Bible Society of India
{{Short description|Christian organisation}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Bible Society of India
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| image = Bible society of india bangalore.jpg
| image_size = 175px
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| caption = Bible Society of India - earlier office situated on Cubbon Park end - The Karnataka Auxiliary is now situated in this premises.
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| abbreviation = BSI
| predecessor = The British and Foreign Bible Society in India and Ceylon
| merged =
| successor =
| formation = 21 February 1811Neville Barker Cryer, Bibles Across the World, Mowbrays, 1979, p.109. [https://books.google.com/books?id=h0AbAAAAMAAJ&q=hooper+general+secretary+bible+society+of+india]
| founder = The British and Foreign Bible Society
| founding_location = Nagpur
| extinction =
| merger =
| type = Bible Society
| status = Society
| purpose = Literary
| professional_title =
| headquarters = Bangalore
| location = India
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| region = Indian subcontinent
| services = Contribution, Translation, Printing, Distribution
| membership =
| membership_year =
| language = English
| sec_gen = Rev. Dr. Kavito G. Zhimo
| leader_title = President
| leader_name = Rev. Dr. Leelavathi Vemuri
| leader_title2 = Vice-President
| leader_name2 = Rev. Dr. Bijaya Kumar Pattnaik
| leader_title3 = Treasurer
| leader_name3 = Mr. Deepank George Pothan
| leader_title4 = Directors
| Directors =
| leader_name4 = Translations: The Rev. Dr. W. Along Jamir,[https://www.bsind.org/leadership.html Bible Society of India, Leadership] D.Th. (Serampore)
Church Relations and Resource Mobilisation: The Dr. Hrangthan Chhungi,Phualva Times, Dr. Machhungi in BSI CRRM ah Associate Director len ding, February 17, 2019.[https://phualvatimes.com/dr-machhungi-in-bsi-crrm-ah-associate-director-len-ding/] D. Th. (Serampore) (Associate Director),
Marketing and Publishing: Mr. Paul Stephen (Director),
Media and Special Audience: Mr. Caleb Hilton Martin (Associate Director),
Production: Mr. Ashith Ezekiel (Director),
Finance: Mr. Tinku George (Director)
| key_people =
| main_organ = India Bible Society Trust Association (IBSTA)[https://www.taxmanagementindia.com/web/tmi_blog_details.asp?id=277525 Tax Management, India]
| parent_organization = United Bible Societies
| subsidiaries = 17
| secessions =
| affiliations = National Council of Churches in India
| staff =
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| website = https://www.bsind.org/
| remarks = Sowing Circle (A publication of the BSI)
| formerly = The Bible Society of India and Ceylon
| footnotes =
}}
The Bible Society of India is a Christian body that is authorized to translate, produce, distribute and market the Bible and is a member of the United Bible Societies.
The motto of the Society is to translate the word of God into languages, which people can understand, in a format they have access to, and produce the scriptures at a price people could afford to buy. The Bible Society works together with many organizations in India to translate the Bible into various languages of India. The Bible is now available in 74 Indian languages, the New Testament in 92 additional languages,{{cite web|url= http://www.bsind.org/department.html|title= Translation|publisher= Bible Society of india|access-date= 12 Oct 2015|archive-date= 26 September 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170926165623/http://www.bsind.org/department.html|url-status= dead}} Braille Bibles in 15 Indian languages for visually impaired people, and Scripture portions in 48 languages.{{cite book |last=Nirmal |first=Chiranjivi |date=2011 |title=Imaging the Word: A Twenty-First Century Perspective |location=Bangalore |publisher=The Bible Society of India |page=70 |isbn=978-81-221-2908-3|oclc=785824115 }}
History
On 21 February 1811, a meeting was held "at the college of Fort William for the propriety of instituting a Bible Society, as Auxiliary to the British and Foreign Bible Society established in London", entitled "The Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society" with the same objectives as those in London." This Auxiliary Bible Society in Serampore, West Bengal first began an attempt to coordinate the supply of Scriptures to existing Christians in Portuguese, Tamil, Cingalese, Malayalam, and Canarese languages. They sent 5,000 Cingalese (Sinhalese) New Testaments to a new Auxiliary Bible Society in Ceylon formed in August 1812.{{cite book |last=Nirmal |first=Chiranjivi |date=2011 |title=Imaging the Word: A Twenty-First Century Perspective |location=Bangalore |publisher=The Bible Society of India |page=12,13 |isbn=978-81-221-2908-3|oclc=785824115 }}
The headquarters of the Bible Society of India moved from Nagpur to Bangalore in 1950, under the leadership of General Secretary Premanand Mahanty. The Central Office of the Bible Society of India is located in Bangalore city in the state of Karnataka in South India.{{cite book |last=Nirmal |first=Chiranjivi |date=2011 |title=Imaging the Word: A Twenty-First Century Perspective |location=Bangalore |publisher=The Bible Society of India |page=23 |isbn=978-81-221-2908-3|oclc=785824115 }}
The Translations
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| style="background:#ccc;"| Succession of Translation Directors |
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=Sources for translating and revising=
The Society depends on original sources material of the scriptures available in Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic and Biblical Greek languages for which the sources include the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Novum Testamentum Graece.
