Bible Translation in advancing the Gospel of Christ in Takad Land

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Statement of the Problem
Purpose of the Study
Research Questions
Significance of the study
Structure of the research proposal
Scope and Delimitations of the Study
Limitation of the study
Definition of Terms
Conclusion

II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
The concept of Bible translation
A historical overview of Bible Translation
Mother tongue and Bible Translation in Nigeria
Bible translation as a strategy in advancing the gospel
Ways of sustaining the Bible Translation strategy
Challenges of Bible Translation
The importance of language
Bible translation and culture
A brief historical development of Takad land
Theoretical framework in Bible Translation
Conclusion

III. METHODOLOGY
Introduction
Research Design
Population and Sample of the study
Researcher Personal experiences
Instrument for data Collection
Data Collection, display and Analysis

IV. DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Introduction
Presentation of the field findings and analysis
Conclusion

V. SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
Introduction
Summary of the Major Findings on the Study
Conclusion

Recommendations

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

This research is contributing to the increasing field of knowledge by promoting better understanding of the significance of Bible translation activities in advancing the gospel of Christ in Takad land. It is also an attempt to answer the questions surrounding the specific nature of Takad land in the efforts being made to advance the gospel of Christ. In this regard, it is concerned with outcomes, and why as will eventually be explained by the various segments of Takad community in the intended fieldwork. It is considering the extent to which the gospel of Christ has been advancing in terms of ways, and how the impact of the Bible translation can be sustained. This will be achieved by assessing the importance of having the scripture translated to the Takad language the primary means of day to day interaction of the people at home and in public places instead of using Hausa or English which may not be the day to day language, and how the Bible translation project can bring about the general well-being of the Takad people.

In accomplishing this task, the researcher is considering briefly the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Research Questions, significance of the study and Structure of the Thesis, Review of relevant Literature, Methodology and some Limitations that may result from the exercise.

Background of the Study

John the Apostle in the Book of Revelation (Rev 7:9) said:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could account, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.

The coming of the Christian Missionaries did not only bring salvation to many nations and tribes in the African continent, but also caused shifts in its social, economic and political landscape, resulting in new experiences, and necessitating new forms of expression. The significant impact not only benefited tribe in their way of life, but also affected their literature in the process of accessing of the Bible in mother tongue.¹ Over the years, vernacular education in hundreds of national languages has also been seen as a key to effective learning. In the world's nations commitment to the goals of Education for All (EFA) for instance, experts acknowledged limit in a 2006 United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, (UNESCO) bilingual intercultural educational study in the expanded educational opportunity for marginalized and undeserved groups to improved quality of education based on the learning outcomes². In response to these realities, UNESCO reaffirmed its commitment to the use of Multilanguage education in 2003 and emphasized the central role of the mother-tongue instruction in achieving quality education for all.

However, not much is known for instance about the potential impact learning with the mother tongue has to education generally beyond the outcome of positive assertion. This probably the languages used could be said to have a wide variety of purposes spoken in many different countries, such as French and English. In this regard, talking or preaching the Word of God could it be better done through mother-tongue as it enhances speaking directly to the heart and not to the head? Although the role played by the translation of the Bible in developing the literatures of the various Minority languages and tribes in general is widely acknowledged by theological Institutions, little or no research has been done to account for the contribution Bible translation to the development and growth of such Minorities.

Statement of the Problem

Since the coming of Christianity in Nigeria in the early 19th Century and in Takad land in the early 1950s, Hausa has been predominantly used to communicate the gospel even though Takad language is the primary means of day to day interaction especially at home and other public places. This study focuses on understanding the impact of Bible Translation on the generality of the Takad people. It aims at assessing the magnitude of value adding to the quest of advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the land through the day to day language of the people instead of Hausa or any other secondary language.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to assess the significance of Bible translation in advancing the gospel of Christ Takad land. The specific purpose of the study is finding out the ways Bible translation enhances the gospel in Takad land; Secondly, assessing the effect of translating the Bible to Takad language; thirdly, Investigating the Biblical concept of Bible Translation and fourthly challenges of Bible translation in advancing the gospel of Christ.

Research Questions

The research questions to enhance this study are as follows:

1. What are the possible ways of enhancing the gospel of Christ through Bible translation?
2. What effects will be translating the Bible have on advancing the gospel to the Takad people?
3. How can the effect of translating the Bible to the Takad language be sustained?

