Lausanne World Pulse – Contextualizing a Parable for Creative Teaching in Africa
By Suraja Raman
Families in Africa are confronted in their relationships with each other as they live lives in accordance with the scriptures. Pastors and educators encounter families in crisis during their teaching and nurturing sessions in the church. The difference between the cultural world of the Bible and the culture of contemporary/traditional Africa requires the contextualizing of our teaching of scripture. According to John Mbiti, contextualization is that of teaching scripture with an understanding and appreciation of African thought and beliefs.1 During such learning sessions, families appreciate receiving relevant illustrations fitting their everyday lives. Contextualization is important for the families to handle the problems of home, society, school and personal interaction.
For pastors and educators in Africa, the effectiveness of our teaching depends in part on our ability to understand how scripture can influence daily life in Africa. A recent study addressed the attitudes and practices of current leaders enrolled in the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST). These leaders/students represent the Church in Africa, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. More than thirty African pastors/fathers were interviewed. These pastors/fathers gave their interpretation of the parable of the prodigal son with regard to their own cultural world. They also gave their perspective of teaching the parable of the prodigal son through contextualization.
Jesus Christ used the parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32) to reinforce the principle of God’s love and forgiveness. The characters in the story (the father, the younger son and the older son) portray powerful ideas in the dynamics of a family in its cultural context. Jesus draws our attention to the image of the heavenly Father through the act of the earthly father. The actions of the younger son and older son are reminders of our compromising actions in daily living. Nevertheless, the parable ends well with the return of the younger son. It is indeed every parent’s desire to have the family members back home.
Luke 15:11-32 from an African Cultural Context
In the African context, it is unthinkable for a son to request for an inheritance while the father is alive. The son will be cursed by the father and other family members. Moreover, an African father is looked upon as a fool if he decides to give away the family’s plot of land or finances to a rebellious son. If the rebellious son decides to return home, a celebration will not take place in most homes.
In Ethiopia the community will go to the extent of slaying the foolish young man to prevent a whole society from being cursed. The Bamasaaba tribe in Eastern Uganda prepares every young man to be circumcised at the age of eighteen to avoid any rebellious attitude or disobedience. To the African, one’s culture and tradition are important, for they provide an identity for the present relationships and for the future with regard to one’s status in society.
Interpreting Luke 15:11-32 in the African Context
To interpret this parable in the African context we must apply three educational principles to the passage: the teacher, the learner and the teaching-learning process.2 With reference to the parable the pastor/teacher is viewed as the father, the learner is viewed as the two sons and the teaching-learning process is viewed as the encounter between the father and the two sons. These principles are important in the contextualizing of the parable for creative teaching.