AFRICAN BIBLE FROM CAMEROON

On display at the Bagamoyo Museum in Tanzania

The Bagamoyo Museum is located in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, about an hour from Dar es Salaam. In the late 18th Century, the port town of Bagamoyo was key to the ivory and slave trade. According to the museum website, "the name Bagamoyo comes from the Swahili words Bwaga moyo (throw down your heart), a despair expressed by the people who were captured as slaves." The Bagamoyo museum is filled with old photographs, documents and relics from the slave trade.

At the end of their January 2009 mission to Tanzania, Daniel Bucher and I (Tim Sullivan) toured this museum. It was heartbreaking to imagine the people once held captive by the shackles and fetters now on display. But like a light shining in a dark place, atop a small podium was a three-ring binder labeled "African Bible from Cameroon." It was a picture book of beautiful postcard-sized watercolors of the Gospel story depicted in an African setting. These illustrations were alive with faith, hope and charity and I was deeply moved by them. With permission from the museum curator, I took these photos. Unfortunately they only give a hint of the marvelous originals. Even so, I think you will enjoy seeing them. The captions are as they appear in the Cameroon Bible.

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Gabriel comes to Mary (Luke 1, 26)

Mary visits her cousin Elisabeth (Luke 1, 40)

The birth of Jesus at Bethlehem (Luke 2, 1)

The visit of the three wise men (Matthew 2, 1)

The Holy Family flees to Egypt (Matthew 1, 13)

Jesus astounds the temple doctors (Luke 2, 46)

Jesus grows up in Nazareth (Luke 2, 51)

The preaching of John, the baptist (Matthew 3, 1)

John baptises Jesus in the Jordan (Matthew 3, 13)

Jesus is tempted in the wilderness (Matthew 4, 1)

Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael (John 2, 47)

Jesus turns water into wine (John 2, 1)

Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night (John 4, 1)

Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4, 7)

The miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5, 1)

Jesus heals the paralysed man (Luke 5, 17)

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 1)

A woman washes the feet of Jesus with her tears (Luke 7, 38)

The Parable of the Sower and the Seed (Luke 8, 4)

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure (Matthew 13, 44)

I am the Good Shepherd (John 10, 11)

Jesus visits Mary and Martha (Luke 10, 38)

The Parable of the Insistant Friend (Luke 11, 5)

The Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12, 13)

Jesus cleanses ten lepers (Luke 17, 12)

The Parable of the Pharisee and the publican (Luke 18, 9)

Jesus and the children (Mark 10, 13)

The parable of the Workers in the Farm (Matthew 20, 1)

The transfiguration (Matthew 17, 1)

Jesus and the unfaithful wife (John 8, 2)

The healing of the man born blind (John 9, 1)

The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10, 25)

Jesus cures a boy possessed by devils (Matthew 17, 18)

Jesus calms a storm (Matthew 4, 39)

The multiplication of the loaves (Matthew 14, 13)

Jesus restores the daughter of Jairus to life (Matthew 9, 18)

Zacchaeus climbs a tree to see Jesus (Luke 19, 4)

The Parable of the talents (Matthew 25, 15)

The Last Supper (Matthew 26, 26)

Jesus washes the feet of Peter (John 13, 1)

Jesus cleanses the temple (Matthew 21, 12)

A poor widow offers her last two mites (Luke 21, 2)

Jesus prays in Gethsemane (Matthew 26, 36)

The Kiss of Judas (Matthew 26, 49)

Peter denies Jesus three times (Luke 22, 55)

The scourging at the pillar (Mark 15, 15)

Jesus dies on the cross (John 19, 25)

Easter - the empty tomb (Matthew 28, 1)

Easter: Jesus meets Mary Magdalen (John 20, 14)

Easter: Jesus meets the disciples at Emmaus (Luke 24, 13)

Easter: Jesus meets the doubting Thomas (John 20, 24)

"Go, teach all nations" (Matthew 28, 19)

Ascension: Jesus returns to the Father (Luke 24, 50)

Pentecost: The Apostles are filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2, 1)

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