Reading the Bible positively
A support group in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa is bridging the chasm that people with HIV feel separates them from the Bible, write Prof Gerald West and Bongi Zengele.
Before joining the Siyaphila support group, members said, the Bible was there, but far off. Distance was the issue, not negativity.
The Bible was located in particular places, mostly in the church, but also on the shelf at home.
Bible owner: HIV-positive members of the Ujamaa support group used to think only preachers could handle the Bible.
For most, the Bible belonged to the minister, pastor or priest. For some the Bible had some sense of belonging in their homes, usually with a parent or grandparent, but even in these few cases, the Bible belonged predominantly in the hands of the professionals.
And it was relatively silent. The Bible required a preacher to make it speak. It was a book handled by others, said a female member. She had been expressly forbidden to touch the Bible because she was HIV positive and because only holy people should handle the Bible.
Staff at the South African Ujamaa Centre for community development and research along with people who were HIV-positive, began Siyaphila support groups in 1997.
Siyaphila is a Zulu word meaning "we are alive" or "we are well". The Ujamaa Centre, which is within the School of Religion and Theology in the University of KwaZulu-Natal, works with the province-wide groups in a variety of ways, including contextual Bible study.
Members of Siyaphila groups say all of the predominantly negative images of the Bible described above, were reversed by joining up. What was far off became close; what had no place now had a place; what belonged to others now belonged to them; what had nothing relevant to say now spoke directly to their condition; what could not be touched or made to speak by them was now in their hands and they could make it speak; what had brought judgment, stigma and discrimination now brought healing, hope and life.
Favourites
Among their favourite texts is the story of Tamar in 2 Samuel 13.1-22. One woman shared that this study was remarkable in that it showed that current problems could be found in the Bible.
Another is the story of the woman with a haemorrhage in Mark 5.21-34. They saw here someone like them, a woman suffering in silence and in isolation. Yet Jesus brought her into the public realm; he was not ashamed of her and he made her not to be ashamed of her disease. Jesus reached out to her, insisting that she was significant.
Her courage was also a source of encouragement.
She had been expressly forbidden to touch the Bible because she was HIV positive
Blind Bartimaeus' persistence and his refusal to be discouraged when the disciples tried to silence him was the most important feature of his story, found in Mark 10.46-52. This story and the story of the bleeding woman, were also encouraging in that both had incurable diseases in their day, but found healing. When we asked whether they assumed that Jesus would heal them, they said that though this might happen, what really encouraged them was that diseases that had been disabling or terminal in Jesus' day, such as leprosy, were now curable, so they too hoped that a cure would be found for their disease.
Surprisingly contemporary: What happened to Tamar in the Old Testament and the adulterous woman in the New Testament sometimes happens in some communities in South Africa today.
Members were struck by how contemporary the story in John 8.2-11 of the adulterous woman was. Precisely the same kind of thing happened in their communities on a regular basis; women were singled out and judged by men for crimes in which men often played the principle part.
This story also legitimated asking the Bible and the church questions. Jesus asked the religious leaders of his day penetrating questions.
Through our work with the Siyaphila groups we have discovered that the Bible is a key resource in the struggle to make theological sense of HIV/AIDS. While the churches and their leaders hesitate or fail to move from well-worn theological paths, ordinary women and a few men in sites like the Siyaphila groups will do the pioneering.
Bongi Zengele is a staff member and Prof Gerald West is director at the Ujamaa Centre.