11 May 1816 A.D. American Bible Society Founded by Episcoplian Elias Boudinot
11 May 1816 A.D. American Bible Society Founded by Episcoplian Elias
Boudinot
Graves, Dan. “American Bible Society Replaces Many
Societies.” Christianity.com. Apr
2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/american-bible-society-replaces-many-societies-11630376.html. Accessed 6 May 2015.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrived in the United States in the
first two decades of the 1800s. Many were unchurched and without Bibles. Christians felt challenged to put Bibles into the homes of these newcomers. One
hundred and thirty Bible societies sprang up within the states and territories.
Many provided the text in the immigrant languages. The Bibles, however, were
acquired largely through the good services of the British and Foreign Bible
Society.
Observers a saw a need for an umbrella society under which the local units
could function. A leader among those calling for the society was Samuel J.
Mills, noted for helping found America's first mission society. Toward the
goal, delegates from 28 locals gathered in New York in 1816 and the society
came into being on this day, May 11, 1816. The assembly declared their purpose
was "to encourage the wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures throughout
the world," and stipulated that none of the Bibles would contain notes or
comments. This provision was necessary; notes and comments acceptable to one
denomination might offend another. The May 11th board was comprised largely of
Christian laymen with Elias Boudinot as chairman. The American Bible Society
sought not to replace regional societies but to assist them. By year's end, 41
regionals had joined it.
The organization grew steadily and came to have a staff of over 300 in
1995, with more than 80 Protestant denominations providing some level of
support, although many Baptists pulled their support from the American Bible
Society when it refusal to produce a Bengali New Testament with a Baptist
choice of words to translate the Greek baptize.
The Society's first efforts were to get Bibles to the American frontier.
After a time, the frontier disappeared. Although the American Bible Society
still maintained concern for the U. S. (issuing its low vocabulary Good News
for Modern Man, for
example), it turned increasingly to foreign needs. Usually the Society produced
Bibles in close association with missionaries. By the mid-eighties the Society
had printed scriptures in over a thousand languages. It sent skilled linguists
into the field to check translations and provided inexpensive reproduction for
the finished product.
Eugene Nida joined the Society in 1943 and became one of its luminaries.
He personally visited over 50 nations and worked on more than 100 translation
projects. His teaching material educated thousands of would-be translators. He
also was closely associated with the Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Annually the American Bible Society distributes hundreds of millions of
pieces of low-cost literature. It has promoted cooperation between Catholics
and Protestants in translation. Through such efforts, millions around the world
have been affected by the American Bible Society.
Bibliography:
Ball, Alice. "The Bible: Bigger than Ever." Christian
Life. (November, 1983) 76-8.
Encyclopedia of Associations. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research, ca. 1989 –
Holden, David. Select Seed from the Granary, 99-19. (Privately circulated pamphlet).
La Cossitt, Henry. "He Takes the Bible 'Round the World."
Colliers (March 18, 1955), 56 - 57.
North, Eric M. Eugene A. Nida: an Appreciation. Mouton: The Hague, 1974.
"Timeline of American Bible Society History." 2006.<
www.americanbible.org/site/PageServer? pagename=abs_history_of_abs>(accessed
in 2006)
Yarmon, Norton. "The Bible in Babel." New York
Times Magazine (December 11, 1955), 25.
Last updated April, 2007.
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