Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 35:1 (Apr 2023)
Article: Editorial
Author: Cornelia van Deventer

Conspectus 35:1 (April 2023) p. 4

Editorial

Cornelia van Deventer

If I could summarize the golden thread of this first issue for 2023, it would be the implications and applications of God’s Word in the lives of the saints. From Bible translation to the responsible equipping of laypersons for preaching, Conspectus 35 contains five articles that acknowledge the centrality of the biblical text and the importance of its message in the lives of those who read or hear it.

Conspectus 35 Articles

In the first article, “Theologizing in Africa: With Special Reference to Bible Translation in Chichewa,” Ernst Wendland emphasizes the many ways in which Bible translators function as theologizers. To illustrate this, he focusses on the New Testament Study Bible in Chichewa, reflecting on the art of conveying the meaning of a biblical text in understandable ways in order to serve the reader(/hearer) well.

Next, Dan Lioy argues for the basic categorization of human speech as either verbum efficax or verbum inefficax in his article, “The Destructive Power of the Tongue as a Verbum Inefficax: A Canonical-Literary Reading of James 3:1–12 through the Lens of Speech-Act Theory.” Employing speech-act theory, Lioy discusses efficacious speech as the proclamation of the gospel and inefficacious speech as marked by James in 3:1–12, concluding that efficacious speech promotes human flourishing, while inefficacious speech leads to decay.

In his article, “Salt and Light: Reading Matthew 5:13–16 within the Context of the Matthean Community,” Frans-Johann Pienaar explores the rhetorical effect of Jesus’s command to be salt and light in the lives of the original audience of Matthew’s Gospel. Pienaar argues that Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:13–16 come as a challenge to an audience facing daily temptation to assimilate after the destruction of the temple in AD 70.

Next, Charles Owiredu discusses the metaphors used for menstruation in the Old Testament in his article, “Euphemisms and Metaphors for Menstruation in the Old Testament and Two Ghanaian Bible Translations.” Owiredu analyzes the metaphorical conceptualizations of menstruation in the Hebrew Bible and then compares them with their translations in two Ghanaian Bibles, Twi and Gã, demonstrating that in both Ghanaian and Israelite thought, ideas around indisposition and separation are prominent when language about menstruation is concerned.

Finally, in his article, “Reimagining the Role of the Pastor as a Teaching Elder in the Twenty-Firs...