Paper edition: ISSN 0808-2413 // Online edition: ISSN 1500-7383

Contents:

Editorial
Contextualized OT programmes
Teaching Biblical Hebrew to non-theological student
Developing OT diploma courses at TEEC(SA)
Conferences
Research
Correction
Endnotes

 

This second issue

of the Newsletter on African Old Testament Scholarship is distributed to Old Testament scholars and theological libraries in 24 countries throughout Africa. The response to the first issue, which was published last November, was very positive. And a large number of colleagues from different parts of Africa (and even some from Europe and North America) have encouraged me to continue the enterprise of editing and publishing this newsletter.

Still, as the very idea of the newsletter is to be a forum for exchange of ideas and information, every single subsequent issue relies on cooperation with the readers. As I pointed out in the previous issue, I cannot sit here up in Norway and produce news about African Old Testament scholarship. I would therefore, once more, like to encourage you all to communicate whatever you have of information or ideas on African Old Testament scholarship to me.

One of the aims of the newsletter is to exchange ideas and information about the Old Testament programmes that are offered at different seminaries and university departments. This exchange should then, hopefully, contribute to a deeper understanding of what it means to do Old Testament studies in Africa.

The present issue is an attempt at making such a contribution, with three essays on different aspects of doing Old Testament studies in Africa. The first essay focuses on the relationship between text and context, that is the ancient text of the Old Testament and the contemporary context of the African student. The questions that are raised is to what extent the African context is reflected in the Old Testament programmes, and, to what extent it actually is desirable that this context is being reflected. The second essay presents some of the experiences of teaching Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic to non-theological students at the University of the North in South Africa. And the third essay presents some of the thoughts and ideas that have shaped the new Old Testament programme of the diploma courses at the Theological Education by Extension College in South Africa. In addition to these three essays the newsletter includes abstracts of research projects as well as brief presentations of conferences coming up later this year.

The next issue of this newsletter will be published in November 1997. That issue will focus on the conditions for doing Old Testament research in Africa; therefore, please respond to that topic!

Knut Holter
editor

Contextualized Old Testament programmes?

Samson Gitau, Tewoldemedhin Habtu,
Victor Zinkuratire & Knut Holter

Knut Holter: Introduction

In October and November 1996 I had the opportunity of visiting a number of theological seminaries and university departments of religion and theology in Tanzania and Kenya.(1) The purpose of this visit was partly to give some lectures and seminars, but mainly to see how the different institutions organize their OT programmes; from the level of diploma or certificate and up to M.A. or M.Div./M.Theol.

One of the questions I discussed with OT professors and lecturers in all the institutions was to what extent the African context is reflected in their OT programmes. And, as far as I could see, the general rule is that the African context is not reflected at a formal level. None of the OT programmes I came across give special courses in a contextual reading of the OT; that is, none of them expose the students for any methodology or formal training of letting the OT texts be related to the African experience of the reader.

Actually, most of the programmes seem to reflect a typical western approach to OT studies, and few, if any, references are made to the contextual questions that in recent years have been discussed so energetically by several African OT scholars. This, however, does not mean that the African context is absent in the class-rooms. On the contrary; the students repeatedly ask questions related to the encounter between the text of the OT and the present context of the reader, and they are also encouraged to do so by some professors and lecturers. Still, most of it takes place at an informal level, without any methodological introduction and emphasis.

My impression from some months ago corresponds with the findings of the (much more thorough!) survey made by Edward G. Newing in the late 1960s, of OT programmes in theological seminaries and university departments throughout Eastern and Central Africa. The relationship between ancient texts and present context is not a central theme in Newing's investigation; still, one of the questions the different institutions are asked, is whether they relate their OT studies to African traditional religion. But the result is quite negative; according to Newing, "[...] hardly any institution that answered yes relates it in detail and many do it by inviting students to comment."(2)

This lack of a contextual approach to OT studies, at least at a formal and organized level, was of course understandable in the late 1960s. But is it understandable and even recommendable now in the latter half of the 1990s? The three decades in between have seen a gradual development and an incipient institutionalization of OT scholarship throughout Africa, and within this scholarship different examples of contextual approaches have been presented and favoured, at least as long as from the early 1980s.(3) And I therefore ask myself: Why is this scholarly tendency, which is so characteristic of African OT scholarship, why is it not reflected in a formal way in the introductory and even advanced OT programmes offered by the many theological seminaries and university departments?

