Decolonising Aboriginal Hermeneutics

This volume, number 5 in the Series, focuses on how de-colonising hermeneutics has developed within the work of the authors. During Norman Habel’s lifetime as a Biblical scholar, he has employed a range of hermeneutics including Historical Criticism, Literary Criticism, Lutheran Theology, and Ecological Criticism, focusing especially on The Old Testament. At the age of sixty years, he was confronted by his colonial heritage and inspired by the Rainbow Spirit elders to employ yet another approach, Decolonising Hermeneutics. Norman hoped that the colonial oriented Christian Church in Australia and beyond, might ask, ‘Why is Western Christianity still colonial in so many ways?’ Anne Pattel-Gray brings to this work a wealth of knowledge and experience as a First Nations scholar, articulating the rights, issues, culture and spirituality of First Nations Australian peoples.

For Aboriginal people decolonising hermeneutics has enabled them to deconstruct and decolonise what the colonial church and missionaries has taught over the years. This hermeneutical method has evolved over many years and to explore ancient Ancestral Narratives that speak of the Creator Spirit’s actions and interaction with Aboriginal people. This defines the Creator Spirit’s relationship within their understanding and worldview before colonial invasion. This method sets the foundation for an Aboriginal hermeneutical and exegetical process which allows a freedom to re-read the biblical narratives from a pre-colonial perspective. In doing this Aboriginal people are challenged to decolonise their minds and to be open to the opportunity of reading the biblical texts through Aboriginal eyes and understanding. In decolonising the biblical narrative the approach is not only too de-colonise the people and cultures in the Bible but to de-colonise the interpretation of the Bible, and also to de-colonise the biblical narrative itself.