he Bible in Ateso - Uganda: A Contemporary Christian Community Perspective on the 1961 Translation

Abstract

The Bible is the Sacred Scriptural Text of the Christian religion that gives narration of the
historical events pertaining the genesis of the earth from its initial establishment to the spread of
Christianity in the first century, CE. Mutually, the Old Testament and New Testament Texts have
experienced translation alterations over the centuries brought about by duplication of different
editions and the need to create the Bibles that communicate to the Christian community in their
local languages. The Teso Christian community in Uganda primarily depends on the translated
word of God which is made manifest to them through the Bible. Spiritually, they feel strengthened
whenever they read and listen to God’s word in their native language. However, the contemporary
Ateso Bible published in 1961 has many challenges and many Christians of Teso are limited to
use it, subsequently leading to ineffective use of the Bible in the present era. This article therefore,
is written to bridge the existing spiritual gap of the Bible and that of the contemporary Christian
community in view of the Ateso Bible in Teso. Using qualitative enquiry, this article was guided
by one study question: How do Iteso contemporary Christian community of Uganda evaluate the
1961 Ateso Bible translation? This article purposed to establish the factors affecting Ateso Bible
in addition to highlighting the social-spiritual effects that Ateso Bible in Uganda have had on the
community. 20 participants from the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church were
purposively sampled to participate in the study. An interview guide was formulated to capture the
objectives of the study. The findings confirmed existing challenges in the Bible. A number of factors
affecting the Bible were identified by the participants and reported including, preference for clear,
accurate and natural version of Ateso Bible since the Bible is “God’s Word”.