Zairema's Approach to the Bible - A Theological Appraisal

This book seeks to analyse the main thrust of Rev. Zairema's approach to the Bible and his contribution for providing a theoretical framework for social and moral reformation among the Mizo.

Rev. Zairema was a leading biblical scholar among the Mizo. His approach to the Bible has many distinctions from the approach of the general public for which he was sometimes misunderstood. The Biblicist section of the Mizo populace seldom understand that Jesus' Salvation is horizontal including socio-eco-political and religion (holistic salvation of humankind) but their understanding is limited only to a vertical ideology like, longing for departure from this miserable earthly life and to live in the place of all pleasures called heaven. Since this study is an attempt to identify which aspects of Zairema's theology of the Bible are significant for the Mizo Christian and which are not, theological and contextual- liberative method is employed in this study. In order to facilitate this, Zairema's writings, which portray his theology and interpretation of the Bible, are studied.

H. Laldintluanga is an ordained minister of the Mizoram Presbyterian Church. He earned B.D. degree (2009) and M.Th (2012) from Aizawl Theological College. He is currently serving as a Pastor under the Mizoram Synod. He has published 4 books and co-authored another 5 books, and also published numbers of articles and seminar papers.

I feel honoured and privileged to write a foreword to Rev. H. Laldintluanga's book, 'Zairema's Approach to the Bible: A Theological Appraisal, on the life and work of Rev. Dr. Zairema, who is one of the greatest figures in the history of Christianity in Mizoram. The book deals with in particular, Rev. Dr. Zairema's contribution on Bible translation into Mizo vernacular, his biblical interpretation and the underlying relevant theological issues.

During his college days, Rev. Dr. Zairema was an exceptionally gifted and brilliant student with penetrating mind, originality of thought and expression. As a person and church leader, he exhibited calmness, humility, simplicity with a respectable quality of leadership. Above all these, he was deeply committed to Christian ethical and moral values as inscribed in the Bible which he believed and urged passionately, should be lived out in the daily life experience of the Christians. His contribution to the church and society in Mizoram had become more significant as he had to take leadership in the Church since the Welsh Missionaries had to leave the country after the Mizos fought for independence from Indian Union in the second half of the 20th century. The Senate of Serampore College (University) awarded him a Doctor of Divinity (honoraris causa) Degree for his great contribution for the Church and Society. Among the many important contributions which Rev. Dr. Zairema had made for the church and society, his involvement in the field of Bible translation and interpretation has been of special significance. This was possible due to his mastery in Biblical and Mizo languages, respect for indigenous religio-cultural heritage, openness to the existing wider biblical scholarship and sensitivity to the current contextual realities.

In this book, Rev. H. Laldintluanga, with his sincere research work, has laid bare the various contexts which could have influenced the thought and ideas of Rev. Dr. Zairema, the principles and the impetrative framework which he adopted in his exposition of the Bible. In doing these, the author has carefully analyzed relevant works of Rev. Dr. Zairema with reference to pertinent theological issues, such as, contextualization, liberation and social transformation.

**Contents and Sample Pages**