The Surprising African Jesus: The Lost Prayers and Praises of Afua Kuma

by Afua Kuma, Jon P. Kirby (Editor), Joseph Kwakye (Editor), Stephen Bevans (Foreword by)

Overview

Afua Kuma's Jesus will surprise, even astound, you. This illiterate Ghanaian woman felt something was missing when she prayed. She dreamed of an angel who opened her mouth to praise the Lord from her heart, and she awoke to find herself praying in ways that no one had ever heard before. When she prayed over people in hospitals, the doctors, nurses, and visitors left their patients to be charmed by her praises. Afua leads us to see God's glory in the rivers, seas, forests, farms, villages, and even the chief's royal court. Her Jesus is the hearth preparing our food and the hunter who brings home hunks of hippo. His farm is between the sun and the moon. He is the chief's golden regalia, his musketeers, drummers, and horn-blowers. His arm is a cannon that blasts the soul-eating bomote and roasts the devil on a charcoal grill. He has anointed his priests to lift us out of the mud. Now thousands in cities, villages, and student campuses are enthralled by her praises. Why? It is as simple as life itself. For her, everything glorifies Jesus. Little Afua invites us to feel the glory that is all around us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666723014
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	05/05/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	158
File size:	113 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Afua Kuma (1906–87) was a rural Ghanaian woman whose amazing prayers and praises confirm her as a prophetess, healer, and oral theologian.



Jon P. Kirby, SVD, is a missionary-anthropologist who knew Afua Kuma and put her praises into a poetic English form that captures the beauty of the original Twi. He worked in Ghana for thirty-six years and later taught at Washington Theological Union.



Joseph Kwakye is a retired Ghanaian schoolteacher who lived in Afua Kuma’s village in the 1970s and consulted with her when doing the transcription and translation for Ghanaian readers of the first collection of her praises. Now, he has transcribed this second collection from newly discovered recordings.
Afua Kuma (1906-87) was a rural Ghanaian woman whose amazing prayers and praises confirm her as a prophetess, healer, and oral theologian.
Joseph Kwakye is a retired Ghanaian schoolteacher who lived in Afua Kuma's village in the 1970s and consulted with her when doing the transcription and translation for Ghanaian readers of the first collection of her praises. Now, he has transcribed this second collection from newly discovered recordings.
Stephen B. Bevans, SVD, is a priest in the Society of the Divine Word, a Roman Catholic missionary congregation. After ordination in 1971 he spent nine years as a missionary in the Philippines and since 1986 he has taught at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, USA, where he is currently the Louis J. Luzbetak, SVD Professor of Mission and Culture. Among his publications are Models of Contextual Theology (2002), Constants in Context and Prophetic Dialogue (with Roger P. Schroeder, 2004 and 2011), and Evangelization and Religious Freedom (with Jeffrey Gros, 2009). He is past president of the American Society of Missiology, serves on the editorial board

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This is a fascinating collection of supplications, praises, and prayers that rings eloquently and hauntingly with enchanting images, symbolisms, and the natural worldview of Africa. The earthy and ecological renditions serve as a reminder of the rich soil of African religious cosmology in which Christianity continues to nourish its Christology, pneumatology, and spirituality. . . . But the context of Afua Kuma offers valuable resources for appreciating Christianity’s long march to inculturation in Africa.”

—Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ, author of Religion and Faith in Africa



“The Surprising African Jesus is a real treasure. Afua Kuma’s prayers are powerful, sometimes violent, but at other times deeply heartfelt, tender, and beautiful. I couldn’t help thinking, as I was rereading them, that they make up a genuine African psalter. . . . Readers can only be grateful for Jon’s beautiful, rhythmic translation, but especially for Afua’s vivid African imagination and shining faith.”

