BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
language. It is true that the Bible is available in local African languages,
becoming an integral part of local literature, in very much the same way
that it did in Europe during Reformation. The alienating role of Latin in
western and northern Europe until modern times can be compared to
the alienating role of foreign languages in the ministerial formation of
African clergy and theologians today. Mugambi further argues that,
...It is paradoxical that African Christians accept the Bible as an affirmation
of their humanity, while in most cases the missionary enterprise has pre-
sented the bible as a negation of African culture. This paradox has resulted
in a discrepancy between missionary and African readings of the Bible. The
discrepancy cannot be explained in terms of doctrine and theology. It is
much more ideological than doctrinal. The negative attitude which pervades
missionary and media portrayal of Africa in Europe and North America is
cultivated ideologically through the process of socialization and education,
long before the missionaries, tourists and journalists arrive in Africa... 26
He further suggests that, hermeneutics, as a critical discipline, should
help us to distinguish between the essential message of the Gospel and
the cultural garb in which it must necessarily be clothed from time to
time and from place to place. To confirm this he cites Rudolf Bultmann:
The cradle of primitive Christianity as an historical phenomenon was fur-
nished by late Judaism, which in turn was a development from Hebrew re-
ligion as evidenced in the Old Testament and its writings. Yet, despite the
predominance of the Old Testament and Jewish heritage, primitive Christi-
anity remained a complete phenomenon. At a very early stage in its devel-
opment it came into contact with Hellenistic paganism, a contact which was
to exercise a profound influence on Christianity itself. This paganism was
itself equally complex. Not only did it preserve the heritage of Greek culture,
it was also enlivened and enriched by the influx from the Near East.^27
As Mugambi points out when Christianity reached western and north-
ern Europe, during the first Christian millennium, it took more and
more cultural and religious baggage as it spread. By the time it reached
tropical Africa through the modern missionary enterprise, in the 19th
century, it was so alienated from the original Hebrew and Jewish heri-
tage that African Christians could identify themselves much more with
biblical culture than with missionary norms. At this juncture we can
only reiterate the position that ‘when the Bible becomes accessible to
African coverts to Christianity it becomes a companion text in their daily
lives, because they can identify themselves and resonate with the biblical
(^26) Mugambi J.N.K. Christian Theology and Social Reconstruction, p 123.
(^27) Mugambi J.N.K. Christian Theology and Social Reconstruction, p 123.