=Pool of Scholars trained in Biblical languages=
Since the beginning, the Society worked together with the National Council of Churches in India and the Senate of Serampore College (University) and the first Translations Director, C. Arangaden helped found the Society for Biblical Studies in India (SBSI) which had been fully-ecumenical consisting of Biblical Scholars from the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Charismatic Church Societies.
Father Rene Van de Walle a member of the Society for Biblical Studies in India was associated with the revision of the Marathi Bible. Similarly, Father Lucien Legrand was associated with the inter-confessional translation in Tamil language. With this background, the Society systematically built up a pool of Biblical Scholars who specialised in Old Testament with Biblical Aramaic and Biblical Hebrew and also New Testament with Biblical Greek. The Scholars include Yisu Das Tiwari, B. E. Devaraj, C. Arangaden, Victor Premasagar, E. C. John, K. V. Mathew, M. P. John, John Philipose, Gnana Robinson, G. Babu Rao, Timotheas Hembrom, Nitoy Achümi, Basil Rebera, S. John Theodore and others.
=Inter-confessional translations=
The Society translates and revises the scriptures from the original Biblical languages without prejudice to Protestant, Orthodox, Catholic or Charismatic. As such, the translations of the Society are held in regard by the Christians. Though the Catholics did not have scriptures in a language of their own, it was the outcome of the Second Vatican Council which paved way for the vernacular translations.
Old Testament and New Testament Scholars of the Catholic Churches worked together with the Society to either translate or revise vernacular translations and were also instrumental in inter-confessional translations.Basil Rebera, The Bible Society of India and Inter-Confessional Translations, in D. S. Amalorpavadass (Edited), Report of the II All-India Biblical Meeting, NBCLC, Bangalore, 1975, p.348. [https://books.google.com/books?id=giQ9AAAAIAAJ&q=c.+arangaden+bible+society] The Rev. Father D. S. Amalorpavadass was a strong proponent for the inter-confessional translations making the Bible Society to come out with one such version in Tamil language. In other languages of India too, the Catholic Fathers were very much in favourC. Arangaden, Fiddler in the Zoo, iUniverse, Bloomington, 2011, p.89.[https://books.google.com/books?id=gECVq81qj30C&q=biblical+studies&pg=PA89] of an inter-confessional translation.
In the recent times, the Society works together with the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India led by Fr. Govindu Rayanna,[http://www.bsind.org/pdf/Magazine_jan_Apr_2012.pdf The Sowing Circle, Volume 28, Number 1, January-April 2012, p.20] a New Testament ScholarRayanna Govindu, The Table Fellowship of Jesus (Luke 5.27-32), Pontifical Urban University, Rome, 2003.[https://books.google.com/books?id=tVknMwAACAAJ&q=govindu+rayanna] and a member of the Society for Biblical Studies in India.
=The Translation Directors=
The Directors who led the translation at the Society were notable in the Senate of Serampore College (University) having taught at either the constituent College of the University or its affiliated institutions. It was during the period of C. Arangaden that the translations department was built up together with the General Secretary, the rural Pastor, A. E. Inbanathan had much understanding of the Church and Christianity in India and worked together with the Senate of Serampore College (University). It was during their tenure that thoroughbred Scholars were appointed throughout India leading to quality translations.
Management of the Society
The Society has been led by able administrators hailing from the Clergy. During 1980 when a gap arose, the Society had to appoint Laymen for a temporary period but with the appointment of The Rev. M. Mani Chacko, an Old Testament Scholar and a member of the Society for Biblical Studies in India (SBSI), the Society is again led by the Clergy.
=Trust Association=
The India Bible Society Trust Association (IBSTA) is the main management body which runs the administration of the Bible Society of India and has been led by Theologians including Victor Premasagar, Navamani Elia Peter and other Clergy.
=General Secretaries=
Though General Secretaries were in short tenures, it was the rural Pastor, The Rev. A. E. Inbanathan who held the longest tenure and built up the society in all spheres in Translation, Promotion, Distribution and Resource Mobilisation.
Sowing Circle
Sowing Circle is a triannual magazine published in English in Bangalore by the Bible Society of India, for private circulation, containing reviews of its work throughout the Indian subcontinent.[http://magazinetraining.com/magazine-directory/sowing-circle/ Magazine Training International, Sowing Circle]
The magazine has often been referred to by Scholars[https://books.google.com/books?id=DHjYAAAAMAAJ&q=sowing+circle+bible+society+of+india Bangalore Theological Forum, Volume 33, 2001] and other Writers.Daniel Sathiaraj, Everyday with Our Awesome God: Inspiring True Stories.[https://books.google.com/books?id=dAPDCgAAQBAJ&dq=sowing%20circle%20bible%20society%20of%20india&pg=PP7] David Vumlallian Zou of the University of Delhi in The Pasts of a Fringe Community: Ethno-history and Fluid Identity of the Zou in ManipurDavid Vumlallian Zou, The Pasts of a Fringe Community: Ethno-history and Fluid Identity of the Zou in Manipur in Indian Historical Review, Volume 36, Issue 2, 2009, pp.209–235.[http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.828.3051&rep=rep1&type=pdf] has substantially cited the magazine in matters relating to translations in Zou language.
References
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External links
- [https://www.bsind.org/ Bible Society of India]
{{Authority control}}
Category:Religious organizations established in 1811
Category:1811 establishments in India
Category:Affiliated institutions of the National Council of Churches in India