This paper advocates for increased awareness and inclusion of global scholarship in evangelical biblical hermeneutics, using the Letter to the Ephesians as an example. While articles and monographs by soundly evangelical Majority World scholars are increasingly available, to date there is little representation of global perspectives in ‘mainstream’ western evangelical thought such as major commentaries or textbooks on hermeneutics and biblical interpretation.
Majority World scholars bring unique perspectives that may helpfully challenge Western scholars to test their own hermeneutical assumptions and the interpretations they generate. Given that all interpretive methods are culturally shaped, the work of global evangelical scholars can identify culturally located lenses limiting Western biblical interpretation. Evangelical scholars may be concerned lest a plurality of global voices undermine a commitment to the authority and stability of biblical revelation. However, global plurality need not imply uncritical relativism. Differing hermeneutical starting points, such as a different sense of proximity to the biblical world, different genre practices and preferences, and situational realities in differing cultural contexts help global evangelical interpreters notice and prioritize aspects in biblical texts sometimes overlooked or minimized by Western scholars, leading to a greater wealth of textually grounded interpretations enriching the entire church.
This paper surveys African readings of the New Testament, particularly interpretations of Ephesians by African evangelical scholars. African scholars bring their cultural contexts and hermeneutical lenses to their interpretation of Ephesians, reading the text in light of an African cosmology not unlike that of 1st-C Asia Minor, and emphasizing the relevance of the ‘powers’ passages in Ephesians for Christians facing spiritual confusion or oppression.
Such insights from African biblical scholarship offer valuable perspectives for the whole church’s understanding and application of Ephesians. Acknowledging the diversity of reading lenses within the global church, and actively engaging with the perspectives of Majority World scholars, enriches biblical scholarship and contributes to a deeper understanding of God’s authoritative revelation in a globalized world.
Representative bibliography:
Acolatse, Esther E. Powers, Principalities, and the Spirit: Biblical Realism in Africa and the West. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018.
Arnold, Clinton E. Power and Magic: The Concept of Power in Ephesians. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2001.
Cohick, Lynn H. The Letter to the Ephesians. NICNT. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2020.
Darko, Daniel K. Against Principalities and Powers: Spiritual Beings in Relation to Communal Identity and the Moral Discourse of Ephesians. Bukuru, Nigeria: HippoBooks, 2020.
Gombis, Timothy G. The Drama of Ephesians: Participating in the Triumph of God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2010.
Keener, Craig, and M. Daniel Carroll R., eds. Global Voices: Reading the Bible in the Majority World. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2013.
Mburu, Elizabeth. African Hermeneutics. Bukuru, Nigeria: HippoBooks, 2019.
Porter, Stanley E., and Matthew R. Malcom, eds. The Future of Biblical Interpretation: Responsible Plurality in Biblical Hermeneutics. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2013.
Wright, N.T., and Michael F. Bird. Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2024.