Eddie Arthur: Wycliffe UK

• Genesis 1-11: God and the Whole World

• Genesis 12 – Acts 2 (ish) God and the

People of Israel

• Acts 2 (ish) – Revelation 22 God and the

Whole World (again)

• Dispersion of

language and

humanity.

• Limits human

capacity for disorder

• Multiplies our artistic

ability

• Extends our ability to

understand the Divine

• Babel was missional

• Was not needed

• A miracle of hearing

• Underlines Babel

• Any language can be

used for the

expression of the

Gospel

"Christianity seems

unique in being the only

world religion that is

transmitted without the

language or originating

culture of its founder"

(Lamin Sanneh)

Incarnation is translation. When God in

Christ became man, Divinity was translated

into humanity, as though humanity were a

receptor language. Here was a clear

statement of what would otherwise be veiled

in obscurity or uncertainty, the statement

‘This is what God is like’. (Andrew Walls)

God’s loving desire to restore all creation to

God’s self resulted in the joyful event and

message of Jesus. The incarnation

translates and embodies God’s love for

creation. (Darryl Gurder)

But behind the Christian doctrine of the

substantial equality of the Scriptures in all

languages, there lies the even profounder

doctrine of the Incarnation, by which the

fullest divine communication has reached

beyond the forms of human words into the

human form itself. The Word [of God]

became flesh and dwelt among us. (Kwame

Bediako)

• The Son was born

into a specific

linguistic and cultural

setting

• Human language and

culture are used for

God’s ultimate self-

revelation

• Revelation was not

fixed in this culture

There is probably no

more important single

explanation for the

massive presence of

Christianity on the

African continent than

the availability of the

Scriptures in many

African languages.

(Kwame Bediako)

What do you call God?

• Translation forces a

break with the past

• Translation forges a

link with indigenous

culture

• Translation gives a

voice to the

marginalised

1800AD 1900AD 2008 AD

68

522

2454How many languages

have God’s Word?

Adequate Bible

438

Adequate New

Testament 1168

How many languages

have God’s Word?

Some

Scripture

848

No work begun

2,393

In Progress

1,998

Leaving thousands

without God’s word!

Adequate Bible

438

Adequate New

Testament 1168

Some

Scripture

848

Translation needs