As we were translating the first portions of the New Testament into Lamnso’ the translators needed to decide on what Lamnso’ terms to use for translating such biblical terms as angel, devil, demon and the various activities of demons or evil spirits. So I organized a workshop for Christian leaders in which we sketched the way the Nso’ people traditionally view the spirit world and attempted to relate this to the view of the spirit world as revealed in the Bible. We soon found that even the most experienced Christian leaders were not always sure how to relate the cultural phenomena to the biblical picture. On the whole, the church had bypassed the task of interpreting the cultural picture from the biblical per-spective, leaving Christians to determine for themselves how to relate to the various traditions of their culture. The Lamnso’ term the churches had tradition- ally used for demon means literally “evil breath”. This is a literal translation of the Greek term for evil spirit. However, it is not a name of any one of the spirit beings known to the Nso’ traditionally. As a result, the biblical accounts about demons and their activities did not connect with the experiences of the Nso’ people in their daily world in which they deal with different spirit phenomena. During the workshop a cultural term for demon was proposed. This term was tested over several years and found to be much more relevant. It was then used in the final draft of the New Testament.
However, proper terminology alone is not sufficient. It must be accompanied by a conscious effort of the church to teach Christian discernment and to equip the Christians to live victoriously in their culture that is permeated with fear of the spirit world. This entails teaching the biblical resources for spiritual warfare and ministering to the spiritually oppressed. It was this vision for the church which I started to share whenever I was approached over the years to speak to Cameroonian Christian workers about cultural issues in [Christian living].Read the whole thing.
When hunters unite, they plan on how to kill the elephant. This traditional wisdom reminds us that together we stand, divided we fall; just as it is not possible for one hand to tie up a bundle.
What is true for the elephant and the bundle also holds for Bible translation. This task, which needs to be carried out in a given language community, entails the participation of several stakeholders: churches, village communities, associations, opinion leaders, elites, etc. All should be informed about the project and mobilised for active participation.
However, since this is a work which should be carried out first and foremost by the Church, it is her responsibility to ensure the leadership of the project. Therefore, all the churches existing in a given language area should feel not only as its prime beneficiaries, but also and especially as being called upon for an effective and durable involvement in the various aspects that contribute to the success of the project.
God has been faithful in preserving the long, mutually beneficial relationship between Bethlehem and CBTS. Since Pastor John spoke at CBTS in Spring 1985, then-Bethlehem-pastor Steve Roy was sent to teach at the school for a year in 1986, and current-Bethlehem-pastor Tom Steller was sent to teach for a year in 1990.
God has been faithful to CBTS in providing equipped and trained faculty over the years. Through our partnership, Wilfred Fon, Amos Nchuoji, and Philemon Yong came to the U.S. to pursue PhDs and returned to teach at the school. Presently, Dieudonné is pursuing a PhD after having completed his studies here at Bethlehem.
Additionally, global partners Tim & Amy Moline just arrived on campus this August as Tim joins the faculty of the school. We have been laboring together for the sake of the gospel in Africa—over 25 years of partnership with a steady stream of our people going to work with CBTS. (See Pastor Tom’s Star article from August 19, 1991, “An Update on the Cameroon Connection.”)
