Re-defining stewardship : a Nigerian perspective on accountable and responsible land ownership according to the Old Testament

[摘要] This dissertation has explored the Biblical basis for a redefinition of stewardship, and hasdone so in the light of land ownership customs and ethos in some parts of Africa. It hasemployed a postcolonial hermeneutics in interpreting Genesis 1:26-28 using also afunctional equivalence approach in its translation and exegesis.In chapter one the conceptual scheme is outlined, while providing a highlight of theproblem, the hypothesis, the methodology and various definitional terms which feature inthe discussion. In chapter two various scholarly views are examined in order to criticallyassess the criteria for either a humans-above-nature or humans-in-partnership-withnaturemindset. The implications of such divergent views have been critically examined. Inthe third chapter views of African scholars were brought to bear on gerontocracy whichhas transcended pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial economic and political influencesand has sustained an ongoing cultural practice of a 'giraffe principle of stewardship, landownership and use.In the fourth and fifth chapter, the use of a postcolonial critical hermeneutics ininterpretation is rationalised. A functional equivalence approach in translating our pericopeinto Ogba is used, and then re-read using a postcolonial critical hermeneutics. The imagoDei and the cultural mandate which goes with it has been re-interpreted in line with ahermeneutics that is humane and sensitive to a post-colonial context. In the sixth chapter aredefinition of stewardship has been attempted, using the fruits of our close reading,functional translation, and the cultural perceptions derived from our empirical research.In the final chapter, a conclusion has been drawn to show how this study contributes to anew appreciation of the concept of stewardship when applied to land ownership and useespecially when humans are properly located in a relationship with God and with naturethat is ongoing.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University