Moreover, the lack of a more formal and organized contextual approach to OT studies also creates pedagogical problems: When the students leave their seminaries or university departments and go into preaching or teaching, the quest for current relevance will obviously lead them to draw lines between the texts of the OT and the context of its contemporary readers. But at this crucial point they have no methodology and no formal training.

And therefore, again I ask myself: Why are they not given this? I have asked three East African colleagues to respond to this.

Victor Zinkuratire: Response

It is certainly correct that the African context, as a general rule, is not reflected in the Old Testament programmes of studies in African theological colleges and university departments.

But things are changing, and there is now a great deal of interest in contextualization. True, this is still mostly done at an informal level. Some institutions, however, are already making the African context an integral part of their theological courses, including biblical studies, but much remains to be done.

Now, there are several levels of "context", and therefore also of "contextualization". One is the socio-political context of contemporary Africa, another is the religio-cultural context of traditional Africa. I believe the former is easier to deal with in our contextualization; the latter requires a professional training in religious studies and social anthropology which most African Old Testament scholars lack. It is my conviction that unless one has some basic academic training in these disciplines, one will lack the necessary methodology to undertake a truly scientific study of the Old Testament in an African context.

The solution to this problem, I think, is to include the above mentioned disciplines in the programmes of biblical studies as auxiliary subjects. It is this interdisciplinary approach that will make a contextualized study of the Old Testament in Africa possible.

Dr Victor Zinkuratire was until recently associate professor of Old Testament, Catholic University of East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya; he is now attached to the National Theological Seminary, P.O. Box 11424, Kampala, Uganda.

Samson Gitau: Response

To some extent, the observation about a lack of formal contextualized OT programmes in teaching schedules is true of the Department of Religious Studies, University of Nairobi. Indeed courses on OT appear to be geared towards acquisation of knowledge touching the literary, historical and religio-cultural background of the OT, with little bearing on parallels from the African background.

However, this position is slowly changing. Presently, lecturers and professors have embarked on programmes to contextualize OT themes to fit corresponding African categories. For instance, themes like the concept of God, salvation, ecology, ethics, human rights, gender, justice, peace, and leadership are presently addressed from the OT premise but with emphasis on local experience. In other words, particular OT themes are increasingly being discussed in the context of the existential situation contemporary Africans find themselves in.

Nedless to say, however, one should not approach the OT as though it was a dictionary full of answers for all problems Africans may encounter. The OT is a product of Israel's socio-economic, political and religious experience, and only what is practical and relevant to contemporary Africans requires contextualization. Perhaps the main handicap is the lack of a methodology. Still, our discussion about "contextualized OT programmes" could be one of the steps towards correcting this imballance.

Dr Samson Gitau is lecturer of Old Testament at Department of Religious Studies, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya.

Tewoldemedhin Habtu: Response

By way of responding, let me begin by stating that I deeply share this concern. But I also agree with Dean Flemming when he says: "All the attention given to contextualization has not led to a consensus regarding its goals, methodologies, limits and hermeneutical base".(4)

So, the issue is not whether we should contextualize or not, but how? In the article mentioned above, Flemming mentions that there are two basic approaches to contextualized hermeneutics today. The first of these assigns "the primary control of meaning to the contemporary context", whereas the second approach "gives principle control to the biblical text for the meanings that are contextualized". May be the question as to why the scholarly tendencies in the three decades between the late 1960s and the latter half of the 1990s have not been reflected in OT programmes in Africa finds its answer in this crucial choice of approach. Flemming intimates this when, in relation to the first approach, he comments: "This context-driven model of contextualization is no doubt the dominant one in Asia and elsewhere in the Two Thirds World today".(5)

Dr. Byang H. Kato, one of the visionaries used by God to establish the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST), in his response to the scholars who had written on African theology during the earlier part of those three decades, strongly recommends that Christianity be expressed in a truly African context, allowing it to judge the African culture and never allowing culture to precedence over Christianity.(6) In conclusion, Newing, in the article referred to in the "Introduction" above, caps his eight guidelines for rethinking theological education in Africa with the following: "In all this the test of relevance should be communication of the Word [...]. Our whole teaching programme should be brought to the bar of this test: are we helping our future ministers to be effective communicators of the Word?"(7)

Dr Tewoldemedhin Habtu is professor of Old Testament, Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, P.O. Box 24686, Karen - Nairobi, Kenya.

