A COMPARISON AND EVALUATION OF FOUR RECENT WORKS ON THE INTERPRETATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

In this article four recent books on Old Testament scholarship in South Africa are discussed. These four volumes are, in alphabetical order: * Deist, F 1994: "Ervaring, rede en metode in Skrifuitleg. Wetenskapshistoriese ondersoek na Skrifuitleg in die Ned. Geref Kerk" 1840-1990. Pretoria: Raad vir Geesteswetenskaplike Navorsing. * Jonker, LC c. 1997: "Exclusivity and variety. Perspectives on multidimensional exegesis" (Biblical exegesis & theology 19). Kampen: Kok Pharos Publishing House. * Le Roux, JH 1993: "A story of two ways. Thirty years of Old Testament scholarship in South Africa" (Old Testament Essays Supplement Number 2). Pretoria: Verba Vitae. * West, G 1991/19952 : "Biblical hermeneutics of liberation. Modes of reading the Bible in the South African context". Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications I2nd ed.: Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications & Maryknol. A brief summary of the substance of each of the four books is provided. The particular foci of each of the works are indicated, from which inferences are drawn about the contents of each, but also about what fell outside the scope of each. From these observations certain indications are given of what, to the author's mind, could be included in a historiographic work which would relate local Old Testament readings in a more representative way