@article{sanneh_domesticating_2002, title = {Domesticating the Transcendent. The African Transformation of Christianity: Comparative Reflections on Ethnicity and Religious Mobilization in Africa}, shorttitle = {Domesticating the Transcendent. The African Transformation of Christianity}, abstract = {Translation of the Bible into local African languages produced profound changes and develoments in language, culture and ethnicity, creating materials that awakened a sense of local confidence, purpose and identity. Missionaries needed to transmit Christianity in African ethnic languages and to systematically study their cultures. By using indigenous religious and cultural categories, Bible translators validated ordinary people rather than the powerful and Christianity became domesticated in Africa. James Green's inquiry into religious categories in Zulu culture revealed Zulu patterns of thinking as a suitable framework for Christianity. For Africans, God is a transcendent personality who acts and speaks, judges human actions, and is entitled to faithful worship. Whereas Africans embrace the tribal Jewish Jesus as their brother, model and savior, the cosmic Christ and the intellectualized European search for the historical Jesus find no home in Africa. Western forms of Christianity have been transformed. See also \#1604. [Abstracted by: Carol C. Mock.] Abstract Number: {OTA}26-2003-{OCT}-1591}, pages = {70--85}, journaltitle = {Bible Translation}, author = {Sanneh, Lamin O.}, date = {2002}, keywords = {Canon, Manuscripts, Texts, Versions}, }