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<p> How do readers regain their enthusiasm for reading Scripture when what they
are reading does not relate to their life’s circumstances? With all the competing
voices in the world today, readers find it challenging to read the Bible when what
they read is distant from their realities. Some readers have even said they prefer
other spiritual books above the Bible. This paper addresses the phenomena of disengagement
that is growing amongst Christian readers and looks into ways, particularly relational
hermeneutics in which readers can gain renewal in reading for self-understanding,
commitments, and practices. </p><p> This paper will ask the reader to make a
commitment to relocating themselves in the text while paying attention to their own
circumstances, emphasizing the importance of building a relationship with the text
that translates into relational hermeneutics. This paper will intentionally move away
from Eurocentric hermeneutics with the intent of engaging the term relational hermeneutics
as an African American woman’s approach that invites readers to reframe their accounts
into meaningful stories. Examining the traditional understanding of hermeneutics
and cases involving hermeneutics readers can commit to “relocating” their own stories
in biblical narratives that help to facilitate their readings - giving the reader
the responsibility of renewing their relationship with Christ through relational Biblical
stories. Additionally, this paper highlights relational hermeneutics as an African
American woman’s approach and concludes with an African American woman’s account of
doing relational hermeneutics that resulted in renewal. Hopefully readers can follow
this approach with the intent of achieving similar results.</p>
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