Teaching Biblical Hebrew to non-theological students

Jacob S. Chabane

Over the past few years, South Africa has experienced rapid and dramatic changes in the political, social, economic and educational spheres. These changes have, indeed, impacted on everyone, and they have meant self-examination and self-evaluation as well as rethinking and redefining their role in order to serve effectively and shape our new society. These changes have effectively impacted on the teaching of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic to non-theological students in South Africa.

Basically, the teaching of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic was exclusively restricted to theological students and interested Biblical Studies students, who intended to pursue Old Testament studies. The main purpose of teaching Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic is to provide Biblical students with the linguistic tool, that would enable them to read and understand the original Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Old Testament. The Hebrew course was introduced with the profound intension of imparting a knowledge of reading, writing, understanding and analyzation of the text. It was designed also for the student to learn the Biblical Hebrew independently of a teacher. If, therefore, a student is able to read and write with a certain measure of proficiency, he/she would be adviced to proceed to the next level of study.

Over the past few years, the number of non-theological students taking Biblical Hebrew at the Giyani Branch of the University of the North, has increased considerably. Last year, 1996 was a blessed academic year for the Department of Semitic Languages at the University of the North (Giyani Campus) wherein the number of students taking Biblical Hebrew as a minor course increased to 119. This was the highest number since the existence of the department of Semitic Languages at the University of the North. Professor Andre Conradie and Ms Jacky Du Toit were responsible for the teaching of the Biblical Hebrew at the Giyani Campus as well as the Main Campus. Mr Jacob S.Chabane is currently responsible for both Campuses, while Prof Conradie and Ms Du Toit are on study leave.

Mr Jacob S. Chabane is lecturer of Hebrew and Aramaic, Department of Semitic Languages, Faculty of Arts, University of the North, Private Bag X1106, Sovenga 0727, South Africa.

Developing Old Testament diploma courses at TEEC(SA)

Christo J.S. Lombaard

The Theological Education by Extension College (Southern Africa), located in Johannesburg, South Africa, has a proud history of 20 years standing, providing contextual and ecumenical training for ministry. Combining the financial efficiency of distance education with the value of personal tutorial contact wherever students live,(8) some nine denominations(9) obtain theological education, both for lay and ordained ministry, from TEEC(SA), with different courses available to students from diverse educational backrounds. (Thus, for Award: 7 years schooling required; for Certificate: 9 years schooling required; Diploma = degree-level).

The TEEC(SA) Old Testament Diploma courses were traditionally written in comprehensive lecture notes which provide an overview of the subject. Only presented on first and second year level, two textbooks were required: for introduction, Anderson (1988), and for exegesis, Laymon (1971). During a process of restructuring at the College, a full-time lectureship in Old Testament & Hebrew was established from 1996, with the intention i.a. to develop a third year OT-course and to revise OT1 and OT2. The new OT3 course is offered for the first time in 1997. It assumes a thorough background in OT, and seeks to prepare students for independent thought and research on the narrative, wisdom and poetic literature of the OT, as well as on hermeneutics. The latter is done by way of capita selecta from Deist (1988) and Le Roux (1993). The larger part of the content is based on the works by Bosman & Loader (1987) and Burden & Prinsloo (1987).

Books by local writers are thus considered important. True, "contextuality" is difficult to achieve, because there is no single context within which students live. A continuum which ranges from wholly "Westernised" students to various admixtures and versions of "African" contexts, is rather to be discerned. To cater to this diversity, books such as those by Le Roux (1993), West (1995) and Wittenberg (1991 & 1993) are prescribed, each of which finds itself at a different place within this continuum. This approach aims to cut to two sides: it tries to meet students "where they are", but also tries to sensitise students to other contexts (i.e. other "realities") within church and society. The "inter-contextual" would perhaps be the most appropriate description of this approach.

