Date: November 2, 2024
Venue: Online
Topic: The Bible and Cultural Identity
Culture is often used without explicit conceptual definitions that contextualize the parameters of the term. Culture is generally conceived as the everyday life, behaviour, beliefs, social interactions, ideologists, and language of a people. In other words, culture is the identity marker of any person. Culture is unique to various people although there may be some similarities. Community members who do not live according to a region’s socio-cultural norms are often considered deviant. Culture is unconsciously reflected in literature by the author or receptors of the document. The Bible is written within the cultural milieu of the authors and the initial/primary receptors of the various books of the Bible. This divides the users of the Bible over the culture expressed in the Bible and their individual and communal cultural identity that may differ from the Bible. How do the cultural ideals expressed in the different Books of the Bible appeal to contemporary readers of the Bible without deviating from the Word of God? What is the relationship or otherwise between the culture of the Bible and Africa? How can the African keep his/her culture in harmony with the culture of the Bible? This call for papers seeks responses to these key questions that underpin the Institute for Biblical Scholarship in Africa (IBSA) virtual conference for November 2024. Areas to explore include but are not limited to:
- Cultural Identity in the Hebrew Bible and Africa
- Cultural Identity in the New Testament and Africa
- Cultural Identity in the Epistles and Africa
- Cultural identity and biblical interpretation
- Cultural identity and Bible translation in Africa
- African life and Cultural identity in the 21st century
- The relevance of Culture to effective studies in Africa
- Mixed Cultural Identity in the Bible
- The Bible and deculturation
- The Bible and Cultural Construction in Africa
Important dates
Submission of 150 words abstract – September 13, 2024 Notice of acceptance of abstracts – September 20, 2024 Submission of full (draft) article – October 30, 2023 Presentation at IBSA – West Africa meeting – November 2, 2024
Visit this link to submit your article – https://forms.gle/zn2rG96EPyutQP5N9
Send all inquiries to – admin@ibsafrica.org
A writing guide style will be sent to authors whose abstracts have been accepted. Good papers will be published in the IBSA Journal.