At Home in All Languages and Cultures: Bible Translation and World Christianity in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Bible translation enables the advance of what Lamin Sanneh (2007a) calls a “World Christianity,” a global religion which aims to be at home in every context. As such, Bible translation empowers and yet relativises all languages and cultures, thereby furthering an equality in dignity among the speakers of all the languages of the world. In this paper, we ask: To what extent does the current and blossoming Bible translation movement contribute to the growth and maturing of a World Christianity? In other words, in what ways do current engagements in Bible translation further or hinder the reality of Christianity as a religion that aims to be at home in all languages and cultures? To approach this question, we will use the framework proposed by Andrew Walls (1997), which claims that the process of the transmission and reception of Christianity is multi- generational, involving at least three stages. We will aim to discern the stage at which the current Bible translation movement operates in the twenty-first century, identify some of the critical issues that affect the reception of the gospel, and suggest implications for Bible translation practice that would effectively further the rise of a World Christianity.