10 June 2018 marked the tenth anniversary of the call to glory of Rev. Prof. Kwame Bediako, founding Rector of the Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture (ACI), Akropong-Akuapem, Ghana. As part of activities to commemorate the anniversary, ACI organised a three-day international seminar under the theme ‘Vision and Community: Kwame Bediako 10 Years On’ from Monday, 11 to Wednesday, 13 June 2018.
Presenters and chairpersons (who led the daily devotions) at the seminar included Rev. Prof. B. Y. Quarshie (ACI), Prof. Gillian M. Bediako (ACI and widow of Kwame Bediako), Prof. Philip Laryea (ACI), Prof. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu (Trinity Theological Seminary, Ghana), Rev. Dr. Solomon Sule-Saa (ACI), Rev. Dr. Ernestina Afriyie (ACI), Dr. Sara Fretheim (Canada), Dr. Bernhard Dinkelaker (Germany), Dr. Angela Dwamena-Aboagye (ACI), Dr. Sam Tshehla (UNISA, South Africa), Dr. Abraham W. Ng’ang’a (ACI), Dr. Rudolf Gaisie (ACI), Prof. Andrew Walls (ACI and Bediako’s PhD supervisor and mentor) and Dr. Ingrid Reneau Walls (ACI). Majority of the presenters had been students and mentees of Bediako and their presentation topics reflected Bediako’s influence on their subsequent scholarship and Christian vocation. Three participants, Drs. Dinkelaker, Fretheim and Tim Hartman (Columbia Theological Seminary, USA) had all done PhD work on Kwame Bediako.
Alongside the seminar was an exhibition that featured the works of and on Kwame Bediako as well as many memorabilia, including original sermon notes, photographs, gowns and a variety of awards. There was, finally, a preview screening of a new Jim Ault documentary in the making on the life and legacy of Kwame Bediako.
The international commemorative seminar was followed by the tenth Kwame Bediako Memorial Lecture, which took place on the evening of Wednesday, 13 June 2018 at the British Council Hall in Accra. The lecture was presented by Prof. Tite Tienou, Dean Emeritus and Research Professor of Theology of Mission, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois, USA. He spoke on the topic ‘Church and Theological Education: Legacies of the African Theological Initiative’.
