Posted on 04/03/2002 12:51:56 PM PST by marshmallow
NAIROBI, (CWNews.com) -- Christians in Kenya have been cautioned against an "African Bible" that is being offered as an alternative to approved editions of the Scriptures.
Speaking to thousands of Christians on Easter Sunday in Nairobi, Archbishop Ndingi Mwana A Nzeki said Catholic faithful were not forbidden from reading the African Bible, but that they should be swayed by the book.
The archbishop's remarks were the first serious response by a Catholic leader to the African Bible, which is now circulating in manuscript form. The volume-- written by the prominent author David Mailu with the assistance of several African scholars-- is a controversial text, based on the premise that Africans need their own Bible in order to build up their own religion.
The authors of the African Bible complain that the Scriptures recognized by Christians are inappropriate for African readers. The Bible as a whole is written only for white men, they argue. And the Old Testament, the continue, is only for Jews.
Archbishop Ndingi rejected those claims, stressing that Christianity does not belong to any race or nation. He observed that there are 10 million Kenyan Catholics, who represent all of the country's tribes.
"Christianity is the religion founded by Christ, and its message is universal-- whether we are Europeans, Africans, or Asians," the archbishop said. "It is the religion of the followers of Christ."
Uh, Kwanza anyone??
I think there is a technical term that describes the whole affair -- MARLARKY.
How misguided some people tend to be south of the Sahara. The Bible is about salvation and a culture of salvation, not racism.
Or is it MAlarky, I keep getting those technical terms confused.
Your slip is showing.
The Cross motif used on the cover of this Bible is based on metal crosses made by Philip Makuei, of the village of Jalé in Bor area, southern Sudan. In 1993 Philip began to have a vision of Christ on the cross. The vision was with him day and night and affected him so deeply that he gave up drinking alcohol, smoking and making drums for use when beer was brewed. The unceasing vision made him fearful.
One day searching for metal to use in his craft of mending canoes, he discovered that the gas tank of the Mig fighter which had crashed nearby provided metal that could be easily worked. As he began to make crosses like the one in his vision, the vision disappeared and he began to know great joy and peace.
The area had experienced bombing from such Migs as the one Philip used for his crosses. Some people have seen in the cross the representation of four Mig fighters colliding - the emblems of death being transformed into the emblem of life.
(Quoted from page 2176 of The African Bible)
The African Bible is available at: Paulines Multimedia Centre, P O Box 641, Bruma 2026, Johannesburg (South Africa), Tel. (011) 6220488/9, Fax 6220490, E-Mail: paulines@iafrica.com
This page is actually not an advertisement, but a homage to the artist Philip Makuei and his work of art and it is a revelation to the author of this page, that an artist has a vision of the Maltese Cross in an African shield, which is the emblem of the South African Relief Organisation of the Order of Malta, the Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard. The eight-pointed Maltese Cross has always been a symbol of aid all over the world for more than 900 years since the foundation of the Order of Malta. The fact that the artist "began to know great joy and peace" as he "began to make crosses like the one in his vision" being the Maltese Cross in an African shield appears like a call to further inculturate the Charisma and Spirituality of the Order of Malta in Africa...
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