Michael K. Mensah
About
Fr. Dr. Michael Kodzo Mensah is into Biblical Studies and Theology. Trained as a biblical exegete at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome, he is currently researching Sacred Texts in Africa, particularly, the intersectionality between biblical and African Indigenous Sacred Texts. He currently serves as the Secretary-General of the PanAfrican Association of Catholic Exegetes and a member of the International Cooperation Initiative of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL).
Education
Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome (2008-2016): Licentiate & Doctorate in Sacred Scriptures
St. Peter’s Regional Seminary (1998-2002): B/A Sociology & Study of Religions (UG) & P.G.D.E. (UCC)
St. Paul’s Catholic Seminary, Accra (1995-1998): Philosophy
Research Interest
African Biblical Hermeneutics
Interpreting Sacred Texts in Africa
Publications
Mensah, M.K. (2025). “When will he die?” (Ps 41:5). Illness in the Hebrew Psalter and Contemporary African Contexts. Hekima Review 70, 37-50. https://journals.hekima.ac.ke/index.php/journals/article/view/1369
Kamba, C.K., Ngole, F.B. and Mensah, M.K. (Eds.) (2025). Africa and the Sacred Scriptures. Vol II. Interdisciplinary Approaches. Festschrift for A.N. Mundele. (Eds. C.K. Kamba, F.B. Ngole & M.K. Mensah). Nairobi: BICAM/CEBAM.
Mensah, M.K. (2025). The Shepherd as Exemplar: Psalm 23 and the Crisis of Leadership in Contemporary Africa. In Africa and the Sacred Scriptures. Vol I. Exegetical Approaches. Festschrift for A.N. Mundele.(Eds. C.K. Kamba, F.B. Ngole & M.K. Mensah). Nairobi: BICAM/CEBAM, 151-171.
Mensah, M.K. (2025). “‘And he sent them in pairs’ (Luke 10:1): Reimagining mission in Africa as a response to the Synodal Process”. Missiology 00 (0). 1-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00918296251315465
Mensah, M.K. (2025). Reimagining Ghana’s cities. Perspectives from the Bible and African Indigenous Sacred Texts”. Theologia Viatorum 49 (1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.4102/tv.v49i1.232.
Mensah, M.K., C. Max-Wirth and A. Salakpi, (2024). “Forget your people and your father’s house” (Ps 45:11): The Hebrew Bible, Marriage Rites and Spousal Abuse in Contemporary Ghana”. Verbum et Ecclesia 45 (1), 1-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v45i1.3203.
Mensah, M.K. (2024). “Eco-friendly Theologies in Psalm 139: The Ghanaian reality and Biblical Responses” in Bible and Creation. Contributions of the Panafrican Association of Catholic Exegetes to Environmental Issues in Africa. Proceedings of the Twentieth Congress of the Panafrican Association of Catholic Exegetes. Mauritius, 3rd to 10th September, 2022. (Chief Editor) M. Adékambi. (Editors) C.U. Manus, F.B. Ngole, P. Agbagnon. Abidjan: Presses de l’ITCJ, 265-289.
Mensah, M.K. (2024). "Interpreting Paired Phenomena in the Hebrew Psalter and in African Indigenous Sacred Texts". HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 80 (2), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v80i2.8878.
Mensah, M.K. (2023). “If I forget you Jerusalem” (Ps. 137:4). The Transmission of Sacred Discourse in the Bible and in African Indigenous Sacred Texts”. Acta Theologica: Supplementum 36, 22-38. https://doi.org/10.38140/at.vi.7026.
Mensah, M.K. (2023). “Shema as paradigm (Dt. 6:4–9). The Bible, Education, and the Quest for Development in Contemporary Ghana”. Scriptura: Journal for Biblical, Theological and Contextual Hermeneutics, 122 (1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.7833/122-1-2117.
Mensah, M.K. (2023). "“Thy Law Is within My Heart” (Ps 40:7). Sacred Tradition in the Hebrew Psalter and in African Indigenous Texts" Religions 14 (10), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14101227.
Mensah, M.K. & Nsiah, G. (2023). “The Concept of Blessedness in Psalm 112 and in Contemporary Ghanaian Usage” in Interpreting Sacred Texts within Changing Contexts in Africa. (Eds.) Somé, A., SJ, Mensah, M.K and Nsiah, G. Kitabu na Neno 2. Abidjan: Presses de l’ITCJ – Rome: G&B Press, 275-299.
Mensah, M.K. (2023). “I am peace…they are for war” (Ps 120:7): The language of peace in sacred texts and in contemporary African contexts”. Kanien: Revue Semestrielle de Recherche Théologique 10 (2), 5-31.
Nsiah, G. & Mensah, M.K., (2023). “Towards Promoting Koinonia in Churches in Post-Covid Ghana. A Contextual Reading of Acts 2:41-47”. Trinity Journal of Church and Theology 21(3), 3-25.
Mensah, M.K. (2022). “Father Anastasius Odaye Dogli (1888 – 1970) and the Inception of Indigenous Catholic Clergy in Ghana”. Exchange: Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context 51, 159 – 184. https://doi.org/10.1163/1572543x-20221628.
Mensah, M.K. (2022). “Christian Beliefs – The Creeds and the Doctrines on the nature of God” in Introduction to Christianity: An African Reader (Eds. K Boamah, E. E. Novieto & I. Boaheng). Accra: Subsaharan Publishers, 243-277.
Mensah, M.K. (2021). “Making meaning of wisdom in Psalm 119 and in contemporary African contexts”. Old Testament Essays 34(1), 165-188. https://doi.org/10.17159/2312–3621/2021/v34n1a10.
Mensah, M.K. (2016). I turned back my feet to your decrees (Psalm 119,59). Torah in the fifth book of the Psalter. Frankfurt am Main – Wien: Peter Lang.