Kwame Bediako

Not many Christians in the UK will have heard of Kwame Bediako, but by any objective standards he was a giant of the Christian faith. I had heard that he was ill, but it came as a shock to learn tonight that liver cancer has brought this phase of his walk with the Lord to an end. Bediako was a remarkable man; he hailed from that most Christian of countries Ghana, but he didn’t become a Christian till he went to study in France. Along the way, he managed to earn two doctorates, one in English and one in French and he founded the Akrofi-Christaller institute for the study of Christianity in Accra.

Bediako was passionate about the need for African christians to create an authentic, indigenous African theology which connected both with the historical Christan tradition and also with the realities of life in Africa. To this end, he was an ardent promoter of Bible translation into African languages. He was a man of towering intellect, but he didn’t use it to crush others, but to build them up and encourage them. I thoroughly enjoyed the occasions on which I got to meet with him.

If ever historians come to write up a history of the Church in our current age, many of the names that we consider important in our Western world will not even get a mention – but I confidently predict that Bediako will get a long section to himself which will reflect his enormous influence on the growth and development of the church in sub-Saharan Africa.

You can read a brief biography here.

I would be the first to admit that Bediako’s work will not interest all of the readers of this blog, but if you are interested in the growth of the church in Africa, then you should read one, or both of these:

• Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion (Studies in World Christianity)
• Jesus in Africa: The Christian gospel in African history and experience (Theological reflections from the south)