Spreading the word of God and Benga: the Presbyterian Church in Corisco Bay

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since its inception, the Presbyterian Church aimed to bring God’s word to the people in the native language of those they wished to convert, and that is the task it brought with determination to Corisco Bay in Equatorial Guinea. This article draws on historical documents of the Presbyterian Church in the USA, publications by Presbyterian reverends in the Corisco Mission from the nineteenth century, and fieldwork notes and interviews. I use these resources to first contextualize the establishment of the Presbyterian Church in Corisco Bay. Then, I explore the linguistic work of Presbyterian missionaries in the selection of Benga as the language of translation of the Bible. And, finally, I highlight the fundamental role that the American Bible Society played – thanks to their massive printing of the Holy Scriptures in Benga – in the spread and maintenance of the language, not only in Corisco but in the region more broadly.