Gathaka, The Bible and Democracy in AfricaTime and space may not allow us to discuss theories of this science and
the principles applied. However some assumptions will be made of how
the Africans take the Bible and apply it to their lives as already stated
above. The Bible is given a unique authority and importance by the Ken-
yan Christians who make the majority of the population.^23 The scrip-
tures are seen as communication from the living God. Gitari argues that
‘it is because it is inspired by God that the Bible is able to instruct us in
the truth about God and therefore part of the hermeneutical task is to
enable the text to make its intended appeal to the reader, and to identify
the reader’s appropriate response.’^24 African Christians believe about its
inspiration though it was written by human beings who were moved by
the spirit of God to write what they wrote. This does not however mean
that they ignore the hermeneutical cycle which is in fact desirable.
In order to do justice to our discussion on hermeneutics I am tempted to
extensively quote Mugambi,
It is interesting to trace the history of biblical hermeneutics throughout the
history of Christianity. During the apostolic period oral tradition flourished,
and it was not until several decades that the tradition was reduced to writ-
ing. In the following three centuries, church dogma was fixed in an effort to
distinguish context interpretations of the Gospel from false ones. The fa-
mous theologians who have earned a place in the roll of honour were com-
mitted Christians who tried hard to defend the Christian faith against its
enemies and opponents. Yet their defense of the faith was culturally condi-
tioned since it was conducted within the Graeco-Roman setting.
In many parts of tropical Africa, Christianity is hardly a century old.
Churches are still in the process of establishment within the local African
culture. Theological training is still conducted in foreign languages – Eng-
lish, French, Portuguese and Arabic. Thus the language of ministerial for-
mation is different from the language of ecclesial life.^25
To illustrate his last sentence, I prepare my sermons in English but
deliver them in Gikuyu, my mother tongue or Kiswahili, the national
language. Sometimes I may be fortunate to deliver the sermon to an
African congregation in English while I am actually thinking in my
mother tongue! This discrepancy, as Mugambi observes causes much
alienation on the part of pastors and theologians, because they have to
continually translate their theological learning into their local setting and
(^23) The previous census gave the Christians 80 % of the population. The results for 2009
have not been published due to some political reasons.
(^24) G.B.Benson, Ideological Politics versus Biblical Hermeneutics, p 188.
(^25) Mugambi, J.N.K. Christian Theology and Social Reconstruction, p 121.