Contemporary Issues in Philosophy, Religion and Theology 2013 (ISBN 978-9966-26-022-2) 23 THE SEARCH FOR A RELEVANT BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION FOR THE CONTEXT Joseph K. Koech 1 Abstract African Christianity is one of the fastest growing phenomenon in the world. It is therefore important to examine the interpretation of the Bible within this context. Historically, biblical interpretation in Africa has been the brainchild of the Western world. Missionaries brought the gospel to Africa but tainted by their western cultural perspectives. The early African theologians were trained in western seminaries where they espoused the western approach to biblical understanding and interpretation such as source criticism, form criticism, redaction criticism, historical criticism, literary criticism among others. Such scholarship would not make sense to the traditional Africans in their contexts. The concern has been how to make the message not only understood by Africans but also relevant to them. The word should address their needs. The significance and shortfalls of the western traditional biblical criticisms for African contexts as well as the diverse biblical interpretation within the African context. The methodology used is evaluative and comparative mostly examining scholarly works on the subject. The African context has its peculiar issues such as culture, worldview, political, social and economic concerns among others needing relevant interpretive approach. The African context provides critical resources for biblical interpretation. Such an approach should seek to empower the African readers and hearers for a critical study of the Bible in relation to their life-situations, and for personal and societal transformation. It is argued herein that inculturation hermeneutics is the best approach for biblical interpretation in the African context. Key Words: Biblical Interpretation, Inculturation Hermeneutics, African Context, Historical Critical Method Introduction African Christianity is one of the fastest growing phenomena in the world today. The main text in African Christianity is the Bible. The challenge has been how to make the biblical message relevant and meaningful within the African situation. Missionaries brought the gospel to Africa but tainted by their western cultural perspectives. Their interpretation of the Bible was guided by their own background of western rationalistic standpoint. This made the Christian message alien to Africans. The early African theologians were trained in western seminaries where they espoused the western approach to biblical understanding and interpretation such as source criticism, form criticism, redaction criticism, and historical criticism among others. They went back to their homelands and presented messages tainted by the western worldview. African scholars began to address the issue of irrelevance of the Christian message for the African audiences noting that at first, biblical interpretation in Africa was the brainchild of the Western world. Due to the frustration in attempting to domesticate the biblical message in the African situation, the African scholars introduced all kinds of interpretive ways to the biblical text including contextualization and inculturation. There has not been any agreement on the exact method of interpreting the biblical text in the African context. The Bible is of dual nature: first it is a divine document that has to be received with respect; second, it is a human document with diverse characteristics presented in particular contexts. The Bible contains many different types of literature: poetry, law, history, prophecy, apocalyptic writing, wisdom literature, gospels, and 1 Department of Philosophy, Religion and Theology, School of Arts and Social Science, Moi University, P. O. Box 3900-30100, Eldoret, Kenya; E-mail: jkoechkip@yahoo.com