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Biblical Decolonization: An Analysis of the Conflicting Lenses of Biblical Appreciation and Implications on Bible Believers in Bamenda Urban Sphere, Cameroon

Langmia Ngongmun Oliver

Abstract

This study investigates the conflicting lenses through which Bible believers in the Bamenda Urban Sphere, Cameroon, interpret Scripture and the resulting implications for their spiritual, economic and sociopolitical life. Using a qualitative methodology including Biblical text analysis, interviews and secondary sources, the research identifies four dominant interpretive lenses: the Divine Lens, the Lens of Jewish Anti-Gentilism, the Western Imperial Missionary Lens and the Nigerianised Interpretive Lens (Nigerianisation). While the Divine Lens affirms God’s universal redemptive purpose, the other lenses foster exclusivism, dependency, passive spirituality, economic, social, political and theological ambiguities. Anchored in critical hermeneutics, African contextual theology, postcolonial theory, sociological theories of religion, and missiological theory, the study demonstrates that misinterpretation arises not from the authority of Scripture but from uncritical adoption of conflicting lenses. The findings underscore the necessity of recovering the Divine Lens, grounded in sound hermeneutics and Missio Dei,1 to promote authentic spiritual growth and holistic transformation among Bible believers in Bamenda Urban Sphere.

Keywords

Bible believersInterpretationHermeneuticsAfrican contextual theologyDependency

References

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