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Appropriating Judean Post-Exilic Literature in a Postcolonial Discourse - a Case for Zimbabwe

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Appropriating Judean Post-Exilic Literature in a Postcolonial Discourse - a Case for Zimbabwe APPROPRIATING JUDEAN POST-EXILIC LITERATURE IN A POSTCOLONIAL DISCOURSE - A CASE FOR ZIMBABWE by TEMBA RUGWIJI Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject BIBLICAL STUDIES at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTER: PROF E H SCHEFFLER JUNE 2013 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi LIST OF (FOREIGN) TERMS xv DEDICATION xviii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xix SUMMARY xxi KEY TERMS xxii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1 2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 5 2.1 Introduction 5 2.2 Research questions 7 3 AIM AND MOTIVATION OF THE STUDY 7 3.1 Aim of the study 7 3.2 Motivation of the study 8 4 HYPOTHESIS 11 iii 4.1 Argument against the “myth” of freedom in Persian-controlled Yehud 12 4.2 Suffering and poverty were exacerbated by the Judean governors 13 5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 13 5.1 Research methods 14 5.1.1 Literary-rhetorical approach 14 5.1.2 Criteria of appropriating themes within postexilic literature in a Zimbabwean context 15 5.1.3 Hermeneutics of appropriation as an approach 17 5.2 Data collecting instruments 18 5.2.1 MA thesis 18 5.3 Qualitative research 19 5.3.1 Interviewing 20 5.3.1.1 Questionnaire 20 5.3.1.2 Closed questions 21 5.3.1.3 Multiple-choice questions 21 5.3.1.4 Open-ended questions 21 5.3.1.5 Anonymous interviewees/informants 22 6 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 22 6.1 Informed consent 22 6.2 Privacy and confidentiality: Pseudonyms 23 7 PREVIOUS RESEARCH 24 8 LIMITATIONS TO THE STUDY 34 iv 8.1 Unfriendly political environment in Zimbabwe 34 9 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS 35 CHAPTER 2 JUDEAN POSTEXILIC EXPERIENCES DURING THE PERSIAN PERIOD (539–333 BCE) 37 1 INTRODUCTION 37 2 THE BABYLONIAN INVASION OF JUDAH: THE EXILIC EXPERIENCE 40 2.1 The Babylonian invasion of Judah 40 3 THE JUDEAN EXPERIENCES IN PERSIAN-CONTROLLED YEHUD 43 3.1 Yehud as province of the Persian Empire 44 4 THE ECONOMIC SITUATION IN YEHUD 48 5 THE RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN YEHUD 54 5.1 The function of the deities in the economic stability of Judah 54 6 IDENTITY MARKERS 59 v 6.1 The temple 59 6.2 The ark 62 6.3 The synagogue 65 6.4 The Sabbath 67 6.5 The law 69 6.6 Monotheism or exclusivism of Yahwism 70 6.7 Circumcision 74 6.8 Prohibition against “mixed” marriages 78 7 INTERNAL CONFLICT IN YEHUD 82 7.1 Rebuilding the temple 82 7.2 Rebuilding the wall 84 8 THE ESCALATION OF POVERTY AMONG THE JUDEANS 87 8.1 Slavery and usury: Nehemiah’s response 88 9 CONCLUSION 92 CHAPTER 3 TOWARDS APPROPRIATING THE JUDEAN POSTEXILIC NARRATIVES IN THE CONTEXT OF POSTCOLONIAL ZIMBABWE (1980–2012) 95 1 INTRODUCTION 95 2 “POSTCOLONIAL” OR “POSTCOLONIALITY” 99 3 TOWARDS DEFINING A HERMENEUTICS OF APPROPTIATION 104 3.1 Various definitions of hermeneutics of appropriation 104 3.2 Theoretical examples of hermeneutics of appropriation 106 vi 3.3 Theology of reconstruction: Mugambi, Villa-Vicencio and Maluleke 111 3.4 Criticism of Villa-vicencio, Mugambi and Maluleke 117 4 THE JUDEANS STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL IN YEHUD 119 5 THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION IN POSTINDEPENDENCE ZIMBABWE (1980–2008) 121 6 CONCLUSION: ASPECTS OF THE APPROPRIATING PROCESS 124 6.1 Success of a hermeneutics of appropriation in this study 131 CHAPTER 4 RECONSTRUCTION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE POST-2008 ERA IN ZIMBABWE: NEHEMIAH’S INITIATIVES AS EXAMPLES FOR APPROPRIATION 133 1 INTRODUCTION 133 2 “THEMES” THAT CAN BE IDENTIFIED IN THE ZIMBABWEAN RECENT HISTORY 135 3 THE REBUILDING PROJECT: NEHEMIAH AND THE COMMUNITY IN YEHUD 138 4 THE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN REBUILDING ZIMBABWE 141 4.1 Donor aid 144 5 INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 146 6 THE INFORMAL BUSINESS SECTOR 153 7 POLITICAL LEADERSHIP 157 vii 8 EDUCATION AND TRAINING 160 9 NEHEMIAH’S SOCIAL JUSTICE REFORMS 163 9.1 A public hearing to rebuke the leadership 165 9.2 Usury was condemned 167 9.3 The government of Zimbabwe and the abuse of tax money 168 9.4 The return of personal property to the owner 169 9.4.1 Reviewing the land reform 172 9.4.2 Agriculture and economic development 173 9.4.3 Negative impact of land invasions 175 9.5 Nehemiah was not greedy to acquire land (Neh 5:16) 177 9.5.1 Need for productive land usage 177 9.5.2 Land allocation to graduates 178 9.5.3 Government should support farming 178 9.5.4 Commercialising agriculture 179 9.5.5 Need for dam construction 180 9.5.6 Sinking of boreholes 180 9.6 Nehemiah donated food to the hungry (Neh 5:17-18) 181 9.6.1 Works of charity in Zimbabwe 182 10 TOWARDS POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN ZIMBABWE 183 10.1 What is poverty and who are the poor? 184 10.2 The causes of poverty in Africa 185 10.2.1 Geography of a country 185 10.2.2 