The Bible Society of India is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

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, Braille Bibles in 15 Indian languages for visually impaired people, and Scripture portions in 48 languages. Bible society of india bangalore

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. 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.

The Translations

Sources for translating and revising

The Society depends on original sources material of the scriptures available in

Biblical Hebrew Biblical Hebrew (, or , ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Israel, roughly west of ...

, Biblical Aramaic and Biblical Greek languages for which the sources include the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the

Novum Testamentum Graece (''The New Testament in Greek'') is a critical edition of the New Testament in its original Koine Greek, forming the basis of most modern Bible translations and biblical criticism. It is also known as the Nestle–Aland edition after its mos ...

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 Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

consisting of Biblical Scholars from the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and

Charismatic Charisma () is a personal quality of presence or charm that compels its subjects. Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary; in these fields, the term "ch ...

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 Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

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 The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

with Biblical Aramaic and

and also New Testament with Biblical Greek. The Scholars include

Yisu Das Tiwari Yisu Das Tiwari (1911–1997) was an Indian theologian and a leading participant in Hindu-Christian dialogue. He was a scholar in Sanskrit, Hindi and Greek. The Bible Society of India entrusted him with revision of the Hindi Bible ''( New Te ...

B. E. Devaraj B. E. Devaraj was a translator who pioneered the Lambadi version of the New Testament. He was Acting Commissary and Vicar General of the Archdeaconry of Nandyal from 1950 to 1951. Devaraj also taught in the Andhra Christian Theological Colleg ...

, C. Arangaden,

Victor Premasagar Victor Premasagar (1927–2005) was the fourth successor of Frank Whittaker as Bishop in Medak. He was an Indian churchman and Old Testament scholar who made major contributions to research on the Old Testament and to the field of theology. Prem ...

E. C. John Revd. E. C. John (8 November 1927 – 29 October 2020) was an Indian Old Testament scholar and a member of the Society for Biblical Studies in India. He was also a member of the George Bell Institute at the University of Chichester, Chichester ...

K. V. Mathew Kuzhuvelil Varkey Mathew (born 2 November 1931) is an Indian biblical scholar and a member Fr. Max Gonsalves (Ed.), Society for Biblical Studies in India Directory 1998. Entry 131, page 30. of the Society for Biblical Studies in India. Educati ...

M. P. John Mathew P. John was a Biblical Scholar and PresidentMax Gonsalves (Ed.), Society for Biblical Studies in India Directory 1998. of the Society for Biblical Studies in India. Studies M. P. John studied Bachelor of Divinity from 1943–1949S. J. ...

John Philipose John Philipose is a New Testament Scholar who served as the Director of Translations at the Bible Society of India, Bangalore during 1984-1991 succeeding M. P. John.G. D. V. Prasad, Chiranjivi J. Nirmal, ''Imaging the Word: A Twenty-First Centur ...

, Gnana Robinson, G. Babu Rao,

Timotheas Hembrom Timotheas Hembrom is an ordained Minister of the Church of North India and an Old Testament Scholar who taught at the Bishop's College, Kolkata, affiliated to the nation's first University, the Senate of Serampore College (University). As a B ...

, Nitoy Achümi,

Basil Rebera Basil A. Rebera is an Old Testament Scholar and a Translation Consultant with the United Bible Societies focusing on translations of the Bible the world over. As a contributor to scholarly research, Rebera's writings have been reviewed in Journ ...

, 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

. As such, the translations of the Society are held in regard by the Christians. Though the

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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.

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.

, ''The Bible Society of India and Inter-Confessional Translations'', in

D. S. Amalorpavadass Rev. Fr. Duraiswami Simon Amalorpavadass (15 June 1932 – 25 May 1990) was a Catholic South-Indian theologian who played a vital role in the renewal of life and mission of the Roman Catholic Church in India, particularly after Vatican II. ...

(Edited), ''Report of the II All-India Biblical Meeting'', NBCLC, Bangalore, 1975, p.348.

/ref> The Reverend, The Rev. Father

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 favour 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, a New Testament Scholar 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 In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a layperson ...

for a temporary period but with the appointment of The Reverend, The Rev. M. Mani Chacko, an

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

, Navamani Elia Peter and other Clergy.

General Secretaries

Though General Secretaries were in short tenures, it was the rural Pastor, The Reverend, 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

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