Bishop Calls for introduction of Bible Translation Courses in Theological Institutions

The Bishop of West Ankole Diocese, Rt. Rev. Johnson Twinomujuni wants Theological institutions to introduce Bible translation courses so that servants in the Church in Africa can be tooled enough to counter the increasing influx of cultic doctrines that have combated spiritual and ecclesiastic facts.

Bishop Twinomujuni made the request on Friday, 2nd August, 2019 while speaking during the Bible Translation Seminar organized by Uganda Bible Society, Ankole branch, held at Bushenyi Multipurpose hall in Bushenyi town. 

“I request that in view of the importance of translation and its facilitation to understanding and interpreting the Bible, especially for us the clergy and theologians, if Africa is going to have good academics and theologians that are going to fight the influx of cultic things that have bombarded the banks of our spirituality and ecclesiastic ministry, we need to have translation as a course inculcated in our theological institutions’ curricular so that our students, who after their graduation become leaders of the church, should have that knowledge.” Said Bishop Twinomujuni

He added “if a theologian or a pastor knows the roots of how this Bible came to us, I think it will really beef up our theological stake and we shall benefit a lot.”

He promised to sit with Bible Society leaders in the region to see how to inculcate Bible translation into the theological schools’ syllabi.

Also speaking, Bishop Twinomujuni expressed his disappointment with parents who beat their children for speaking their native languages, saying the act is crazy and portrays lack of foresightedness because they (parents) risk seeing their culture pushed into oblivion.

He said that much as learning foreign languages is important especially in academics, it is important that the native languages be learned and preserved so that they are not forgotten.

“Don’t beat up your child because he speaks your language at home. And you force your child to speak English? It is crazy. Let him learn English, but also not forget the native language. Let’s all work together to keep our languages with us” the Bishop urged.

He observed that according to the trends in Africa, the English language is taking a center stage, spreading everywhere at the expense of many mother tongues, something that will make them fall into oblivion and extinction thus hindering the translation of the Bible into native languages.

“Just observe and see! Our children are cultured in the English language and culture at the expense of the mother tongues, and for someone to be a translator, he or she should have a good grasp of the two languages at least- the language from which the translation is being done and the language into which that is being done. Now, when we continue to see this trend going on, eventually we are going to have good people, cultured, but who are less or little cultured in their mother tongues and I don’t know what that will mean to the translation.” Bishop Twinomujuni charged.

He further expressed a need to see how the beauty and aesthetics of our language and the philosophy can be maintained to avoid detrimental effects.

Mr Peter Serumaga Lumbuye Amooti, the Bible Society of Uganda translation and publishing manager, called upon Christians and Church leaders in Ankole sub region to support the on-going Bible translation projects around the country.

The seminar was attended by serving and retired Church leaders from the Anglican, Pentecostal, Seventh Adventist, and Catholic communities in Bushenyi and surrounding areas. Participants were tasked to know the Bible and always uphold it as God’s word and use it carefully without misleading the flock.

The theme of the seminar was “Working alongside Our Heavenly Father.”(John 5:17)