BEMBA HYMNAL (Zambia, late 20th century, paper)

BEMBA HYMNAL

This book of ciBemba hymns, published by the United Church of Zambia, indexes important moments in the history of Christianity in Zambia. The songs in the hymnal are largely Bemba translations of European hymns, brought to the country by missionaries. The United Church of Zambia, however, is a domestic creation – a denomination established at independence in 1964 to be Zambia’s “Anglican Church.” What the hymnal reveals, then, are movements toward the indigenization of Christianity, through translation and the formation of new institutions. As such, it speaks to issues important to studies of missionary Christianity in Zambia, especially with regard to how a world religion becomes locally meaningful.