Reinterpreting the Bible: Intercultural Approaches to Biblical Hermeneutics

Dear Colleagues,

In a real sense, all Bible interpretation is intercultural. However, not all cultures have been “allowed” (mostly because of the hermeneutical hegemony of Western cultures) to truly bring their own indigenous hermeneutical approaches to bear on this important task. Instead, many cultures have often been forced—directly or indirectly—to use hermeneutical approaches that are neither germane to their culture nor readily understood by their culture’s people. As a result, much so-called “intercultural” hermeneutics today consists merely of a veneer of surface-level contextually specific hermeneutical outputs used to communicate the truths of the Bible in a culture rather than paying attention to the deep-level hermeneutical inputs already used by a culture to actually discover the truths of the Bible. This is precisely why a “reinterpretation” of intercultural biblical hermeneutics is necessary today. Such a reinterpretation takes seriously the deep-level culturally appropriate hermeneutical approaches to the Bible that are indigenous to a local culture.

The aim of this Special Issue is to further explore the reinterpretation of the Bible in light of the authentic deep-level hermeneutical approaches that are potentially found in every local indigenous intercultural context. In doing so, we will focus on how paying attention to such reinterpretation of the Bible will result in not only a new respect for and validation of every individual local culture’s hermeneutical approach(es), but will result as well in a plethora of new insights for all cultures that interpret the Bible.

In this Special Issue, original research articles are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Exploration of a specific local culture’s unique deep-level hermeneutical approach(es) to the Bible.
• Interpretation of specific texts of the Bible using a specific local culture’s unique deep-level hermeneutical approach(es).
• Exploration of how colonization has worked against the making of authentic local deep-level indigenous hermeneutics.
• Exploration of the similarities and differences between a specific local culture’s unique deep-level hermeneutical approach(es) and currently dominant Western hermeneutical approaches.
• Exploration of past historical hermeneutical approaches from church history that demonstrate alternative deep-level local hermeneutical approaches that differ from currently dominant Western hermeneutical approaches.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send this to the Guest Editor or to the Assistant Editor of Religions, Ms. Violet Li (violet.li@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Larry W. Caldwell
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• intercultural Bible interpretation
• cultural exegesis
• ethnohermeneutics
• contextual hermeneutics
• intercultural hermeneutics