German and British Bible Societies and the Publication of Bible Translations in Colonial West Africa

Wandusim, Michael F.; Jensz, Felicity A.

Abstract

German protestant mission societies operating in colonial West Africa undertook Bible translation as an essential part of missionary work. The Bremen Mission, working in German Togoland from 1847, translated the Bible into Ewe, the dominant language of German Togoland at the time. This article investigates historical processes and networks that advanced Bremen missionary Bible translation work in German Togo through a close reading of relevant archival data from Bible and mission society archives. The investigation reveals that the production of colonial Bibles such as the Ewe Bible during the protestant missionary endeavour was not a completely innocent Christian enterprise with the aim to convert so-called ‘heathens,’ but it was accompanied by nationalistic feelings which grew in connection with the expansion of European colonialism and which sometimes brought Christian internationalism into conflict with nationalism.