Bible society

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Bible House", the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Bible Society, the oldest in the United States, founded in 1808

A Bible society is a non-profit organization, usually

advocating its credibility and trustworthiness in contemporary cultural life. Traditionally Bible society editions contain scripture, without any doctrinal notes or comments, although they may include non-sectarian
notes on alternate translations of words, or variations in the different available manuscripts.

History of Bible production

The production and distribution of bibles are issues that have engaged the attention of Christian leaders for centuries. In an

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 emended text of the Vulgate; multiple copies of this text were created, not always accurately, in the famous writing schools at Tours.[1]

The first book printed in

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.[1]

Similar organizations which are not called Bible societies

The

Scots Gaelic
were published by the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) founded in 1709.

In 1710, the Canstein Bible Institute for the mass production of affordable Bibles was founded in

Karl Hildebrand, Count of Canstein.[3]

History

The first organisation called "The Bible Society" was formed in 1779 to distribute Bibles to soldiers and seamen, which became the Naval and Military Bible Society in 1804.[4] The French Bible Society, instituted in 1792, came to an end in 1803, owing to the Napoleonic Revolution. Leftover funds were given to Bible production in Welsh. [5] 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. Although perceived as Protestant, from the early days the British and Foreign Bible Society was officially ecumenical, and allowed inclusion of the Apocrypha.[6] As a reaction to the occasional inclusion of these books and other issues, the Trinitarian Bible Society was founded in 1831. Pope Gregory XVI in his 1844 encyclical letter Inter praecipuas condemned both Bible societies and "the publication, dissemination, reading, and possession of vernacular translations of Sacred Scriptures" which did not abide by the general rules and decrees of the Catholic Church, and subsequently Catholics did not officially participate in the Society.[7]

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.

Catholic or Orthodox, and inter-confessional versions. Bible societies work with other Christian agencies and Bible translations are done on an ecumenical basis, through the Forum of Bible Agencies International.[citation needed
]

United States

historical marker
at 701 Walnut St., Philadelphia PA

In the United States, Bible societies flourished in the first half of the 19th century. In addition to the American Bible Society and the International Bible Society (now "Biblica"), a number of state and regional Bible societies were established prior to the American Civil War and to this day, they have remained active, they distribute Bibles and other works of religious literature to prisons, hospitals and shelters. Most of these regional societies are affiliated with the National Association of State and Regional Bible Societies. The oldest Bible society in the United States is the Pennsylvania Bible Society, it was founded in 1808. The Bible society movement spread west as far as Chicago where the Chicago Bible Society was founded in 1840, making it only five years younger than the city itself.[citation needed]

Current societies

United Bible Societies

The United Bible Societies (UBS) is a worldwide association of Bible societies. As of September 2019 the UBS has 148 member or associated Bible societies, working in more than 200 countries and territories.[8] They include:

Non-UBS Bible societies

Other translation groups

Non-translation groups

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Darlow 1911, p. 905.
  2. ^ The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol III, (1847), London, Charles Knight, p.295.
  3. LCCN 2012002200
    .
  4. ^ "Origins".
  5. ^ Darlow 1911, p. 906.
  6. ^ Please see Leslie Howsam, Cheap Bibles for an accurate account.
  7. ^ Gregory XVI (1844). Inter praecipuas. Rome.
  8. ^ Bible Societies website
  9. ^ Hellenic Bible Society website
  10. ^ Bible Society of South Africa website
  11. ^ Colombian Bible Society Archived 2016-12-26 at the Wayback Machine website
  12. ^ Bible Society of Egypt website
  13. ^ Alliance Biblique Franciase website
  14. ^ Canadian Bible Society website
  15. ^ Hungarian Bible Society\ website
  16. ^ Bible Society of Nigeria\ website
  17. ^ Slovak Bible Society\ website
  18. ^ Slovenian Bible Society website
  19. ^ [1] Naval and Military Bible Society] website
  20. ^ see also Bounty Bible
  21. ^ Trinitarian Bible Society Archived 2011-08-08 at the Wayback Machine website
  22. ^ Valera Bible Society website
  23. ^ King James Bible Society website
  24. ^ Gideons do not translate but distribute existing translations of the Bible.
  25. ^ The Amity Printing Company Archived 2008-03-31 at the Wayback Machine, partly helped by the United Bible Societies, does not translate, but is the largest printing shop of the Bible in China.

References

  • Gillis, James M. (1907). "Bible Societies" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  • McCauley, J. C. (1946). Truth Versus Dogma. Chicago: Moody Press.

Attribution:

Further reading

  • Woodley, E. C. The Bible in Canada. Toronto: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1953. viii, 320 p., ill. N.B.: "The purpose ... is to tell the story of the British and Foreign Bible Society in Canada [afterwards known as the Canadian Bible Society]"—p. 3.

External links

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