Gathaka, The Bible and Democracy in Africato demand both church independence and political independence as
Mbiti explains,
The scriptures have therefore provided African Christians with in-
dispensable guidance at a critical period at which they would otherwise have
been inarticulate. So began the demand of African society for spiritual inde-
pendence from the religious imperialism of Western extra-biblical ideas.^7
To push this point further Mbiti quotes Barret,
The vernacular translation enables the ethnic group concerned to grasp the
inner meanings of such profound and intricate biblical doctrines as the lib-
erty of the Christian man...Further it is clear these vernacular transla-
tions...have contributed markedly to the recovery by Africans of their cul-
tural identity of their tribe, later expressed in such bodies as tribal political
parties, welfare societies and particularly tribal independent churches.^8
The Bible is used to teach about the entire life, and integrated in the
people’s cultures and world view.
We are however aware how the Bible was used wrongly in Africa to
support colonialism and racism especially in South Africa. The Africans
were compelled in the colonies to work for the masters and implored to
obey according to Romans 13:1-7.^9 We are aware that the apartheid pol-
icy was, for decades, justified on ‘Christian’ and ‘moral’ as a means to
sustain so called ‘Christian civilization.’ The Dutch Reformed Church
taught that the separation of races with all the hardship and discrimina-
tions against non-whites was in accordance with the scriptures.^10 Such
misuse of scripture is evident during the forced labor period in Kenya
and in post- independence period as one party dictatorship used the
passage to force the people to obey bad laws. The Bible was in deed used
even to punish innocent people by branding them dissidents. Ngugi wa
Thiong’o implies how the bible as a literary material having been trans-
lated in his mother tongue, Gikuyu vernacular influenced the thinking
of the people about liberation.^11
(^7) Mbiti, Bible and Theology in African Christianity, p 30.
(^8) Mbiti, Bible and Theology in African Christianity, p 31.
(^9) Some translations of the Bible have inserted the title of this passage as ‘Christian duty
to the state’ To me the title or the subject of the passage should be, ‘The
responsibilities of the citizens and the government in a state’.
(^10) John S. Pobee, ‘Theological Basis for Liberation and Human Rights’ in Mugambi,
J.N.K, The Church and the Future in Africa – Problems and Promises, All Africa Conference
of Churches; Nairobi, 1997 p 141.
(^11) Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Decolonizing the Mind, the Politics of Language in African Literature,
Heinemann Kenya, Nairobi,1981.