BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
in consideration of long established facts about the power of the Bible in
all matters of life particularly a translated Bible, in cultures such as those
in Africa. Jenkins observes that, ‘cultures that readily identify with bibli-
cal worldviews (such as Zimbabwe and almost the rest of Africa) find it
easier to read the Bible not just as historical fact, but as relevant instruc-
tion for daily conduct’.^5 Thus, reading the bible in political, economic,
and social issues is common and is usually adhered to without questions
of original contextual meaning. And Mahoso is quite aware of this tru-
ism. Connected to this reality is the issue of a vernacular translation of
the Bible.
Eulogising the importance of biblical translations in Africa, one of the
most celebrated African scholars, whom I will cite here at length, John
Mbiti observes that when the Bible is translated into African languages,
people hear the story of God’s salvation, love and grace unveiled in their
own language, the language they understand with their whole being, the
language of their childhood and old age, the language of their dreams and
expectations, their fears and their hopes. But they also hear other things in
the Bible. Africans hear and see a confirmation of their own cultural, social
and religious life in the life and history of the Jewish people as portrayed
and recorded in the pages of the Bible’. and so it is with the stories in Gene-
sis such as the Creation accounts, the story of Noah, family stories about
Abraham and his descendants, accounts of Jewish life during the time of the
judges and kings; traditional wisdom as collected in the Book of Proverbs;
so also the parables of Jesus in the Gospels. In these records and many
more, African Christians see and hear descriptions parallel to those of their
own traditional life. The Bible is not simply an historical book about the
people of Israel; through a re-reading of this scripture in the social context
of our struggle for humanity, God speaks to us in the midst of our trouble-
some situation. This divine Word is not an abstract proposition but an event
in our lives, empowering us to continue in the fight for our full humanity.^6
It is from this understanding that Mahoso appeals to the Bible that he
uses as a ‘weapon’ to fight African battles against imperialism. He also
knows that the people, as eloquently expressed by Mbiti above, find
answers to their problems in the Bible when it is presented in their own
language but also when it is read and interpreted in the light of their
daily struggles. This is a conscious departure on the part of Mahoso
from the colonial missionary method of reading and interpreting the
(^5) Jenkins, The New Faces of Christianity, 6.
(^6) J.S. Mbiti, Bible and Theology in African Christianity. Nairobi: Oxford Univ. Press, 1986,
26; Cf. African Theologians conference communiqué held in Ghana, Accra in Decem-
ber 1977.