Bible society

A Bible society is a non-profit organization (usually ecumenical in makeup) devoted to translating, publishing, distributing the Bible at affordable costs and advocating its credibility and trustworthiness in contemporary cultural life. Traditionally Bible Society editions contain Scripture, without any notes or commentary; but in recent decades this principle has been relaxed somewhat, and such editions typically have what is generally accepted to be "non-sectarian" notes on alternate translations of words, or variations in the different available manuscripts.

History of Bible production

The Bible has engaged the attention of Christian leaders. In an extant letter, dated 331, Emperor Constantine requested Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, to provide him with fifty copies of the Old and New Testaments for use in the principal churches in Constantinople. In 797, Charlemagne commissioned Alcuin to prepare an ed text of the Vulgate; multiple copies of this text were created, not always accurately, in the famous writing schools at Tours.

The first book printed in Europe was the Latin Bible, and Copinger estimates that 124 editions of the Vulgate had been issued by the end of the 15th century. The Italian Bible was printed a dozen times before 1500, and eighteen editions of the German Bible had already been published before Martin Luther's version appeared. From mediaeval time and then again accompanying the Protestant Reformation, there was a marked increase in interest in the scriptures. Notwithstanding the oppositional attitude adopted by the Roman Catholic Church at and after the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the translation and circulation of the Bible were undertaken with greater zeal, and in a more systematic fashion.

Bible Societies are an attractive form of common action for Christians who take the Bible seriously.

History of the Bible Societies

The modern Bible Society movement dates back to the foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804 when a group of Christians sought to address the problem of a lack of affordable Bibles in Welsh for Welsh-speaking Christians. This was highlighted by a young girl called Mary Jones who walked over 20 miles to get a Bible in Bala.

Although perceived as Protestant, from the early days the British and Foreign Bible Society was ecumenical, and from 1813 allowed inclusion of the Apocrypha.

As a reaction to this broad-minded ecumenism the Trinitarian Bible Society was founded in 1831 for people who preferred a biblical yet narrower and strictly Trinitarian doctrine and Protestant canon which excluded the Apochryphal books.

Even so Catholics would not officially participate in or endorse vernacular translations, as Pope Gregory XVI in his 1844 encyclical [http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Greg16/g16inter.htm Inter Praecipuas] strictly condemned both bible societies and "the publication, dissemination, reading, and possession of vernacular translations of sacred Scriptures", the policy that was changed by Vatican II in the 1960s.Fact|date=December 2007

The British and Foreign Bible Society extended its work to England, India, Europe and beyond. Auxiliary branches were set up all over the world which later became Bible Societies in their own right. Today the United Bible Societies co-ordinates the work of these separate Bible Societies. Each Bible Society is a non-denominational Christian network which works to translate, revise, print, and distribute affordable Bibles in their own land, according to the demands of all the churches in that land. Nowadays Bible Societies print Bibles according to the canons of the countries they are in e.g. Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox, and ecumenical or inter-confessional versions. Today Bible Societies work with other Christian agencies and Bible translations are done on an ecumenical basis, through The International Forum of Bible Agencies.

United States

In the United States, Bible societies flourished in the first half of the 19th century. In addition to the American Bible Society, a number of state and regional Bible Societies were established prior to the Civil War and remain active to this day distributing Bibles and other literature to prisons, hospitals and shelters. Most of these regional societies are affiliated with the [http://nasrbs.org/ National Association of State and Regional Bible Societies] The oldest Bible Society in the United States is the [http://www.pabible.org/ Pennsylvania Bible Society] , founded in 1808. The Bible society movement spread west as far as Chicago where the [http://chicagobiblesociety.net/ Chicago Bible Society] was founded in 1840, making it only five years younger than the city itself.

Current Bible Societies

United Bible Societies (UBS)

The United Bible Societies (UBS) is a worldwide association of Bible societies. As of January 2006, the UBS has 141 member societies, working in more than 200 countries and territories. They include:
* The British and Foreign Bible Society (1804)
* The Pennsylvania Bible Society (1808)
* The American Bible Society (1816)
* The Bible Society In Australia (1817)
* Bible Society NSW (1817)
* The Colombian Bible Society (1825) [ [http://www.sociedadbiblicacolombiana.com/sociedades.asp Columbian Bible Society] website]
* The Bible Society In New Zealand (1846)
* The Canadian Bible Society (1904)
* The Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (German Bible Society) (1948)
* Alliance Biblique Universelle
* Sociedades Biblicas Unidas
* Bible Society of South Africa [ [http://www.biblesociety.co.za/ Bible Society of South Africa] website]
* Ukrainian Bible Society
* Russian Bible Society
* Japanese Bible Society
* Hungarian Bible Society

Non-UBS Bible Societies

* The International Bible Society (1809)
* The Trinitarian Bible Society (1831) [ [http://www.trinitarianbiblesociety.org/ Trinitarian Bible Society] website]

Other translation groups

* Pioneers Bible Translators (1970) [ [http://www.pioneerbible.org/cms/tiki-index.php Pioneers Bible Translators] ]
* Institute for Bible Translation
* Wycliffe Bible Translators (1942)

Non-translation groups

* The Catholic Biblical Federation (1968
* Gideons International (1899) [Gideons do not translate but distribute existing translations of the Bible.]
* Amity Foundation [ [http://www.amityfoundation.org/wordpress/?cat=28 Amity Printing Company] . APC, partly helped by the United Bible Societies, does not translate, but is the largest printing shop of the Bible in China.]

Notes

Related items

*Bible advocacy
*Bible translation

References

*1911
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02544a.htm James M. Gillis, "Bible Societies"] in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1907)
* "Truth Versus Dogma" JC McAulay. Moody Press. 1946. Chicago.USA.

External links

* [http://www.biblesociety.org/ United Bible Societies website]
* [http://www.scottishbiblesociety.org/ The Scottish Bible Society]
* [http://www.bfbs.org.uk/ BFBS Machine Assisted Translation]
* [http://www.biblesociety.org.uk/ The Bible Society] in England and Wales
* [http://www.pabible.org/ The Pennsylvania Bible Society]
* [http://www.americanbible.org/site/PageServer The American Bible Society] in the US
* [http://www.ibs.org The International Bible Society]
* [http://www.chicagobiblesociety.net/ The Chicago Bible Society]
* [http://www.biblesociety.org.nz/ The Bible Society in New Zealand]
* [http://www.biblesocietynsw.com.au/ Bible Society NSW (Australia)]
* [http://www.bibelgesellschaft.de/ Deutschen Bibelgesellschaft]
* [http://www.bibliatarsulat.hu/ The Hungarian Bible Society]
* [http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/ Faithcomesbyhearing.com - Bible translations - Audio Bibles ] Partnership with UBS in over 85 countries, focused on bringing Audio Bible programs to churches and villages.