Significance of the study

It is hoped that the findings from the research work and the recommendations to be proffered will assist Church leaders in Takad land especially the native speakers in pursuing the goals of advancement of the gospel of Christ through effective contextualization among the native Takad speakers. It will also assist government at all levels as to how best to improve learning through the promotion of mother- tongue by adopting appropriate educational policies. The art of learning how to read, write and communicate in Takad especially at the primary school levels will have a way of drawing the Minority tribes especially Takad closer to the government and could attract funding of language related projects that could mark the beginning of development.

It is therefore envisaging that through this study, a start will be made to encourage the development of educational curriculum using the mother-tongue in the local government to be taught in primary schools as a foundation for effective learning. It is also hope that the study shall bring more clearly a precondition for ensuring effective learning by providing useful lessons for the formulation and implementation of future educational policies and strategies at the grassroots level.

Furthermore, a study of this nature that stresses on the Minority shall go a long way to help in the preservation of languages through enhancing literacy among minority tribe.

Structure of the research proposal

This research is structured into five Chapters. Chapter One provides the background, problem statement, purpose, the research questions to answer, significance of the study and the structure of the study. Chapter two focuses on review of available literature. Also, the theoretical concept is to clarify and provide a basis for analysing the research findings. Chapter Three will describe the methodology, justification and possible challenges. Chapter Four presents the findings and interpretation of the result of the study. Chapter Five will be the conclusion by looking at the key issues in the findings and the usefulness of the conceptual framework.

Scope and Delimitations of the Study

The scope of this study shall comprise of the Takad Chiefdom one of the 3 Chiefdoms in Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State created out of the former Moro'a Chiefdom which currently has six Districts. These Districts include Mifi, Fada Takad, Tachira, Zangang, and Sakiyo occupying a portion of the southeastern part of the state and sharing boundary with Plateau State of north central part of Nigeria.

Limitation of the study

This study may not have all its aims and objectives achieved perfectly as information regarding Takad land may largely depend on the financial capability of the researcher. In galvanizing the needed information at the right sources will be largely dependent on the nature of the terrain of the area of study. Sampling tools – stratified random sampling method and the bias of the Infomart of the translators will all come to bear in the limitations of this study. All these limitations notwithstanding, shall be considered as basis for further research on the topic to be covered in future.

Definition of Terms

Bible

The Christian scriptures, consisting of 39 in the Old and New Testament H the 27, believed to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit and preserved for God’s purpose of salvation in every generation.

Mother tongue

The language that one first learns to speak as a child, the native or what others describe as the heart language of a person.

Takad

One of the tribal groups in Southern that speaks Takad as language with many dialects and one of the three Chiefdoms in the present-day Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Translation

The process of translating words or text from one language into another such as the 66 Books of the Bible into English.

Strategy

A plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim. It is commonly used by the military to refer to the art of planning and directing overall military operations and movements in a war or battle.

Conclusion

This work aims primarily at Bible translation as a foundation for Christian mission and learning. For meaningful development to take place, learning to read and write which can be more impactful using the mother tongue need to be taken seriously. Any minority tribe embarking in Bible translation must also take its literacy work seriously in order to sustain its mission work towards enhancing societal transformation.

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

This Chapter provides an overview of available literature on Bible Translation in advancing the gospel of Christ. It examines the concept of Bible translation; the historical context of Bible translation as a strategy for advancing the gospel; Ways of sustaining positive impact of the strategy of Bible Translation; and Challenges and obstacles of Bible Translation in advancing the gospel. Other aspects of this overview include Bible Translation in Nigeria; Bible translation and culture; Takad land and the advent of Christianity; and the Theoretical framework in Bible Translation that the researcher is adopting in carrying out the work and conclusion. To achieve all these, the overviews will constitute the various sub-topics to be discussed in this chapter.

The concept of Bible translation

Bible translation refers to “the art and practice of rendering the Bible into languages other than those in which it was originally written”.³ Bible as defined by the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, is "the holy book of the Christian religion, consisting of the Old Testament and the New Testament".⁴ Thus the art and practice of rendering both the Old and New Testament from its original language in which it was written to another has to do with communication⁵. In this regard, since translation of the Bible has to do with communication, its theory shares some concerns with communication theory. For instance, Nkwawir Jude Fanwong recognises that every act of communication has three dimensions: the speaker (or author), the message, and the audience. In this argument, it implies that the more a translator can know about the original author, the actual message that the author produced, and the original audience, the better acquainted the translator will be with the act of communication which has been the case in the past centuries since it was compiled and formalized.⁶ Fanwong further argued that, in communication, a message can only be said to be effectively passed when the sender has through the appropriate channel gotten the receiver's feedback. This by implication makes communication of the message of the gospel better understood and central as the Bible is correctly translated to the receptor’s language.

