Abstract

This dissertation is a study in Paul Ricoeur's philosophical hermeneutics with particular attention to his theory of semantic innovation, as it relates to symbols, metaphors, and narratives. It argues that, with his theory, Ricoeur mediates modernism's commitment to rules and criteria, and postmodernism's fascination with innovation which it sees as an endless dissemination of meaning. Suggestively, Ricoeur himself describes his theory as rule-governed innovation. Creativity for him is embedded in the structure of symbolic, metaphorical, and narrative language, which partakes in what he calls the "surplus of meaning." The inebriety of this language---appropriately called poetic---contrasts with the sobriety of scientific language. In its poetic function, language breaks the enclosure of mere description and explanation and opens up the world of imagination, which is the world of possibilities. ;The dissertation seeks to apply Ricoeur's theory of rule-governed innovation to the specific context of Africa. The rationale for this exercise comes from the awareness that Africa is also Postmodern. The dissertation argues that Africans embrace the discourse of postmodernity not only because it is a critique of modernity that has failed them, but also because the postmodern episteme reflects some aspects of their own traditional episteme. The postmodern consciousness in Africa challenges Christian theology to innovate its discourse. The question then becomes, What model of innovation will that theology adopt? The present study seeks to answer that question. It argues that Ricoeur offers a model that lies between, on the one hand, a servile adherence to the canons of rationalism, which have been decried in Africa as dwarfing innovation and, on the other hand, the endless dissemination of meaning that postmodernism promotes. ;The dissertation proposes the contours of a theological discourse that is both faithful to the Christian tradition and relevant to a postcolonial postmodern Africa. That theology is hermeneutic, metaphoric, and narrative. It seeks to balance the need to innovate and the requirement to be faithful. Christian theology has to innovate if it is to be African at all. However, at the same time, if it is to be Christian, it needs to be in continuity with the cumulative experience of the Christian church