ABSTRACT

Biblical and theological scholarship in Africa has long grappled with the limitations of Western-dominated hermeneutical frameworks that inadequately address African epistemologies, communal dynamics, and contextual concerns. This article synthesises the theoretical architecture of the African Integrated Hermeneutical Method (AIHM), a structured, multi-layered interpretive framework developed for the interpretation of biblical, theological, and religious texts within African contexts. The study addresses a significant lacuna in African hermeneutical scholarship: the absence of a single, replicable, cross-disciplinary method integrating textual fidelity, African socio-cultural sensitivity, communal praxis, and linguistic analysis into a unified interpretive procedure. Through engagement with contemporary African theological scholarship and epistemological theory, this article articulates AIHM's philosophical foundations in African communal epistemology and ubuntu philosophy, explicates its five-phase procedural structure and six-layer analytical architecture, and demonstrates its applicability across nine theological disciplines. The research employs theoretical analysis and methodological exposition as its study design, engaging critically with African theological scholarship, hermeneutical theory, and postcolonial epistemological debates. Findings indicate that AIHM offers transformative potential for African theological education, ecclesial formation, and societal development, whilst contributing substantively to global hermeneutical discourse. The method's insistence on communal praxis as a constitutive — not optional — phase of interpretation encodes a fundamental commitment to the transformative social and spiritual function of hermeneutics in African contexts.