Furthermore, different ways have been considered and advanced in translating the Bible both formal and functional equivalence based on goal. The broadest goal in translation conveys the meaning of the source text in the receptor language. Over time, Bible translators have continued to agree on the main objective but could disagree on how best to achieve it. Achieving a translation that is equivalent to the original translators must take both aspects of the original into account in terms of its form and meaning, making translation not only central but also allowing the Bible to be translated easily to other languages.⁷

However, despite the apparent centrality of Bible translation in advancing the gospel, it is paradoxical as well as ironical that largely Bible translation and reading tend to be problematic in the history of Christianity. Some have argued that the translation of the Bible into vernacular languages led to different interpretations which eventually brought about the split in Christendom; hence doing more harm than good.

In order to come to an accurate translation that can be properly understood by people far removed from the time and culture of the Bible therefore, translators must employ cultural anthropology to understand the culture they are trying to reach. This method is in line with the functional equivalence and generic, otherwise used also in three dimensions: dynamic equivalence; closest natural equivalence; and idiomatic translation.⁸ Out of the three dimensional methods as John Daniel points out, “the idiomatic expression based on the targeted culture for translation is commonly being used to convey the meaning of the message of the text to its readers”.

A historical overview of Bible Translation in advancing the gospel:

The translation of the Bible from its original language into other languages has a long history that dates as far back as the third century BC⁹. To convey the Christian faith to a new culture (contextualization) entails the process of translation, and the most important tool of contextualization is the language used by the people of the context in which it is spoken.¹⁰ In this regard, the Scripture provides the primary source of authority and message to contextualize the Holy Scriptures, the Bible.¹¹ This probably explains why Sanneh maintains that Christianity is a “vernacular translation movement. It is therefore important to note that there are numerous reasons for advancing the gospel beyond monetary and other motivations to include necessity, and others out of selfish reasons. The time of the Septuagint, the Targums, and the Latin Vulgate through the Reformation and Counter Reformation, and to the present day when the missionary translators of the colonial era that have been replaced by mother-tongue all had their reasons for translating the scripture. This section gives us an insight and overview on early, modern, and post-modern translations of the Bible:

The Septuagint

The Septuagint is the ancient translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Koine Greek prior to 285 BCE by the Jews of the Diaspora living in Alexandria who had abandoned the language of their fathers. It was seen as the only way to preserve the religious legacy of their ancestors by translating the Bible into the foreign language that they used. These Jews were bilingual and their translation was to further address the liturgical and educational needs of the Jews living in “the Greek world with a high proportion of Greek-speaking Jews who did not know the original language of the scriptures”.¹²

As Marco points out in his historical narrative, the Septuagint written in the middle of the fourth century contains the earliest complete copy of the New Testament of which the hand-written text is in Greek. Furthermore, in spite of the several non-identical Hebrew OT texts and Greek translations of those texts in circulation at the time, the interest of the providence supplied and preserved was deemed completely sufficient and greater acceptance by the early Church and most Christians in the first four centuries of the Church that could read only Greek.

This ancient or early translation of the scripture although a major translation, was primarily from the original language aimed largely at preserving the religious legacy and for educational need of the Jews living in the Greek world and could have pave the way for later Christian mission.¹³

The Targum

The Targum translation comprising the Torah began during the first exile in Babylonia, when Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Jews. According to Zamani Kafang, it is an interpretative translation of some parts of the Old Testament especially the Pentateuch, as delivered orally in the Synagogue during the period of the second Temple.¹⁴ After the return from exile, it began to be widely spoken in the Jewish community, and eventually it replaced Hebrew which had slowly decayed and was hardly more than the language of the schools and of worship. With most people speaking only Aramaic and not understanding Hebrew, it became necessary for the Bible to be translated into the more widely familiar vernacular language – Aramaic.¹⁵ In this regard, the Targum tribe translation as asserts by Criag E. Morrison encouraged the common person to understand the Torah just as it was read in the synagogues.

Furthermore, Morrison points out that, the Targum was the first major and primary translation in western culture applied to the Greek text of the Torah and consisted of translating the Hebrew Bible into Greek. This was meant for the great new royal library of the king (Ptolemy II Philadelphus) in Alexandria which, had become the centre of Hellenistic Judaism. This common translation later became the accepted text of the Old Testament (OT), and the basis of the canon of the Church indicating its importance in advancing the gospel.

