The document discusses the translation of the Bible into different languages and cultures. It argues that God's revelation through Jesus Christ was not limited to a single language or culture, as seen through Jesus being born into a specific context but the message of salvation being translated for all. Translation allows marginalized groups to have God's word in their own language and forges a link between indigenous cultures and Christianity. There remains significant work to be done to translate the Bible into all remaining languages.
3. • Genesis 1-11: God and the Whole World
• Genesis 12 – Acts 2 (ish) God and the
People of Israel
• Acts 2 (ish) – Revelation 22 God and the
Whole World (again)
4. • Dispersion of
language and
humanity.
• Limits human
capacity for disorder
• Multiplies our artistic
ability
• Extends our ability to
understand the Divine
• Babel was missional
5. • Was not needed
• A miracle of hearing
• Underlines Babel
• Any language can be
used for the
expression of the
Gospel
6. quot;Christianity seems
unique in being the only
world religion that is
transmitted without the
language or originating
culture of its founderquot;
(Lamin Sanneh)
7.
8. Incarnation is translation. When God in
Christ became man, Divinity was translated
into humanity, as though humanity were a
receptor language. Here was a clear
statement of what would otherwise be veiled
in obscurity or uncertainty, the statement
‘This is what God is like’. (Andrew Walls)
9. God’s loving desire to restore all creation to
God’s self resulted in the joyful event and
message of Jesus. The incarnation
translates and embodies God’s love for
creation. (Darryl Gurder)
10. But behind the Christian doctrine of the
substantial equality of the Scriptures in all
languages, there lies the even profounder
doctrine of the Incarnation, by which the
fullest divine communication has reached
beyond the forms of human words into the
human form itself. The Word [of God]
became flesh and dwelt among us. (Kwame
Bediako)
11. • The Son was born
into a specific
linguistic and cultural
setting
• Human language and
culture are used for
God’s ultimate self-
revelation
• Revelation was not
fixed in this culture
12.
13.
14.
15.
16. There is probably no
more important single
explanation for the
massive presence of
Christianity on the
African continent than
the availability of the
Scriptures in many
African languages.
(Kwame Bediako)
