the tradition of Gadamer, Simpson firmly establishes hermeneutics as a resource for both philosophy and the social sciences. He shows its utility for unpacking intractable issues in the philosophy of science, multiculturalism, social epistemology, and racial and social justice in the global arena. Simpson addresses fraught questions such as why recent claims that “race” has a biological basis lack grounding, whether female genital excision can be critically addressed without invidious ethnocentrism, and how to lay the foundations for meaningful cross-cultural dialogue and reparative justice. This book reveals how hermeneutics can be a worthy partner with critical theory in achieving emancipatory aims.

African Philosophy and Environmental Conservation is about the unconcern for, and marginalisation of, the environment in African philosophy. The issue of the environment is still very much neglected by governments, corporate bodies, academics and specifically, philosophers in the sub-Saharan Africa. The entrenched traditional world-views which give a place of privilege to one thing over the other, as for example men over women, is the same attitude that privileges humans over the environment. This culturally embedded orientation makes it difficult for stake holders in Africa to identify and confront the modern day challenges posed by the neglect of the environment. In a continent where deep-rooted cultural and religious practices, as well as widespread ignorance, determine human conduct towards the environment, it becomes difficult to curtail much less overcome the threats to our environment. It shows that to a large extent, the African cultural privileging of men over women and of humans over the environment somewhat exacerbates and makes the environmental crisis on the continent intractable. For example, it raises the challenging puzzle as to why women in Africa are the ones to plant the trees and men are the ones to fell them. Contributors address these salient issues from both theoretical and practical perspectives, demonstrating what African philosophy could do to ameliorate the marginalisation which the theme of environment suffers on the continent. Philosophy is supposed to teach us how to lead the good life in all its forms; why is it failing in this duty in Africa specifically where the issue of environment is concerned? This book which trail-blazes the field of African Philosophy and Environmental Ethics will be of great interest to students and scholars of Philosophy, African philosophy, Environmental Ethics and Gender Studies.

This book provides an excellent orientation to, and a logical development of, the major trends and issues that have dominated discussions in African philosophy since the publication of Placide Tempels' Bantu Philosophy in 1945. Views of some of the best-known African philosophers, such as Kwasi Wiredu, Paulin Hountondji, H. Odera Oruka, Peter Bodunrin, and D. A. Masolo are discussed in detail. The text takes into account, in the form of quotations or referencing, the views of several other philosophers who have had something to say about African philosophy. This book facilitates an excellent orientation on African philosophy at the undergraduate level. Those pursuing African philosophy at the graduate level will find the text refreshingly novel.

‘Biblical Exegesis in African Context’ explores how the Church in Africa can affirm its uniqueness in terms of the African identity and experiences, and at the same time, remain faithful to the gospel message. The volume begins with an explanation of exegesis and hermeneutics, and the agenda for the rest of the book is set. The second chapter deals with textual criticism, which is the task of determining the originality of a biblical text. In chapter three, issues related to the context of the text are considered, after which the volume proceeds to examine the various literary forms present in the Bible— prominent among them being— Narrative, Law, Poetry, Prophecy, Wisdom Literature, Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Epistles and Revelation. The authors then dedicate the next chapter to discussions on socio-rhetorical interpretation. The final chapters of the book deal with matters solely related to the context of Africa; this part intends to equip readers to be able to interpret the Bible from African cultural perspectives and then apply the gospel message meaningfully to the life of African Christians. Chapter seven deals with the emergence and historical development of African Biblical Studies (ABS), noting its relevance and how Africans can benefit from it. The main contention of the chapter is that Africans will better understand and apply God’s word to their lives if they read the Scriptures in an African way. The volume then explores how African languages can be used to derive the meaning of scripture and apply it to real-life situations. Here, the authors contribute to the development of MTBH by developing a methodological framework for this interpretative tool. The next chapter of the volume deals with mother-tongue theologizing in Ghana. The final chapter considers the legitimacy of female leadership in the Church within the African context through the examination of two Pauline texts. This volume will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate seminary students, students of Biblical Interpretation in religions departments, as well as practicing pastors.