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Bible gift encourages students to share faith
05 March 2008
Kristin Thiele
Public relations assistant
Twelve Avondale College theology students have received a gift from the Bible Society of New South Wales to encourage them to share their faith.
The gift, a Hebrew Bible, is according to the society an investment in the future of Bible translations. "I pray your efforts in learning and translating the Bible while at college and into your ministry will be blessed by God and granted much fruit, as you help others come to put their faith in Jesus and have life in Him," said Karen White, the society's bookshop manager, in a presentation to the students this past Monday (March 3).
The Bibles, which retail for about $150, feature larger print and include a "textual apparatus" at the bottom of each page to explain variations in ancient manuscripts.
The students will use the Bibles in their Old Testament subjects as a means to study passages and later to prepare sermons. "It will help them see the subtle translation possibilities and plays on words that no single translation can properly capture," says Dr Ross Cole, a senior lecturer in theology.
The society's aim is to send Bibles to as many people as possible, in a format they can use, in a language they can understand and at a price they can afford. In some places of the world, this means translating the Bible into the native language and then recording it onto a cassette tape for later playback. It may also mean giving the Bible away because that is the affordable price.
The United Bible Societies has translated the Bible (or parts of it) into more than 2300 languages since the formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804.
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