Postcolonial biblical interpretation in the context of the Democratic Republic of the Congo : selected texts from Joshua 1-12

Abstract

The present research has been aimed at investigating how imperialism and colonialism are located both in the biblical text (cf. Joshua 1-12) and in present day interpretive postcolonial contexts such as that of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. An investigation was made of the unequal power dynamics at play between the Israelites who are depicted as mercilessly conquering the indigenous peoples of Canaan in the name of the deity, and the Canaanites. How were/ are such power dynamics played out in the Katangese, Democratic Republic of the Congo’s context in the relations between the then colonizers, that is, the Belgians as well as the neo-colonial African rulers and the Congolese peoples? It is argued that the Belgians assumed the role akin to that of the Israelite invaders as they mercilessly invaded the “promised land”, that is, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ending with the brutal extermination of African peoples justified on biblical precedents. A conclusion is made that within the context of postcolonial biblical interpretation, the conquest narrative of Joshua 1-12 is one of the most traumatic stories in which violence is committed by one nation on another in the name of the deity. Postcolonial biblical criticism was found to be an appropriate approach in assisting the researcher to navigate through violent biblical texts with a view to coming up with a transformative reading of the texts in the (Katangese) context of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.