EVTC #2

Musa Dube -- our presenter this morning -- is a professor of New Testament in Botswana. Her passionate question? 'How do I read the Bible as a woman who has been colonized?' Even in her doctoral training, she was required to learn (in addition to her English, Hebrew, and Greek) German and French but her own language and culture was completely ignored. So many of the texts, from the Exodus narrative to the "Great Commission" are -- or have been used as -- justifications for colonization under the guise of "evangelization."
She told a powerful folk tale of "Princess Africa" as she came under the control of her "colonial masters." The decades-old struggle for African independence as transformed her into "Mama Africa," the strong black woman who was ready for the healing independence was to bring only to find that the new 'sons' of Africa began fighting among themselves. Now came the era of "new colonization" -- international aid, governments, church groups, NGOs -- which goes under name "globalization" and the "global village." This resulted in crushing, unmanageable debt. Along with this came two more blows -- AIDS and climate change. And so today Mama Africa remains sick and bleeding...and perhaps reaching out to touch the hand of the One who once said to a little girl who was already dead, "Talitha cum..."