The Role of the Jewish Bible in African Independent Churches1

Abstract

This article examines the way the Old Testament (Jewish Bible) play,} a major role in the African Independent Churches. Many of these churches are founded following the publication of the whole Bible in local languages. The founders and followers see numerous points of contact between the life of Jewish people in the Bible and their own. They identify themselves in and through the Bible. It forms the authority by which they teach and live the Christian life. Consequently, they direct their church life according to insights that they derive from the Jewish Bible, whilst, at the same time, they hold firmly on to Jesus Christ.Examples of church life with roots in the Jewish Bible include taboos and customs connected with food, worship and death. The churches also use the Jewish Bible in matters connected with health, sickness and wellbeing. Healing activities feature prominently in many of the churches, and the Bible is the guide and authority for them. The churches have sacred places (mountains, beaches and villages), where members go for pilgrimage and special worship. Some are given biblical names. The land is very significant for them, but in South Africa some members were slaughtered in, and others forcefully thrown out of the land of their churches. African Christianity needs a theology of the land.