Mother-Tongue Theology: Akan Christian Christological Re-interpretations

The importance of the mother tongue in the planting and growth of African Christianity has been stressed by scholars such as Lamin Sanneh and Kwame Bediako. Bediako, for instance, states that “the ability to hear in one’s language and to express in one’s language one’s response to the message which one receives, must lie at the heart of all authentic religious encounters with the divine realm.” The paper discusses how the translation of the Bible and the use of the mother-tongue—has facilitated the production of new theological idioms by Akan Pentecostals/Charismatics in particular and Christians in general. Particularly, the paper discusses how the use of the mother-tongue has contributed to the re-interpretation of classical theological concepts such as Christology. Christ as an Ancestor and Christ as Healer-Duyefo is among the topics to be discussed in this paper. Keywords: Mother-Tongue Hermeneutics, Akan, African Christology, Pentecostal-Charismatic, Translation, Gospel.