Scriptura: Journal for Biblical, Theological and Contextual Hermeneutics

An Eschatological Critique of the African Christian Fear of the Dead

2026-05-13T03:30:43+00:00

The article seeks to contribute to an African Christian theology that empowers African Christians to relate to their ancestors in ways that affirm their historical importance while freeing them from fear of the spirits of the dead. It addresses the central question: what theological-biblical position can be taken regarding the African Christian belief in the continuing agency of ancestors – a belief that leaves many in fear of them? The article proceeds in six steps. First, it defines the fear of the dead. Second, it analyses the eschatological understanding of the dead within African traditional religion. Third, it describes selected expressions of the fear of the dead among African Christians. Fourth, it examines the element of restlessness in African conceptions of the realm of the dead. Fifth, it explores the biblical-eschatological view of the state of the dead. Finally, it proposes a theological-biblical framework aimed at empowering African Christians to overcome this fear. In doing so, the article contributes to the development of an eschatological framework that addresses and seeks to overcome the fear of the dead among African Christians.

An Appraisal of ḇǝḡan-‘êḏen, “Garden of Eden” (Genesis 2:15) in Akan Mother-Tongue Bibles

2026-04-23T15:40:00+00:00

All the existing Akan Mother-tongue Bibles’ renderings of the phrase, ḇǝḡan-‘êḏen, from the source text, have seemed partial. This study employed an exegetical method in which Genesis 2:15 was contextually, textually, semantically, and morpho-syntactically analysed and its translations in the Akan Mother-tongue Bibles assessed. Having scrutinised ancient texts such as the Masoretic Text, Septuagint and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and their parallels with Akan Mother-tongue Bibles regarding the text, it is argued in this paper that the Hebrew phrase, ḇǝḡan-‘êḏen could be suitably translated as turo fɛɛfɛ, in the Asante-Twi Bible (AsTB) and Akuapim-Twi Bible (AkTB) and ture fɛɛfɛw, “beautiful garden,” in the Mfantse-Twi Bible (MfTB). This is a call to remain faithful to the context of the source text and the target language. The proposed Twi phrase is in keeping with the Septuagint which expresses ‘êḏen, (eden) as παραδείσῳ paradeisō (beautiful, delightful and blissful). It is believed that this would advance mother-tongue theologising regarding Christian environmental discourse among Akan/Twi readers.

What Does It Mean to Characterise Human-Induced Climate Change as Sinful?

2026-05-13T14:12:36+00:00

This article reviews some recent attempts, particularly by Neil Messer and Ernst Conradie, to clarify the distinctive role of Christian sin-talk in the context of contemporary anthropogenic climate change. It is argued that, whereas we can learn from these contributions given their theological depth and soteriological focus, a more full-fledged retrieval of Protestant hamartiology is needed to raise awareness of our moral complicity in the current climate crisis and prompt us to shun and fight deep-seated patterns of behavior that contribute to it. In particular, I argue that the doctrine of sin should be ‘freed’ from its 20^th century binding to soteriology by restoring its classical connections with the divine law as the expression of God’s universal will on the one hand and with the process of human sanctification on the other. In doing so, I draw on Jean Delumeau's research on the 'culpabilizing' and civilizing roles of Christian discourse on sin during the Middle Ages as well as on the various roles of the divine law as discerned in the16th century Heidelberg Catechism.