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ABSTRACT
The context of readers shapes the way they read the Bible. In a South African setting, an African (Northern Sotho) woman's context is characterised by a variety of oppressive forces like post-apartheid racism, sexism, classism, and oppressive elements of the African culture. A short survey of these factors is given. With reference to this context, the author re-reads Proverbs 31:10-31 from a Bosadi (Womanhood) perspective, a woman's liberation perspective which is committed, amongst other things, to the African-ness of an African-South African woman.
INTRODUCTION
Handling the Christian Bible, which is designated by many Black South Africans (particularly the youth) as a White man's book, in post-apartheid South Africa is not always easy Such a designation is understandable in the light of how some missionaries and the previous apartheid government abused the Bible in order to serve their own interests. The Bible was used, among other things, to subordinate non-White people, thus confirming what these abusers of the Bible read into it, namely that Blacks were destined by God to be the servants of the Whites.
Despite this negative situation, there are still many Black South Africans (in particular women) who have interest in the Bible and regard it as a norm for their lives. Indeed the majority of Church-going people among Africans (Northern Sothos)l in South Africa are women. Despite this, the Christian Church fails to give them authority to interpret the Bible in the churches. The Bible has been interpreted (and this is still the case) by men from a male perspective. Such an unfortunate state of affairs may not be allowed to continue in the so-called 'non-sexist,' post-apartheid South Africa, and not in the church. The latter, I would argue, is supposed to exemplify a situation of justice because the God portrayed in the Bible, in my view, identifies with the marginalised sections of society.
My intention in this paper is to read Proverbs 31:10-31 from the perspective of the liberation of African women. In my Christian context, this paean is favoured as a text exemplifying the qualities of a good Christian woman. The text is read literally without due consideration of, among other things, the context that produced it or the terminology used in the Hebrew text. Many...