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Bible Society of India

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Bible Society of India
AbbreviationBSI
PredecessorThe British and Foreign Bible Society in India and Ceylon
Formation21 February 1811[1]
FounderThe British and Foreign Bible Society
Founded atNagpur[1]
TypeBible Society
Legal statusSociety
PurposeLiterary
HeadquartersBangalore
Location
Region
Indian subcontinent
ServicesContribution, Translation, Printing, Distribution
Official language
English
Secretary General
Rev. Dr. Kavito G. Zhimo
President
Rev. Dr. Leelavathi Vemuri
Vice-President
Rev. Dr. Bijaya Kumar Pattnaik
Treasurer
Mr. Deepank George Pothan
Directors
Translations: The Rev. Dr. W. Along Jamir,[2] D.Th. (Serampore)
Church Relations and Resource Mobilisation: The Dr. Hrangthan Chhungi,[3] D. Th. (Serampore) (Associate Director),
Marketing and Publishing: Mr. Paul Stephen (Director),[2]
Media and Special Audience: Mr. Caleb Hilton Martin (Associate Director),[2]
Production: Mr. Ashith Ezekiel (Director),[2]
Finance: Mr. Tinku George (Director)
Main organ
India Bible Society Trust Association (IBSTA)[4]
Parent organization
United Bible Societies
Subsidiaries17
AffiliationsNational Council of Churches in India
Websitehttps://www.bsind.org/
RemarksSowing Circle (A publication of the BSI)
Formerly called
The Bible Society of India and Ceylon

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,[5] Braille Bibles in 15 Indian languages for visually impaired people, and Scripture portions in 48 languages.[6]

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.[7]

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.[8]

The Translations

Succession of Translation Directors

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.[9] The Rev. Father D. S. Amalorpavadass was a strong proponent[9] 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[10] 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,[11] a New Testament Scholar[12] 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.

Auxiliaries of the Bible Society of India[13][14]
No. Founding
year		 Name of the Auxiliary Location State Secretary[15]
I. 1983 Aizawl Auxiliary Aizawl Mizoram Rev Remlal Faka
II. 1845 Allahabad Auxiliary Allahabad Uttar Pradesh The Rev. Chittaranjan Polson
III. 1951 Andhra Pradesh Auxiliary Guntur Andhra Pradesh The Rev. Rev John Vikram,
IV. 2020 BSI Andaman Nicobar Auxiliary Port Blair Andaman Nicobar Island The Dn. Ranjit Paswan
V. 1813 Bombay Auxiliary Mumbai Maharashtra Mr. Shantwan Raiborde,[16] B. D. (Serampore)[16]
VI. 1811 Calcutta Auxiliary Kolkata West Bengal Rev. Philip Bari
VII. 1986 Dimapur Auxiliary Dimapur Nagaland The Rev. Yiepetso Wezah, D. Th. (Serampore)
VIII. 1969 Gujarat Auxiliary Ahmedabad Gujarat The Rev. David H. Desai,[17] CNI, B. D. (Serampore)
IX. 1986 Jabalpur Auxiliary Jabalpur Madhya Pradesh The Rev. Daniel Nath
X. 1945 Karnataka Auxiliary Bangalore Karnataka Ms. B. S. Shashikala Alva, CSI, M. Th. (Serampore)
XI. 1956 Kerala Auxiliary Kottayam Kerala The Rev. Jacob Antony Koodathinkal
XII. 1953 North West India Auxiliary New Delhi New Delhi The Rev. Gershombhai Khirsti, CNI, B. D. (Serampore)[18]
XIII. 1983 Odisha Auxiliary Cuttack Odisha The Rev. B. K. Kouri
XIV. 1966 Ranchi Auxiliary Ranchi Jharkhand The Rev. Soma Bhatkar, CNI
XV. 1956 Shillong Auxiliary Shillong Meghalaya The Rev. V.T.S. Langstieh
XVI. 1820 Tamil Nadu Auxiliary Chennai Tamil Nadu The Rev. P. Moses Devadason, CSI, B. D. (Serampore)[19]
XVII. 2016 Telangana Auxiliary Secunderabad Telangana The Rev. John Basy Paul, CSI, M. Th. (Serampore)

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.