Furthermore, the move away from full lecture notes is undertaken for three reasons: to encourage self study, to simplify revision of courses and accommodation of recent publications, and to provide students with suitable reference works for continued use in ministry. These two trends will guide the development of the new OT1 and OT2 courses, which will be ready in 1998. The new OT courses will, as currently foreseen,(10) include:

• OT1:
  • Exegetical methodology: Deist & Burden (1980); TEEC (1992)(11)
  • Introduction: Schmidt (1992)(12)
  • The literature of the OT: Deist & Vorster (1986)
  • Preaching the OT today: selected articles; Wittenberg (1991)
  • The OT in ethical debate - a case study: Lombaard (1997)

• OT2:
  • Exegetical methodology: West (1995)
  • Prophecy in Israel: Wittenberg (1993); Deist & Burden (1980)
  • OT Theology: Issues and case study (probably Hinsom 1976)(13)
  • OT Religionsgeschichte: Introductory issues
    
    

Exegesis of selected texts is included in each course. Unless a similar work of more recent dating can be found, Laymon (1971) will probably still be used for reasons of price, availability and extent. A reader containing more recent literature will also be used.

A recurring problem within the TEE-methodology is the study of biblical languages: students seem to lose hope at an early stage, and most churches do not require Greek and Hebrew. However, obtaining tutorial services from Jewish-Christian organisations is currently being investigated. The textbook presently prescribed for Hebrew is that of Weingreen (1959).(14)

These are only a few short remarks on the way in which OT teaching is developing at TEEC(SA). Any comments, contributions and requests for information are most welcome.

Christo J.S. Lombaard is lecturer of Old Testament, TEEC(SA), P.O. Box 74257, Tuffontein, Johannesburg 2140, South Africa; e-mail: teecsa@cis.co.za

ACTEA [Accrediting Council for Theological Education in Africa]: ACTEA Directory of TEE programmes in Africa. Nairobi 1993².
Anderson, B.W., The living world of the Old Testament. Harlow 1988.
Bosman, H.L. & Loader, J.A. (eds.), Old Testament Story Tellers. Cape Town 1987 (The literature of the Old Testament; 2).
Burden, J.J. & Prinsloo, W.S. (eds.), Dialogue with God. Cape Town 1987 (The literature of the Old Testament; 3).
Deist, F.E., Witnesses to the Old Testament. Pretoria 1988 (The literature of the Old Testament; 5).
Deist, F.E. & Burden, J.J., An ABC of biblical exegesis. Pretoria 1988
Deist, F.E. & Vorster, W.S., Words from afar. Cape Town 1986: Tafelberg Publishers (The literature of the Old Testament; 1).
Harrison, R.K., Biblical Hebrew. A complete course. London 1995 (Teach yourself books)
Hinson, D.F., Theology of the Old Testament. London 1976 (TEF Study Guide 15).
Kinsler, F.R., The extension movement in theological education. A call to the renewal of the ministry. South Pasadena 1978.
Laymon, C.L. (ed.), The interpreter's one-volume commentary on the Bible. Nashville 1971.
Le Roux, J.H., A story of two ways. Thirty years of Old Testament scholarship in South Africa. Pretoria 1993 (Old Testament Essays Supplement; 2).
Lombaard, C.J.S., The adoption option. A Christian hope for dying children in the world and in the womb. Pretoria 1997.
Mouat, C., "Theological Education by Extension: A survey of TEE philosophy", Ministerial Formation 73 (1996) 28-34.
Mulholland, K.B., Adventures in training the ministry. A Honduran case study in theological education by extension. Grand Rapids 1976.
Schmidt, W.H., Old Testament introduction. Bandra, India 1992.
TEEC, Exegesis. Johannesburg 1992 (New Testament studies: general course on exegesis).
Weingreen, J., A practical grammar for classical Hebrew. Oxford 1959².
West, G., Biblical hermeneutics of liberation. Modes of reading the Bible in the South African context. Pietermaritzburg & New York 1995² (The Bible & liberation series).
Winter, R.D., Theological education by extension. Pasadena 1969.
Wittenberg, G.H., I have heard the cry of my people. A study guide to Exodus 1-15. Pietermaritzburg 1991 (The Bible in Context; 1).
Wittenberg, G.H., Prophecy and protest. A contextual introduction to Israelite prophecy. Pietermaritzburg 1993 (The Bible in Context; 2).

Conferences

• The Panafrican Association of Catholic Exegetes (PACE) will convene to its eighth congress in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 19.-27. July, 1997. The topic of the congress is "Church as family: Biblical perspectives". A preliminary survey of contributions, includes the following related to the Old Testament: L. Monsengwo, "Election et ayant-droit"; V. Zinkuratire, "Gen 12:3. All families will be blessed in you"; D. Ruhamanyi, "Homme et femme il les créa. Gen 1:27"; K. Holter, "Comparing Africa and the Old Testament on the polygamy issue". For further information, please contact: Dr Laurent Naré or Dr Peter Njoroge, Catholic Biblical Centre for Africa and Madagascar, P.O. Box 24215, Karen - Nairobi, Kenya.
  

