Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics: A Critical Assessment of the History of an Emerging Approach in African Biblical Studies
Michael F. Wandusim 
Issue: Vol.5 No.2 February 2023 Article 1 pp. 17-35
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/motbit.2023521 | Published online 7th February 2023.
© 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This study investigates the history, proponents, constituting elements, challenges, methodology, and future directions of Mother-tongue Biblical Hermeneutics (MTBH) as an emerging hermeneutical approach in African biblical studies. It observes that the translation of the Bible into African mother -tongues has influenced the emergence of MTBH. Based on this observation it posits that MTBH will continue to dominate Ghanaian biblical studies in the years ahead as the Bible gets translated into many more Ghanaian languages. After an overview of African biblical studies, the study establishes a correlation between the production of mother-tongue Bibles and the emergence of MTBH. It charts the course of MTBH by looking at its Ghanaian pioneers. Through an analytic assessment of selected works of currently established practitioners of MTBH, the study presents the constituting elements, challenges, methodology, and future directions of the approach. Moreover, it presents some selected institutions in which MTBH is practised and its practical results. The study finds that a dominant focus of MTBH has been resolving translation-related problems using advanced exegetical and hermeneutical tools. Consequently, less has been done in the area of mother-tongue Bible commentaries and innovative and creative mother-tongue hermeneutical reflections.
Keywords: Mother-tongue Biblical Hermeneutics, African Biblical Studies, Mother-tongue Bibles, African Christianity, Ghanaian Biblical Studies
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Michael F. Wandusim (Dr. theol.) is a Lecturer in New Testament and Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics at the Department of Religious Studies of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi – Ghana.
Wandusim M.F., “Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics:A Critical Assessment of the History of an Emerging Approach in African Biblical Studies,” Journal of Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics and Theology 5, no.2(2023): 17-35. https://doi.org/10.38159/motbit.2023521
© 2023 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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