The very first Bible commentary authored by African theologians has been published in Kenya.
More than 70 contributors from 25 separate countries have put together the commentary, which aims to offer an insight to the Bible but with an African perspective.Local proverbs and folklore have been provided to help readers interpret the Scripture in a more applicable light.
Also included in the commentary are contemporary issues such as HIV/Aids, female genital mutilation, refugees, ethnic conflict and witchcraft.
The commentary has been published by the evangelical publisher Zondervan, and has attempted to give a section-by-section interpretation of the Bible.
The editor of the book, Tokunboh Adeyemo, says it is not a replacement for the Bible at all, but simply tries to make the contents more clear and easy to understand for Christians in Africa.
The 70 African religious leaders were asked to remain faithful to their own cultures as well as the Bible in their commentaries. Adeyemo said, “It is a weaving of word of the Bible and the word of Africa,” according to the BBC.“We used a lot of African proverbs, a lot of African folk lore and a lot of Africa illustrations and African songs,” he said.
More than 250 different cultural groups are represented in total, making the book one of the most diverse of its kind in the world.
The theologians that united in the project came from 10 different major Christian denominations, although Adeyemo pointed out that the Roman Catholic Church has not been represented among these.
Mr Adeyemo told the BBC that the word of God has always been contextualised. He gave the example of St Paul's writings in the Bible.
“When Paul was writing to the Jewish people, he used a lot of Jewish culture and their customs and traditions.”
He concluded saying, “But the people who brought the Bible to Africa did not bring out these biblical references to Africa.”