• The 1997 annual conference of the Old Testament Society of South Africa will take place in Philadelphia Hall, Academic Building, University of Vista, Pretoria, September 10-12. The topic of the conference is "The theology of the Psalms". For further information (and proposals for papers, before the end of June), please contact: Prof Johan H. Coetzee, Dept of Biblical Studies, Rand Afrikaans University, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa; e-mail: JHC@rau3.rau.ac.za
  

• The 1997 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) will take place in San Francisco, November 22-27. Amongst a large number of interesting events, we note three papers from the "Bible in Africa, Asia and Latin America Session", related to the Old Testament:
  

• (1) Dr Madipoane Masenya, UNISA, Pretoria, South Africa, will read a paper on "A bosadi (womanhood) reading of Genesis 16" (cf. also the abstract of her PhD thesis in this newsletter, pp. 15-16). In this paper Dr Masenya points out that past and present readings of the Bible in South Africa have basically been white, middle class and male, and that, as a consequence, the interpretation African women have received have not met their real needs as persons in their own right. As a response to this, a bosadi reading of Gen 16 is presented, taking into account both the African-ness and the woman-ness of South African women's identity.
  

• (2) Prof Mark H. McEntire, Mekane Yesus Seminary, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, will read a paper on "Cain and Abel: Will the real African please stand up?". In this paper Prof McEntire will use the interpretation of Gen 4 by Alan Boesak and Itumeleng J. Mosala (South Africa) and Modupe Oduyoye (Nigeria) to exemplify the diversity within biblical hermeneutics in Africa.
  

• (3) Prof David Tuesday Adamo, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria, will read a paper on "The distinctive use of Psalms in African indigenous churches in Nigeria"; for further presentation of this paper, cf. the abstract of Adamo's research project in this newsletter, pp. 14-15.
  

• In addition to these three papers, the "Bible in Africa, Asia and Latin America Session" includes papers on the history of Indian interpretation of the Bible (R.S. Sugirtharajah), on South American liberation interpretations (Marcella M. Althaus-Reidl, Marcos Paulo Monteira da Cruz Bailão, and Miguel A. de la Torre), and on African interpretation of Mark 5 (Solomon K. Avotri). For further information, please contact: Prof Sharon H. Ringe, Wesley Theological Seminary, 4500 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20016-5690, USA; e-mail: RingeSH@aol.com
  
  

Research

• Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria: Prof David T. Adamo is doing research on The distinctive use of Psalms in African indigenous churches in Nigeria. Western OT scholarship on the Psalms has traditionally focused on questions like authorship, literary forms, and theology. Many African Christians, however, find these approaches too mechanical; they do not meet the daily needs of people who are confronted with what to eat, diseases, how to deal with the power of enemies and even death caused by these enemies. Those who accept Christianity have been told by missionaries to forsake incantations, so-called magical medicines, and worship of the divinities. Being given faith and the Bible as substitutes, these believers were constantly faced with the question of how these substitutes can be used as protection against enemies and evil spirits, to heal sicknesses, or to bring success to school and business. The African indigenous churches have found answers to these questions in their classifying of the Psalms into protective, curative, and success psalms, using them in conjunction with other material.

Unfortunately, these phenomena have not been adequately and objectively investigated. They have rather been condemned or neglected. The purpose of the present research is therefore to share with the world some of these distinctive African ways of using the Psalms. The research has partly taken place in Nigeria, where Adamo has made interviews and participated in worship services in some of these indigenous churches, and partly at the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non Western World, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he has analysed the material in the most objective way possible, using phenomenological, historical, and African cultural hermeneutical approaches. The results of the research is meant to be published in a book later on. Address: Prof David T. Adamo, Faculty of Arts, Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria; e-mail: nipem.war@rcl.nig.com

• University of Ilorin, Nigeria: Sola Ademiluka is working with a PhD thesis entitled Genesis 1 and 2 Creation Stories in an African Perspective (Supervisor: Prof P. Ade Dopamu). The study aims at establishing the similarities between Genesis and African creation stories, interpreting the former with the cultural context of the African milieu. Address: Sola Ademiluka, Department of Religions, University of Ilorin, P.M.B. 1515, Ilorin, Nigeria.

