Exploring The Reading Of John 9:1-41 In Doctor Jesus Prayer Camp And Ministry International, Ghana

Abstract

The subject of this research is „Exploring the Reading of John 9:1-41 in Doctor Jesus Prayer Camp and Ministry International, Ghana. With the background of how biblical interpretation influences the lives of people or Christians, the nature of John‟s Gospel, the nature of prayer camps in Ghana, and how the blind man‟s narrative has been conceptualized and appropriated by the Doctor Jesus Prayer Camp and Ministry International Church. Given that, the Doctor Jesus Prayer Camp and Ministry International church live the Bible, thus, their activities and programs undergirded by biblical text, this work, sought to assess the interpretation of this church through literal and historical criticism, using the Tri-Polar exegetical model by Jonathan A. Draper to see how they read and live the text. The work firstly looked at the nature of churches in Ghana, to situate the church among the denominational group it fits into. Also, the interpretation of John 9 in the context of the focused church was also done to see the understanding the text has for them. Further, the setup of the church was also considered to see who they are. The study, however, found that their interpretation is symptomatic and esoteric. This is because, their interpretation leaves meanings latent, repressed, and unique to them. This allows them to assign meanings to every biblical text, thus their interpretation of John 9 differs from what the narrator seeks to communicate to his audience. The study has shown that their way of interpretation skips important hermeneutical details. This makes them strange, and different in the Christian community concerning the way they have understood the blind man's narrative in their lives.