The Vulgate

The developmental patterns that preceded the English translation of the Bible from Greek to Latin from the 2nd - 4th century for instance, follows AD 45 - 1880 which marked the beginning of the modern translation of the English Bible. Latin Vulgate played a pivotal role understanding clearly or accurately the existence of the English Bible, the German Bible, the French Bible as for over a thousand years of Christianity in the western world knew only one Bible, the Latin Vulgate.¹⁶

These Aramaic translations could be categorised as part of the early translations meant for preservation of the language allowing also the common person to understand the Torah as it was read in the synagogues and probably advanced the gospel within its cultural context.

The Gothic Bible (Ulfilas)

This was the earliest translation of the Bible into a Germanic language in the mid- 4th century, a language of the barbarian tribes.¹⁷ The translator who was an Arian bishop of the Visigoths, or West Goths, a missionary, developed the language by writing down, from scratch that which was purely oral.

Furthermore, suffice to mention that before 400 AD, the Bible in addition to several ancient translations had also been made available in other languages, most important of which were in the Syriac dialect of Aramaic (2nd century), a major language of the eastern Mediterranean, extending over to the Mesopotamian valley; the Coptic language in Egypt ( 3rd century); the Ethiopic Amharic and Ge’ez; the Armenian, and the Georgian (fifth century).¹⁸ In AD 640, Nestorian Christians (missionaries) translated the Gospels into Chinese for the emperor of China. Preserved in his version of the Bible translation includes much of the Gospels, the Epistles of Paul, as well as fragments from Nehemiah, Ezra, Genesis, and one Psalm.¹⁹

These early versions of the Scriptures had elements of teaching that were believed to be a universal history, as oral traditions heard from the exposure and encountered with Jews and Christians of that time. The absence of proper written out scripture at this period could be largely responsible for the way the then barbarian tribes understood and related with the Christian faith, truthfully or falsefully.

The Slavonic Bible (Cyril and Methodius)

The Slavonic translation under Cyril and Methodius carried out around AD 860, coincided closely with the beginning of the church in that area (former Czechoslovakia). At the time when they translated the Bible and the liturgy into Slavic, they were missionaries in Moravia, where a different Slavic spoken dialect. However, they translated mainly into Macedonian Slavic understood by the Moravians. Consequently, the Slavic people became literate in their own language through the written Macedonian Slavic which, rose to the level of a literary language.²⁰

The large dependent on oral tradition in the absence of proper written out scripture at this period could have been a pointer to the way the then barbarian tribes perceived, understood and dispositional to the Christian faith as no translation was available in dialect spoken where the missionaries were working.

Bible Translation in the Middle Ages

This period witnessed the championing efforts of Jerome's translation into Latin the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament. The intention of his work was to make it possible for ordinary Christians of the Roman Empire to read the Word of God. One of his famous dictums was “Ignorance of scriptures is ignorance of Christ”.²¹ Later on, the collapse of the Roman empire saw the emergence of modern European languages among the Christians of Europe who were now speaking German, French, Italian, Spanish, or Anglo-Saxon.

By the Middle Ages, the Latin Vulgate had also outlived its purpose in the middle Ages as Latin became the language only of the highly educated and learned, most of whom were priests. The Common people could no longer understand the church’s liturgy or scripture readings all written in Latin. Instead of promoting new translations, the clergy clung to the Vulgate because it forced people to rely on their teaching. The clergy at this time considered themselves be the custodians of the source of Christian truth and kept for themselves the privilege of interpreting it for the people.

In spite of rejection by some of Wycliffe contemporary, at the beginning of the 14th century the demand for vernacular Bibles after suppression surfaced within mainstream western Christianity. It is clear that some vernacular translations permitted while others were being scrutinized and eventually the complete Bible was translated into Old French with no evidence that it was again suppressed by the church. Around 1360 the entire Bible translated into Czech.²² However, this period witnessed a major turned away from Jerome’s campaign against “ignorance of scripture” as a result of the restriction of access to the scripture only to the clergy.

The Wycliffe Bible

Defying the clergy restricting access to the scripture, John Wycliffe and his followers translated the first English version commonly referred to as the Wycliffe Bible in the late 14th century and had two editions based on the Vulgate.²³ The Constitutions of Oxford (1408) included a prohibition against Bible translation without the approval of church authorities.²⁴ Wycliffe often referred to as the Morning Star of the Reformation. Wycliffe’s Bible, banned by the Synod of Oxford in 1408, was the most notable Middle English Bible Translation. In spite of this, his Bibles, and later his bones, were all burned, but he had sparked a Reformation, for these translations were part of a radical impulse for reform within the church and by extension the advancing the course of the gospel as Bible Translation became more contentious.

