In the last few years several disturbing reports have surfaced, not only from our seminaries, but also from our agencies and convention meetings, especially with regards to accommodating the culture’s fashionable thinking on race and homosexuality.

A recent lecture on hermeneutics promoted by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) reminded me of a scene at the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In it the professor helps the Pevensie children to think logically about all that they have experienced in the course of their time in Narnia. At the end of his explanation, he expresses his frustration at their slowness to think logically by exclaiming, “Bless me, what do they teach them at these schools?”

I have experienced that same frustration and had the same question run through my mind over the last few years as I have watched pastors, professors, and Christian leaders fall over each other trying to prove how sensitive, loving, and just they are to the overlords of political correctness in our current cultural moment.

What, you ask, am I talking about? Well, though the concerns I have extend beyond denominational boundaries, let me cast them in terms of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), where I primarily minister. I am concerned that many key leaders in the SBC and employees in our entities and institutions are on a bad trajectory.

In the last few years several disturbing reports have surfaced, not only from our seminaries, but also from our agencies and convention meetings, especially with regards to accommodating the culture’s fashionable thinking on race and homosexuality.[1]

African Hermeneutics

Now, SEBTS has added to that list by the promotion of a lecture by Elizabeth Mburu in their Southeastern Symposium. Dr. Mburu is “the first woman to gain a PhD” from Southeastern. She is an Associate Professor of New Testament and Greek at International Leadership University, Africa International University and Pan-Africa Christian University in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Mburu is on the board of the Africa Bible Commentary and is the editorial coordinator and New Testament editor for its revision. She is also the Africa Regional Coordinator for Langham Literature.

Her lecture is on “African Hermeneutics.” Though she affirms some vital hermeneutical principles in this lecture, her whole premise is faulty and seems to be unhelpfully influenced by standpoint epistemology. That is, she believes that there needs to be an “African hermeneutic” that is distinct from a “Western hermeneutic” if Africans are going to be able to understand and apply Scripture rightly.

Her understanding of the nature of hermeneutics is revealed when she states,

People sometimes think of hermeneutics as if it has principles set in stone. But is hermeneutics static or dynamic in the sense that it can change as methods of interpretation adapt to different cultural contexts?

She argues that since hermeneutical principles can—and should—change based on the interpreter’s context, new models of interpretation are required for African Christians to read the Bible properly. As she asks, rhetorically, “If our hermeneutical models are all from the West, how can we derive practical applications in our African context?”

This approach is problematic on its face and opens the door wide to reader-response theory, where the interpreter, not the text, its author or purpose, gives meaning. Why not have a “Tall People hermeneutic,” “Texan hermeneutic,” or “Gypsy hermeneutic,” or…? You get my point.

Read More