Reflections on Doing Christian Apologetics in Africa

Translatability and the Indigenisation of Christianity in Africa A Critical Review of Lamin Sanneh's Translating the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture

This paper offers a critical review of Lamin Sanneh's Translating the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture (Orbis Books, 1989). Sanneh's central thesis is that Christianity, from its origins, identified itself with the need to translate out of Aramaic and Hebrew, and from that position came to exert a dual force in its historical development. The paper summarises the argument of the book, examines Sanneh's distinction between mission by diffusion and mission by translation, assesses his defence of vernacular Bible translation against its critics, and observes that his thesis rests on surprisingly little exegetical or biblical-theological support. It then reflects on what the principle of translatability means for the indigenisation of the Christian faith in Africa. The paper concludes that translation is key to the effectiveness of gospel transmission and that indigenous Christianity is, in a real sense, a child of translation.

Christianity is not a Western Religion: An Apologetic Response

This paper responds to the charge that Christianity is a Western religion — too white, too foreign, and a religious expression of colonialism — and therefore not an authentic faith for Africans. While acknowledging the aggressive, superior and imperialistic attitudes that have accompanied much of historic Western Christianity, it argues that Christianity is not and never was a Western religion, nor was it imposed on Africans by Westerners. Nine lines of argument are advanced: Africans freely chose to believe the gospel; the gospel was received and transmitted by indigenous Africans; Christianity is distinct from colonialism; the faith did not originate in the West but was shaped in Africa by the early church fathers; the biblical account links Africa with early Christianity; the colour of the messenger does not colour the message; Christianity is universal and cannot be encapsulated in race or colour; the charge of foreignness rests on neo-colonial presuppositions; and Africa's own religious heritage was never the blank slate the missionaries assumed. The paper closes with implications for contextualisation, incarnational missiology and a presuppositional apologetics in African Christianity.

African Traditional Religions and the Promotion of the Community Ideal in Africa The Religious Dimension of Community in Traditional and Contemporary Africa