By the 16th century, some events deeply affected later Bible translation. The Renaissance brought about a recovery of classical learning. Greek scholars moved westward as Constantinople fell to the Turks (1453). The invention of the printing press around 1443 (in some texts 1450) profoundly influenced Bible translation. Printed translations of most of the modern languages of Europe made at that time such as German, Italian, Spanish, and French including Hebrew editions by 1488. The Protestant Reformation in 1517 emphasized the need for vernacular versions of the Bible the events that all stimulated great interest in Bible translation.²⁵

However, as Fanwong points out, the change did not come without cost. Some Bible translators suffered persecutions and even martyrdom. While doing his translation, Luther stayed carefully out of the Pope’s reach, while Tyndale was strangled and his body burned in 1536, a forerunner of the English translation of the King James or the Authorized version.²⁶ The Bible translation efforts during this period could be said to be the beginning of intensive evangelistic work in the Church based on translation of the Bible.

The Reformation and Early Modern Period (Early 15th - 19th Century)

By the 16th century the view that a personal knowledge of scripture is precisely what ordinary people most need for their own spiritual good became prevalent. According to the historian D’Aubigne, Luther exclaimed in these words: “would that this one book were in every language, in every hand, before the eyes, and in the ears and hearts of all men”.²⁷ This German Bible read by all German people, thus making the “priesthood of all believers” more of a reality. Now the German merchant, the builder, and the farmer could study the scripture and apply it to their lives. They could even take the priest to task if he failed to read and present what is in the Bible.

Luther’s work advanced the Protestant Reformation by showing how the established church lost its understanding of the New Testament concept of salvation as a gift of grace from God; and the means of bringing reform and renewal to the church was to place the Bible in the hands of the laity.²⁸ This based on his personal conviction to have the Bible so natural and so forceful that it would speak to the hearts of all Germans. However, the Reformation failed to provide the missionary vision for translation into non-European languages.²⁹

After the Council of Trent in 1563 England began changing from a Catholic nation to a Bible-loving people. Since the appearance of Tyndale’s Bible (1525) the Bible had obtained a wider circulation. However, there was an effort to turn the English people from the Bible back to the Roman Catholic Church, the Jesuits devised a means: to bring forth their own English version of the Bible capable of superseding the Bible of Tyndale. This was a strategic and decisive step given that if England be retained in the Catholic column, then together with Spain they would make sure that all America both north and south would become catholic. The first Jesuit Bible thus published in 1582. As the church grew and expanded other additional translations into new languages followed such as the Arabic in the 8th century, Slavonic (ninth century), German (11th century), up to the Hungarian (15th century) majorly in defence of the faith and recognition of the priesthood of all believers in Christ.³⁰

In this regard, the reformation would not have been completely successful without the art of translating the Bible that enhanced the promotion of the priesthood of all believers. Through the personal faith in Christ Jesus, it also provided the needed platform for aggressive mission engagement of the protestant movement.

Bible Translations in the Modern Period (19th – 20th Century AD)

The Reformation Period followed by the Missionary Era of Bible translation during the colonial period of the 19th and 20th centuries. This translation was more of a tertiary version, the Protestant missionaries used in spreading the gospel around the world, along with the traders and administrators of the expanding European empires. As they did, they encountered more and more languages into which the Scriptures be translated and became the weapon by these Protestant missionaries. Bible translation then began to accelerate with the beginning of the Bible society movement. The translation, publishing, and distribution expertise of the Bible Society facilitated missionary efforts in Bible translation. The first Bible society to set the tone and pace for the Bible society era was the British and Foreign Bible Society founded in 1804.³¹

The first Wycliffe Bible Translators, the foremost among other agencies founded in 1942 by William Cameron Townsend to promote professionalized translation. His inspiration for translation came about resulted in a challenge from a Cakchiquel man Indians of Guatemala: “If your God is so great, why doesn’t He speak in my language?”

