Bosadi, Biblical Hermeneutics and Pentecostalism in the Scholarship of Madipoane Masenya (Ngwan’a Mphahlele)

Abstract

Bosadi, a theory coined by Madipoane Masenya (Ngwan’a Mphahlele), has been used in previous works as an approach to the biblical text. This current study sees bosadi as a contribution to Pentecostal hermeneutical approaches such as the hermeneutics of experience and the literalist approach. It unpacks first the main tenets of the bosadi as a biblical hermeneutical approach and then discusses the approaches to the Pentecostal reading of the Bible to identify its existing research gaps and how bosadi fills such gaps. This has some implications for a Pentecostal reading of the biblical text. The study argues that Pentecostals should read and interpret the Bible beyond fundamentalist, literalist and hermeneutics of experience approaches. Pentecostals should pay attention to the contextual, cultural and lived experiences of the people in doing biblical hermeneutics as proposed by bosadi. Data was collected by reviewing the works of Madipoane Masenya (Ngwan’a Mphahlele) on bosadi.