Bushoong Bible

Overview

A complete Bible in the Bushoong language (also called Bushong or Bukuta, the language of the Kuba kingdom of central Congo) was translated by Althea Brown Edmiston (1874–1937) and her husband Alonzo Edmiston, African American missionaries of the American Presbyterian Congo Mission (APCM) working under the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS). The translation was completed between 1927 and 1932 at the APCM stations at Ibanche and Mutoto in the Upper Kasai District of what was then the Belgian Congo. It was likely printed at the Mission Press in Luebo.

Althea Brown Edmiston was a pioneering figure — a graduate of Fisk University and one of the earliest Black women to serve as a foreign missionary from the United States. She worked in Congo for over 30 years and produced a Grammar and Dictionary of the Bushonga/Bukuba language in 1932 (digitized on Internet Archive), as well as the complete Bible translation.

The Bible is more than 90 years old and is in the public domain. No digitized version is known to exist online. The physical text may survive in the archives of the Presbyterian Historical Society (Philadelphia, APCM Records RG 432 / Edmiston Papers RG 495) or at the Stuart A. Rose Library, Emory University.

Language and People

Bushoong (ISO 639-3: buf), also called Bushong or Kuba, is a Bantu language spoken by the Bushoong (Kuba) people of the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the royal language of the historic Kuba Kingdom.

Publishing and Organizations

Translated by Althea Brown Edmiston and Alonzo Edmiston; published by the American Presbyterian Congo Mission. Public domain.

References