In 1943, Eugene A. Nida, a linguist, anthropologist as well as a student of ancient Greek literature, joined the American Bible Society staff. This marked the beginning of the promotion of professional expertise, the development of translation theory and of translation procedures based on such theory. Hitherto, the Bible societies did not have a developed and articulated theoretical base for guiding, directing and advising translators. Nida, therefore, quickly set forth to provide the necessary data and developed ways of conceptualizing and teaching the process of translation. He later recruited a professional team of linguists and biblical scholars to serve with him as consultants to translators all over the world. Later on, they became and worked under the auspices of the United Bible Societies.³²

Mother tongue and Bible Translation in Nigeria

There have been a number of Bible Societies and organizations at international, regional, Country and States levels all engaged primarily or collaborating in the work of Bible translation largely to bring the Bible into the mother tongue. The most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous in the world, in 1962, apart from the Nigerian Bible society, the University of Nigeria signed a cooperative agreement with Wycliffe’s partner, SIL International, to carry out language development work in each mother-tongue.³³ Out of this partnership, the Nigeria Bible Translation Trust (NBTT) was formed. NBTT, a self-reliant and competent organization, enables transformation of the African society through access to God’s word. The organization enables the Nigerian Church and Community access the Word of God for wholistic growth through language development. In a concise thought NBTT "responding to the command of Jesus Christ to make disciples of all nations by translating the Bible into the heart language of every Nigerian”.³⁴

In 1976, NBTT assumed the responsibility for Bible translation for the minority language groups of Nigeria. In about 700 languages spoken in Nigeria, 325 are said to still have no single verse of the Bible translated in which about 30% of these languages are endangered and are becoming extinct. The activities being carried out include: Language development; Bible Translation; Training of translators; Vernacular Media Services – recording and production of audio and video Bible versions; and Scripture engagement activities. NBTT gives all services required to achieve the translation of the Bible into the heart language and also to help language groups to develop from oral tradition into written form.

[...]

---

¹ M thikazi Roselina Masubelele, The role of bible translation in the development, 2007 Unpublished.P19

² Dorthe Buhmann and Barbara Trudell Mother Tongue Matters: Local Language as a key to effective learning, 2006.

³ http://www.britannnica.com, the Bible originally written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin

⁴ Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. The Living Dictionary Pearson Education limited Edinburgh Gate Harlow Essex CM202JE, England.

⁵ http://www.britannnica.com 14/11/18

⁶ Nkwawir Jude Fanwong Impact of Translating/Reading the Bible in the Vernacular in Africa, 2013, P.10

⁷ http://www.britannnica.com, the Bible originally written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin

⁸ CJT 2 (2015): 42–51 http://journal.etsc.org

⁹ Nkwawir Jude Fanwong P.26

¹⁰ Nkwawir Jude Fanwong Impact of Translating/Reading the Bible in the Vernacular in Africa, 2013 P.91

¹¹ https://bible.org/article/what-gospel 09/11/18.

¹² Marcos 2000: 19-20

¹³ Zamani Kafang. An introduction to Intertestamental period 2009 P.95

¹⁴ Zamani Kafang An introduction to Intertestamental period 2009 P.94

¹⁵ Criag E. Morrison, ‘Bible, Early Translations/Versions’, in Patte, ed., 2010:126

¹⁶ Lorin L. Cranford: The History of the Bible Session 14: Topic 3.3 The Latin Vulgate

¹⁷ Smalley, 1991: 23, 199

¹⁸ Loba-Mkole, ‘Bible Translation, History of’ in The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, Daniel Patte, Ed., 2010:125

¹⁹ Gale Encyclopaedia of Biography: Ulfilas, available from www.answers.com

²⁰ William A Smalley, Translation as Mission, 1991: 25 cited in Nkwawir Jude Fanwong P.29

²¹ Gleaned from George H. Guthrie’s History of Bible Translations, http://www.mystudybible.com

²² History of Bible Translations, available in www.historyworld.net

²³ A History of Bible Translations, available in http://www.mystudybible.com

²⁴ History of Bible Translation, available in www.allabouttruth.org

²⁵ Nkwawir Jude Fanwong cited in William A. Smalley, Translation as Mission, 1991: 26 -27

²⁶ Smalley, 1991: 27

²⁷ D’Aubigne’s History of the Reformation, p. 320

²⁸ McGrath 2001:55

²⁹ https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/bible-translation-since-john-wycliffe/7/12/18.

³⁰ William A. Smalley, Translation as Mission: Bible Translation in the Modern Missionary Movement, Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia, 1991 Pp. 22-24.

³¹ William A Smalley, Translation as Mission, pp. 27-28.

³² William A Smalley, p. 28

³³ Nbtt.org/en/Nigeria-bible-translation-trust, 12/01/19

³⁴ Available at NBTT website, www.nigerianbible