• University of South Africa: Madipoane J. Masenya completed in 1996 her PhD thesis entitled Proverbs 31:10-31 in a South African context: A Bosadi (Womanhood) perspective (Supervisor: Prof J.J. Burden). The researcher presupposes that readers and their contexts are significant in biblical interpretation. The text studied is Proverbs 31:10-31 with African - South African / Northern Sotho woman as clients. Given their context, how should they read Proverbs 31:10-31?

The researcher proposes a Bosadi (Womanhood) perspective, which is comitted, amongst others, to the African-ness of her clients. The question is: If Proverbs 31:10-31 is read from this perspective, how will these woman find the text? Is it liberative or oppressive? Does it contain both elements? Though the Bible emerged from patriarchal cultures, it has liberative elements. Evidence supporting this came to light as Proverbs 31:10-31 was re-read from a Bosadi perspective. Being basically a victim of male interpretations of the Bible, an average Northern Sotho woman has the task of taking the responsibility to re-read the Bible in order to discover that it does not only alienate her, it is also liberating. Address: Dr M.J. Masenya, P.O. Box 2805, 0700 Pietersburg, South Africa; e-mail: masenmj@alpha.unisa.ac.za

• University of Stellenbosch, South Africa: Joel William Manda (from Malawi) is working with a PhD thesis entitled A rhetorical interpretation of the function of proverbs within Old Testament kingship narratives from an African perspective, with reference to the Achewa of Malawi (Supervisor: Prof Hendrik Bosman). Using an interpretive approach informed by the Achewa understanding of the function of proverbs, the researcher seeks to show that through such an approach further insights could be gained concerning their rhetorical function in those contexts where they occur. Address: Rev J.W. Manda, Faculty of Theology, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa; e-mail: 9557601@rgo.sun.za
  

Correction:

In the abstract of the Stellenbosch PhD project of Edwin Zulu in Newsletter on African Old Testament Scholarship 1 (1996) 6, Zulu was presented as coming from Malawi; however, he comes from Zambia, where he is attached to the Justo Mwale Theological College in Lusaka.

Endnotes:

(1) Dar-es-Salaam: St. Mark's Theological College and Segerea Senior Seminary; Arusha: Makumira Lutheran Theological Seminary and International Baptist Theological Seminary of Eastern Africa; Limuru: St. Paul's United Theological Seminary; Nairobi: Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University, Daystar University, Catholic University of Eastern Africa.

(2) E.G. Newing, "A study of Old Testament curricula in Eastern and Central Africa", Africa Theological Journal 3 (1970) 80-98, 87.

(3) See policy articles such as for example N. Onwu, "The current state of biblical studies in Africa", The Journal of Religious Thought 41 (1985) 35-46, and S.O. Abogunrin, "Biblical research in Africa: The task ahead", African Journal of Biblical Studies 1/I (1986) 7-24.

(4) D. Flemming, "The third horizon: A Wesleyan contribution to the contextualization debate", AETEI Journal [Association of Evangelical Theological Education in India]1/II (1996) 4.

(5) Ibid. 7.

(6) B.H. Kato, Theological pitfalls in Africa. Kisumu (1975) 181-182.

(7) E.G. Newing, "A study of Old Testament curricula" (1970) 93.

(8) Readers not aware of the history of the TEE-model are referred to the works of Winter (1969); Mulholland (1976); Kinsler (1978); and more recently: ACTEA (1993); Mouat (1996:28-34).

(9) I.e. formally; informally the number is higher.

(10) Drawing on the input from the TEEC(SA) OT Subject Committee (comprising OT specialists and church representatives), some changes are likely.

(11) A new, expanded version of this work will be available from 1998.

(12) This book followed a most interesting route into the local market. Based on Schmidt's Einleitung (1981²), a translation (by M.J. O'Connell) of which was published in 1984 by The Crossroads Publications Company in New York, this translation was republished in Bandra, India, by St Paul Publication. It is the latter edition which has found its way into the local market and, being imported from India, it is most affordable indeed.

(13) This book is chosen mainly because of its affordability locally. Students with the means will be encouraged to choose another Theology from a recommended range.

(14) The recent work by Harrison (1995) would seem to be a good replacement. A Hebrew grammar written by D. Firth specifically for African students, which may be used as well, is apparently about to be published by ACTEA.