Bible Translation as Missions

JBTM Larry B. Jones44On the other hand, in the course of their ministries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,the circle of Bible agencies have developed a specialized expertise in Bible translation thatis an intellectual treasure for the church today. This expertise has been honed through direct involvementin over two thousand Bible translation projects conducted all over the world. Whilethe Bible agencies have historically served the church as a vendor-like guild of skilled professionalsproducing high quality translations of Scripture, there is an opportunity today to craft anew relationship, whereby the Bible agencies use their expertise to equip the church to stewardits call to provide God’s message for the nations in the languages they understand best.There is strength in framing the Bible translation task as the responsibility of the wholechurch, rather than being solely the responsibility and possession of the end-users of the translation.Although there is unquestionably a leading role that the end-user church should playin the translation of the Bible into their language, the global church (particularly the widerchurch in the country where that language is spoken) has a legitimate stake in seeing thattranslations of the Bible in their country are faithful communications of God’s message. Furthermore,the church has the human resources, intellectual capital, and financial wherewithalto effectively and efficiently bring the Scriptures to all the people groups needing it in theirlanguages.Admittedly, the involvement of the global church in a particular Bible translation effort mayintroduce issues of intercultural sensitivity (or lack thereof), power disparities connected withinternational funding, and cultural baggage related to a colonial history. These issues are seriouschallenges that must be overcome. However, they do not obviate the stake the global churchhas in the translation of the Bible in the world’s languages.Bible translation is the most academic endeavor in the Great Commission enterprise. Thereis a natural affinity between that portion of the church invested in biblical scholarship andthose who are committed to translating God’s message faithfully into the languages of the nations.A partnership between the community of Bible scholars and the Bible translation agenciescould become the dynamic, growing edge of missional Bible translation in the twenty-firstcentury.The genesis of TSC’s experimentation with this partnership began in 2009 with the GuestBible Scholar program. This program created an avenue for a small number of select Biblescholars from North American seminaries and Christian colleges to invest some of their timein support of the Bible translation cause, around the edges of their full-time commitments asprofessors. Today, we have about a dozen North American scholars supporting Bible translationprojects with various levels of engagement. TSC staff recently trained a number of scholarsfrom Northern Ireland to help in reviewing back translations for exegetical accuracy. Thesescholars have all worked as volunteers, donating their time and skills around the edges of theirfull-time employment. TSC has facilitated their training and covered their expenses for limitedtimes of service overseas.In 2012, we began engaging Bible scholars from the countries where Bible translation workwas ongoing. Dr. Ayub Ranoh, a Bible scholar in Indonesia, was our test case. Dr. Ranoh was