Editorial: The King James Bible

Conspectus: Special Edition https://sats.ac.za/conspectus/, 2023

“If demography is destiny, then Christianity’s future lies in Africa.” The question we must ask ourselves is this: What kind of Christianity? What kind of church do we want to leave as a legacy to future generations? If indeed Christianity’s future lies in Africa, how do we ensure that we remain connected to the global church? This is a question that the editors of this special edition have asked themselves repeatedly as they wrestle with the challenges of this evolving phenomenon.

The Bible and Critical Theory, 2012

This collection of thirty essays by an international collection of authors traces some of the (Christian) Bible's interactions with culture. While never offering a concise definition, the volume handles culture broadly and topically-looking at particular times, areas, institutions, and hermeneutics-but largely from a Western and Christian perspective. Some essays offer broad overviews of the topic in question, while others are thicker descriptions of a vignette within the broader topic. The volume is divided into four parts: Revealing the Past; The Nomadic Text; The Bible and the Senses; and Reading in Practice.

Church History, 2006

The Ghana Bulletin of Theology, 2006

An issue that is closely related to the approaches and methodologies to biblical interpretation in Africa is the use of the Bible in missionary history. Through the decades, there have been the introduction, translation, exegesis and usage of the Bible by European missionaries who were the carriers of Christianity to Africa. These European missionaries came from diverse missionary organisations and various backgrounds. This article explores the possible ideological baggage that was left behind by Western mi ss ionaries that worked in selected parts of Africa. Furthermore, it examines the usage of history as a tool in the formulation and interpretation of Christi an ideo logy by European enterprises. It also looks at the effects of such an ideology on mi ss ionary work in some parts of Africa.

2000

Mary Bediako, Ben Y. Quarshie and J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu (eds.), Seeing New Facets of the Diamond; Christianity as a Universal Faith: Essays in Honour of Kwame Bediako, (Akropong-Akuapem, Ghana: Regnum Africa), pp. , 2014

This paper studies the interface between Gospel and culture in the New Testament era, drawing out how it may illuminate their relations in African Christianity. It takes into consideration the fact that the gospel derives from God while culture is human made though God affirms and sanctions it. As such, the basic facts of the gospel do not emerge from any culture, albeit it is communicated through cultural symbols. Recognising the respective differences between the two, the paper reckons that while the gospel is communicated through the medium of culture, it has the ability to transform culture.

2020

Should Africa be Christianized or should Christianity be Africanized? This is a question that needs deep thinking by African Christian theologians and scholars to answer. Many scholars in the Christian past have attempted to answer this question. The book, African Biblical Christianity and Contemporary Ethics adds to what earlier scholars have written. The book approaches Christianity from African, biblical and ethical perspectives. African Christianity must be biblical and ethical at the same time. It must be biblical in the sense that in matters of faith and practice the Bible is the standard manual of reference; and ethical in the sense that even though there are right and wrong practices in the Bible, only the right practices must be upheld and promoted. On the other hand, what one might see as a wrong practice in the Bible may be acceptable because of the cultural context in which the incident occurred. In this book, Frederick Mawusi Amevenku and Isaac Boaheng, the authors have discussed topics which when properly understood by readers, will make some Christian practices deeply rooted in their thought; and when applied, will liberate the African church from some Western practices that came to the continent with the gospel. These topics are marriage and divorce, polygamy and homosexuality, birth control, the use of alcohol and expensive funerals. Africans hold marriage in high esteem because it is the basis of the Foreword

Building on the recent spate of scholarly activity that has accompanied the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, this multifaceted volume delves into areas that have yet to be much explored in the realm of biblical studies. The 12 essays in The King James Bible across Borders and Centuries -authored by scholars from a wide variety of academic disciplines -examine the KJV both as world literature and as an important force in social, geographical, and linguistic cultures, demonstrating its tremendous influence from the Protestant Reformation to the present day. And as the volume's title suggests, The King James Bible across Borders and Centuries differs significantly from other recent discussions of the KJV by focusing attention on the ways in which this Bible operated and continues to operate to define communities across borders and across centuries.

Interpretation, 2006