Years Succession of General Secretaries[20] Earned Academic Credentials/Other notes
1944-1947 The Rev. J. S. M. Hooper, WMMS,[21] B. A. (Oxford), M. A. (Oxford)/
Kaisar-i-Hind Medal 1938
1947-1949 The Rev. George Sinker, C of E
1949-1958 Mr. Premananda MohantyLaity M. A. (Calcutta)[22]/
M. L. A. - Odisha Legislative Assembly 1937-1946[23]
1958-1959 Ms. Marjorie HarrisonLaity[24]
1959-1960 The Rev. W. Park Rankin, MCI
1960-1981 The Rev. A. E. Inbanathan, CSI B. D. (Serampore), M. A. (Union),
Ph.D. (Hartford)
1981 Major General O. M. Mani,[25] Corps[26]Laity Retired Military Officer of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers
1981-1982 Mr. T. Albert Manoraj, IPSLaity[27] Retired Police Official
1982-1985 Mr. T. John Ramakrishnan, IASLaity[28] Retired Civil Servant
1985-2011 Mr. B. K. Pramanik, OSCSLaity[29] Odisha State Service Official who voluntarily resigned from the service
2011- The Rev. M. Mani Chacko, CSI B. D. (Serampore), M. Th. (Serampore), Ph.D. (London)

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.[30]

The magazine has often been referred to by Scholars[31] and other Writers.[32] David Vumlallian Zou of the University of Delhi in The Pasts of a Fringe Community: Ethno-history and Fluid Identity of the Zou in Manipur[33] has substantially cited the magazine in matters relating to translations in Zou language.

References

  1. ^ a b Neville Barker Cryer, Bibles Across the World, Mowbrays, 1979, p.109. [1]
  2. ^ a b c d Bible Society of India, Leadership
  3. ^ Phualva Times, Dr. Machhungi in BSI CRRM ah Associate Director len ding, February 17, 2019.[2]
  4. ^ Tax Management, India
  5. ^ "Translation". Bible Society of india. Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. Retrieved 12 Oct 2015.
  6. ^ Nirmal, Chiranjivi (2011). Imaging the Word: A Twenty-First Century Perspective. Bangalore: The Bible Society of India. p. 70. ISBN 978-81-221-2908-3. OCLC 785824115.
  7. ^ Nirmal, Chiranjivi (2011). Imaging the Word: A Twenty-First Century Perspective. Bangalore: The Bible Society of India. p. 12,13. ISBN 978-81-221-2908-3. OCLC 785824115.
  8. ^ Nirmal, Chiranjivi (2011). Imaging the Word: A Twenty-First Century Perspective. Bangalore: The Bible Society of India. p. 23. ISBN 978-81-221-2908-3. OCLC 785824115.
  9. ^ a b 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. [3]
  10. ^ C. Arangaden, Fiddler in the Zoo, iUniverse, Bloomington, 2011, p.89.[4]
  11. ^ The Sowing Circle, Volume 28, Number 1, January-April 2012, p.20
  12. ^ Rayanna Govindu, The Table Fellowship of Jesus (Luke 5.27-32), Pontifical Urban University, Rome, 2003.[5]
  13. ^ The Bible Society of India, list of Auxiliaries, October 2015
  14. ^ The Sowing Circle, Volume 34, Number 2, July–December 2018.
  15. ^ The Sowing Circle, Volume 32, Number 1, January-April 2016, p.9
  16. ^ a b Linked In[permanent dead link‍]
  17. ^ Church of North India. [6] Archived 2016-04-24 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ Serampore Examination Registration. [7]
  19. ^ "The Sowing Circle, Volume 29, Number 2, May-August 2013, pp.32-33" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-08-05.
  20. ^ G. D. V. Prasad, Chiranjivi J. Nirmal, Imaging the Word: A Twenty-First Century Perspective, The Bible Society of India 1811-2011, Bible Society of India, Bangalore, 2000, (revised edition 2011), p.115. [8][dead link‍]
  21. ^ Kenneth Cracknell, Susan J. White, An Introduction to World Methodism, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005, p.150.[9]
  22. ^ University of Calcutta Calendar 1929, p.511.[10]
  23. ^ Odisha Legislative Assembly - List of Members in First Pre-Independence Assembly (03/02/1937-14/09/1945).[11]
  24. ^ Annual Report of the American Bible Society, Volume 149, American Bible Society, 1964, p.144. [12]
  25. ^ J. S. Ishar, History of Project Vartak, Border Roads Organisation.[13]
  26. ^ J. S. Bawa, History of the Corps of Engineers, Palit & Palit Publishers, New Delhi, 1980, p.193.[14]
  27. ^ The Civil List of Indian Police Service, 1968, p.232
  28. ^ Interact 2012 of the Indiranagar Methodist Church, Bangalore
  29. ^ Mr. B. K. Pramanik has been conferred a honorary doctorate by an unrecognised institution which has no standing before the University Grants Commission. Hence, the prefix has been retained as Mr. See Some Distinguished Alumni and Honorary Degree Recipients of IICM.[15]
  30. ^ Magazine Training International, Sowing Circle
  31. ^ Bangalore Theological Forum, Volume 33, 2001
  32. ^ Daniel Sathiaraj, Everyday with Our Awesome God: Inspiring True Stories.[16]
  33. ^ David 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.[17]
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