Vandalism and plundering of natural resources 187 viii 10.2.3 Land grabbing and invasions 188 10.2.4 Less tropical rains and drought 188 10.2.5 Exclusion and inclusion 189 10.3 Strategies towards poverty alleviation in Zimbabwe 192 10.3.1 Agriculture 192 10.3.2 Information and communication technology (ICT) 193 10.3.3 The return of human capital 194 10.3.4 The neighbourhood effects 194 10.3.5 The international community 195 11 HEALTH 196 11.1 Improved health education 198 12 ROAD AND RAILWAY NETWORKS 199 13 THE CONSTITUTION 203 14 TOURISM 210 15 THE DIASPORA COMMUNITY 216 16 RECONCILIATION 221 17 THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH 226 18 CONCLUSION 232 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND PROPOSALS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 235 1 INTRODUCTION 235 ix 2 CONCLUSIONS 235 2.1 Contributions of the research to scholarship 242 3 RECOMMENDATIONS 245 3.1 An appeal to the Zimbabwean diaspora community 245 3.2 A quest for contesting the “myth” of fear 248 3.3 A new constitution 250 3.4 International bilateral relations 253 3.5 Nehemiah’s social justice reforms in the Zimbabwean unity government 256 4 PROPOSALS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 258 4.1 Use of archaeological evidence 258 4.2 Critical interpretation of the biblical text for the African readership 258 4.3 Further investigation on the Jewish political freedom 259 4.4 Further research to re-kindle Old Testament scholarship in Zimbabwe 260 5 APPENDICES 263 5.1 Appendix 1: Letter of consent 263 5.2 Appendix 2: Research questionnaire 265 5.3 Appendix 3: Pseudonyms of respondents 269 6 BIBLIOGRAPHY 270 x DECLARATION Student Number: 34879498 I, Temba Rugwiji, declare that the thesis on the title: APPROPRIATING JUDEAN POSTEXILIC LITERATURE IN A POSTCOLONIAL DISCOURSE: A CASE FOR ZIMBABWE, is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. This thesis or part of it has never been published for a degree elsewhere. __________________________ __________________ SIGNATURE DATE (Rev Temba Rugwiji) xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AFCAST African Forum for Catholic Social Teachings AIDS Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome Am Amos (Biblical book) ANC African National Congress ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt (Rise and decline of the Roman world) BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BCE Before the Christian Era Cf A term used in academic works for compare/see Chr Chronicles (Biblical book) DH Deuteronomistic History Dn Daniel (Biblical book) Dt Deuteronomy (Biblical book) ed/s editor/s x Exodus (Biblical book) Ezk Ezekiel (Biblical book) Ezr Ezra (Biblical book) FAO Food and Agricultural Organisation Gn Genesis (Biblical book) HIV Human Immuno-deficiency Virus. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. A person becomes HIV positive xii when he/she comes into contact with blood in which there is the virus. Hg Haggai (Biblical book) ILO International Labour Organisation Is Isaiah (Biblical book) Jn John (Biblical book) Jos Joshua (Biblical book) Jr Jeremiah (Biblical book) Ki Kings (Biblical book) LAP Lambert Academic Publishing Lk Luke (Biblical book) Lm Lamentations (Biblical book) Ltd Limited Lv Leviticus (Biblical book) MA Master of Arts MDC-T Movement for Democratic Change- Morgan Tsvangirai faction MDC-N Movement for Democratic Change- Welshman Ncube faction Ml Malachi (Biblical book) MP/s Member/s of Parliament Mt Matthew (Biblical book) Neh Nehemiah (Biblical book) xiii OTANES Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies OTE Old Testament Essays PhD Doctor of Philosophy Pr Proverbs (Biblical book) Ps Psalm (Biblical book) ‘O’ level/s Ordinary Level/s (Form Four) OTSSA Old Testament Society of South Africa RDP Reconstruction Development Programme. This is a housing-construction programme which was introduced by Nelson Mandela, first President of democratic South Africa. The programme was earmarked for the formerly marginalized poor people. SA South Africa s a sino anno (no date) SAIIA South African Institute of International Affairs SASNES South African Society of Near Eastern Studies SJOT Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament s l sino loco (no place name) SPCK Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge s v Sino Verbo (under the name of) UN United Nations xiv UNGA United Nations General Assembly USA United States of America YHWH Yahweh (God) ZAPU Zimbabwe African People’s Union Zch Zechariah (Biblical book) xv LIST OF (FOREIGN) TERMS (Most of the acronyms are in Shona.1 Terms in other languages are stated) Belo Hebrew term for “poll tax” Chimbadzo The informal practice of charging interest on loans Dependence syndrome (English) A habit of depending on someone for survival Deutero-Isaiah (Biblical book) Second Isaiah (Isaiah chapters 40-55) Economi(-cides) A coined term for causes of economic meltdown Gehena harina moto There is no fire in hell (book) Halak Hebrew term for “land tax” Huku Chickens Hwayi Sheep Interesse Medieval Latin term for payment for damages arising to the creditor from default or delay in payment.
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