Maternal Imagery in Bible Translation: A Comparative Analysis of Divine Nurturing Metaphors Across Indigenous Languages in Ghana
Grace Sintim Adasi 
& Sanatu Fusheini
Issue: Vol.7 No.4 2025 Article 2 pp. 91 – 100
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/motbit.2025742 | Published online 23rd May, 2025
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This study examines how maternal imagery in the Bible is translated and interpreted in divine metaphors of Ghanaian Languages – Twi, Ewe, and Dagbani. It analyses the translations of maternal nurturing metaphors in these three indigenous languages through a comparative analysis of key Bible passages (Isa. 66:13, Hos. 11:3-4, and Deut. 32:18), exploring their theological and cultural implications. This study uses a methodology that combines textual analyses with ethnolinguistic methods to compare the semantic range and cultural resonance of maternal imagery traits, as salient in translation discourses. The study reveals important variances in how maternal metaphors are preserved, modified, or recreated in these languages, revealing degrees of interrelatedness among linguistic constraints and worldviews regarding divine nurturing. The study contributes to the growing body of literature on the subject of Bible translation in indigenous African languages and gender-inclusive language in sacred texts.
Keywords: Bible Translation, Maternal Imagery, Divine Metaphors, Gender Linguistics
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Rev Dr. Mrs. Grace Sintim Adasi is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, and currently the Principal of Agogo Presbyterian Women’s College of Education. Dr. Adasi is a member of the Governing Council of the University for Development Studies (UDS). She is also the research coordinator for the Ghana chapter of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians (CIRCLE) and a Yale-Edinburgh Group on World Christianity and the History of Mission member. She holds a PhD in the Study of Religions and a Master’s in African Studies (MPhil), Educational Innovation and Leadership (MPhil), and Educational Leadership and Management (MA). She is an active member of several professional and scholarly associations, including the African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR), the American Academy of Religion (AAR), the African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA), the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR), the American Society of Missiology (ASM), the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR), the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR), and the Religious Research Association (RRA). Her research areas focus on Gender and Christianity, Culture and Spirituality, Indigenous African Religions and Education, and Women’s Empowerment. She has also published several articles and is the author of the book Gender and Change: Roles and Challenges of Ordained Women Ministers in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.
Ms. Sanatu Fusheini is an Assistant Lecturer at the Tamale College of Education, Ghana, and a doctoral candidate at the Department of Religion and Human Development at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. She holds an MPhil in Religious Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). She also has a Diploma in Education from the University of Education, Winneba (UEW). She is a multidisciplinary, trained researcher whose work cuts across other disciplines. Her research interests include religion and gender, Islam and gender, religion and female education, Islam and female education, Christian-Muslim relations, Christian Studies, and Islamic Studies. Her PhD study seeks to examine aspirations for higher education among Muslim women in Dagbon: gender politics and socioeconomic influences.
Adasi, Grace Sintim, and Sanatu Fusheini. “Maternal Imagery in Bible Translation: A Comparative Analysis of Divine Nurturing Metaphors Across Indigenous Languages in Ghana,” Journal of Mother-Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics and Theology 7, no.4 (2025):91 – 100. https://doi.org/10.38159/motbit.2025742
© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