—Stephen Bevans, SVD, Catholic Theological Union, emeritus



“Afua Kuma’s prayers will endorse for African Christians the ongoing effort to find Jesus in their own environments and to not be ashamed to converse with him in their own languages, born of their own observations and experiences along the path of life. For the rest of the (Christian) world, the value lies in empathy understood as ‘fellow feeling’ and expanded wisdom.”

—Laurenti Magesa, Jesuit School of Theology, Hekima University College



“I recommend this book very highly as the witness of an amazing African woman whose voice is unmatched in contemporary theology. Theologians, scholars of African Christianity, and students of women and religion will welcome this remarkable volume with awe and gratitude. Kirby and his partners deserve hearty thanks for making it widely available.”

—Dana L Robert, Boston University School of Theology



“In this new collection of Afua Kuma’s prayers and praises lies a treasure trove of good things, especially the glimpse into the arresting and vibrant spirituality of a woman ‘grassroots’ theologian in love with Jesus, which is both deeply African and deeply Christian. We are indebted to Jon Kirby for this labor of love in once again making her prayers and praises accessible to a wider audience.”

—Gillian Mary Bediako, Akrofi-Christaller Institute



“As all who have read Jesus of the Deep Forest (1981) know, the prayers and praises of Afua Kuma are a gift to the worldwide church. Now, in The Surprising African Jesus, the ‘grassroots’ voice of West African Christianity once again springs to life on each page through words and images that will draw readers into the experience of faith with a freshness and vitality seldom expressed.”

—Jeffrey W. Barbeau, Wheaton College

Editorial Reviews

This is a fascinating collection of supplications, praises, and prayers that rings eloquently and hauntingly with enchanting images, symbolisms, and the natural worldview of Africa. The earthy and ecological renditions serve as a reminder of the rich soil of African religious cosmology in which Christianity continues to nourish its Christology, pneumatology, and spirituality. . . . But the context of Afua Kuma offers valuable resources for appreciating Christianity’s long march to inculturation in Africa.”

—Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, SJ, author of Religion and Faith in Africa



“The Surprising African Jesus is a real treasure. Afua Kuma’s prayers are powerful, sometimes violent, but at other times deeply heartfelt, tender, and beautiful. I couldn’t help thinking, as I was rereading them, that they make up a genuine African psalter. . . . Readers can only be grateful for Jon’s beautiful, rhythmic translation, but especially for Afua’s vivid African imagination and shining faith.”

—Stephen Bevans, SVD, Catholic Theological Union, emeritus



“Afua Kuma’s prayers will endorse for African Christians the ongoing effort to find Jesus in their own environments and to not be ashamed to converse with him in their own languages, born of their own observations and experiences along the path of life. For the rest of the (Christian) world, the value lies in empathy understood as ‘fellow feeling’ and expanded wisdom.”

—Laurenti Magesa, Jesuit School of Theology, Hekima University College



“I recommend this book very highly as the witness of an amazing African woman whose voice is unmatched in contemporary theology. Theologians, scholars of African Christianity, and students of women and religion will welcome this remarkable volume with awe and gratitude. Kirby and his partners deserve hearty thanks for making it widely available.”

—Dana L Robert, Boston University School of Theology



“In this new collection of Afua Kuma’s prayers and praises lies a treasure trove of good things, especially the glimpse into the arresting and vibrant spirituality of a woman ‘grassroots’ theologian in love with Jesus, which is both deeply African and deeply Christian. We are indebted to Jon Kirby for this labor of love in once again making her prayers and praises accessible to a wider audience.”

—Gillian Mary Bediako, Akrofi-Christaller Institute



“As all who have read Jesus of the Deep Forest (1981) know, the prayers and praises of Afua Kuma are a gift to the worldwide church. Now, in The Surprising African Jesus, the ‘grassroots’ voice of West African Christianity once again springs to life on each page through words and images that will draw readers into the experience of faith with a freshness and vitality seldom expressed.”

—Jeffrey W. Barbeau, Wheaton College

From the Publisher