Date: 28th June, 2025
Venue: Online
Topic: The Bible in African Christianity
The stipulations in the Bible guide Christianity. The Bible is central to the Christian faith worldwide. Although Christians regard the Bible as a critical religious document for life and nurture, there are variations in its centrality and use. Different groups of Christians in various jurisdictions attach diverse nuances to the interpretation and application of the Bible in daily human endeavours. African Christians represent a distinctive group who take nearly every instruction in the Bible very seriously. Peter Nyende argues that African Christians do not approach the Bible to feed their minds on a particular theme or narrative in an abstract manner. The African Christian approach to the Bible is existential and situational. In other words, they appropriate the Bible to solve existential problems of life.[1] The African Christian does not ponder on the Bible to argue whether Jesus performed a miracle or not, or whether a scripture passage is well written or not, but the validity of the passage to solve existential problems. This approach upholds the canon of scripture.
The African Christian does not wait for scholarly interpretations that do not consider the socio-cultural contexts of the African situation. Many of these interpretations of the Bible do not resonate with ordinary African Christian readers of the Bible. The Bible is held in high esteem in Africa as the word of God. Subsequently, the hard copy Bible is appreciated among ordinary readers and users of the Bible than the e-Bibles that can co-habit on an electronic device with other programmes or apps.[2] This is so because the printed Bible can be used to perform miracles such as healing, exorcism, and protection from demonic attacks, among others. African Christians uphold the sanctity and authority of the Bible in life and nurture. How significant is the Bible to African Christianity? What is the Bible in African Christianity? What is the veracity of the printed Bibles and digital Bibles in African Christianity? This call for papers seeks responses to these key questions that underpin the Institute for Biblical Scholarship in Africa’s (IBSA) virtual conference for June 2025. Areas to explore include but are not limited to:
- The identity of the Bible in African Christianity
- Christianity in Africa
- The culture of the Bible in African reality
- The Bible in African life and thought
- Jesus in African Christianity
- Worldview of the Bible in the African Christian context
- Portrayal of the Bible in African films
- Ordinary users of the Bible in African Christianity
- Appropriation of the Bible in African Christianity
- The Bible and prospects of Christianity in Africa
- Miracles and the Bible in African Christianity
- Reception of the Bible in African Christianity
[1] Peter Nyende, “Addressing Ethnicity via Biblical Studies: A Task of African Biblical Scholarship,” Neotestamentica, 44, no. 1 (2010): 122–139.
[2] Daniel Nii Aboagye Aryeh, “Fetishism of the Printed Bible and the Spirit of Digital Bibles in African Christianity,” William H. U. Anderson (Ed.) Technology and Theology (Delaware, USA: Vernon Press, 2020): 169-182.
Important dates
Submission of 150 words abstract April 30, 2025
Notice of acceptance of abstracts May 7, 2025
Submission of full (draft) article June 15, 2025
Presentation at IBSA – West Africa meeting June 28, 2025
Visit this link to submit your article – https://forms.gle/zn2rG96EPyutQP5N9
Send all inquiries to – admin@ibsafrica.org
A writing guide style will be sent to authors whose abstracts have been accepted. Good papers will be published in the IBSA Journal.