Nel, P. J.Senekal-Van der Berg, Elrika2018-02-022018-02-022008-11http://hdl.handle.net/11660/7776English: Elizabeth SchUssler Fiorenza is the main and most prominent proponent of the Hermeneutics of Suspicion. This hermeneutics has as aim the liberation and empowerment of women and other subjugated groups, and starts from the base of the Biblical text. Texts must be interpreted in the same way as a murder scene in order to find traces of lost voices and clues which will enable the liberation of marginalized parties. Texts must also be read against their androcentric grain in order to glean new meanings that have not before been proclaimed to the religious community. The hermeneutics of suspicion consists of four main movements/steps: suspicion, remembrance, proclamation and creative imagination and actualization. Suspicion entails the reading of a text with lenses coloured by suspicion, and a critical close reading against the grain of the androcentric text. The step of Remembrance teaches women and other readers to remember their past and the work and struggles of parties that have gone before them. It furthermore encourages readerslwomen to remember the voices of the Biblical parties that have been silenced by the androcentric grain of the text. Proclamation involves the declaration that all texts that do not enable the liberation of women and other marginalized groups, are not the Word of God but the words of men. Creative imagination and actualization gives people the opportunity to bring the text to life by means of poems, plays, paintings, songs, etc. Despite the fact that Fiorenza's hermeneutics is well-known in academic circles overseas, it is limited to small academic communities locally. At the University of the Free State, for example, there is no chair for feminist theology - this despite the fact that it is one of the fastest-growing fields within theology today. The ordinary lay believer knows little to nothing about this theology, and is never given any exposure to its tenets. In this study I wanted to test whether Fiorenza's hermeneutics is teachable to a group of lay believers, whether such believers are interested in this hermeneutics and whether it can change the way they read the text. I furthermore wanted to test the principles of this hermeneutics on the text of Old Testament narratives, since Fiorenza herself works mainly with the New Testament. Fioreza is additionally Catholic, and it had to be tested whether her principles, especially with regards to her step of Proclamation, were acceptable to a Protestant audience. The result of this practical evaluation is listed in detail in the work, but in short amounts to the following: 1. The audience it was taught to was able to grasp the principles of the hermeneutics of suspicion, but it was found that it takes time to assimilate these principles into the reading strategy to such a degree that it becomes a natural way of reading the text and the world. 2. The audience was not willing to concede that texts that do not work liberation in hand are words of men and not the Word of God. 3. The hermeneutics of suspicion could successfully be used on the narratives of the Old Testament, and the questions stencil I developed to aid in this process was able to greatly simplify this process for the lay reader. The ordinary Afrikaans, middle class, female believer has little knowledge or awareness of her religious heritage and resultingly suffers unknowingly under the same inherited piety of her foremothers. She has progressed little towards liberation in the past 100 years. The hermeneutics of suspicion can aid to combat this situation, but time is needed to incorporate this into the religious every-day life of the lay believer.Afrikaans: Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza is the hoof- en mees belangrike voorstander van die Hermeneutiek van Suspisie. Hierdie hermeneutiek se hoofdoelwit is die bevryding en bemagtiging van vroue en ander onderdrukte groepe, en het as basis die Bybelse teks. Tekste moet geïnterpreteer word op dieselfde manier as 'n moordtoneel ten einde bewyse te vind van verlore stemme, asook leidrade wat die bevryding van gemarginaliseerde partye sal bewerkstelling. Tekste moet voorts gelees word teen hul androsentriese grein ten einde nuwe betekenisse te verkry wat nog nie vantevore aan die religieuse gemeenskap verklaar is nie. Die hermeneutiek van suspisie bestaan uit vier bewegings/stappe: suspisie, herinnering, proklamasie, en kreatiewe verbeelding en aktualisering. Suspisie behels die lees van 'n teks met lense wat gekleur word deur agterdog, en 'n kritiese naby-lees teen die grein van die androsentriese teks. Die stap van Herinnering leer vroue en ander lesers om hul verlede te onthou, asook die werk en stryd van mense wat hul voorafgegaan het. Dit moedig lesers/vroue voorts aan om die stemme van Bybelse partye wat deur die androsentriese grein van die teks stilgemaak is, te onthou. Proklamasie behels die verklaring dat alle tekste wat nie die bevryding van vroue en ander gemarginaliseerde groepe bewerkstellig nie, nie die Woord van God is nie, maar woorde van mans. Kreatiewe verbeelding en aktualisering gee mense die geleentheid om die teks te laat leef deur middel van gedigte, toneelstukke, skilderye, liedere, ens. Ten spyte van die feit dat Fiorenza se hermeneutiek bekend is in akademiese kringe in die buiteland, is dit in Suid-Afrika beperk tot 'n klein akademiese gemeenskap. By die Universiteit van die Vrystaat, byvoorbeeld, is daar geen stoel vir feministiese teologie nie, ten spyte van die feit dat dit een van die vinnigste groeiende velde binne Teologie vandag is. Die gewone gelowige weet niks van hierdie teologie nie en word nooit blootgestel aan die beginsels daarvan nie. In hierdie studie wou ek vasstelof Fiorenza se hermeneutiek leerbaar is aan gewone gelowiges, of sulke mense hoegenaamd geïnteresserd is in hierdie hermeneutiek, en of dit die manier waarop hulle tekste lees, kan verander. Ek wou ook verder toets of die beginsels van hierdie hermeneutiek toepasbaar was op Ou Testamentiese narratiewe, aangesien Fiorenza self meestal met die Nuwe Testament werk. Fiorenza is voorts ook Katoliek, en dit moes getoets word of haar beginsels, veral met betrekking tot Proklamasie, enigsens aanvaarbaar is vir 'n Protestantse gehoor. Die resultaat van die praktiese evaluering word in detail in die tesis bespreek, maar kom in kort op die volgende neer: 1. Die gehoor aan wie dit geleer was, was in staat om die beginsels van die hermeneutiek van suspisie te verstaan, maar daar is gevind dat dit tyd neem om hierdie beginsels in die leesstrategie te assimileer tot só 'n mate dat dit deel word van die natuurlike proses van lees van teks en wêreld. 2. Die gehoor was nie bereid om toe te gee dat tekste wat nie bevryding bewerkstellig nie, woorde van mans is in plaas van die Woord van God nie. 3. Die hermeneutiek van suspisie kon suksesvol toegepas word op die narratiewe van die Ou Testament, en die vraagstensil wat ek ontwikkel het om hierdie proses te vereenvoudig was van groot hulp vir die gewone leser. Die gewone Afrikaanse, middelklas, vroulike gelowige het min kennis of bewussyn van haar religieuse agtergrond en ly gevolglik onder dieselfde oorgeërfde piëteit as haar voormoeders. In die laaste 100 jaar het hierdie vrou geensins gevorder op die pad na bevryding nie. Die hermeneutiek van suspisie kan hierdie toestand teenwerk, maar tyd is nodig om dit te inkorporeer in die religieuse beeld van die gewone gelowige.enElizabeth Schussler FiorenzaHermeneutics of suspicionAndrocentric grainRemembrenceProclamationCreative imagination and actualisationFeminist theologyOld Testament narrativesQuestions stencilSuspicionFeminist theologyBible and feminismHermeneuticsThesis (Ph.D. (Afro-Asiatic Studies, Sign Language and Language Practice))--University of the Free State, 2008ThesisUniversity of the Free State