Andrew Byers - “The Embodiment of God and the Disembodied Age: How the Incarnation Informs Our Twenty-First-Century Media Practices”
Bobby E. Long - “The Embodiment of Divine Revelation”
Holly Hearon - “The Interplay Between Written and Spoken Word in the Second Testament as Background to the Emergence of Written Gospels”
The Bible Project in its Research and Development Stage – Laying a Strong Foundation for a Successful Project
Abstract
Does the number of unfinished or abandoned Bible translation projects (BTP) has increased significantly in the past 15 years? Are the BPT becoming harder to complete? If this is the case, which are the main factors that led to this situation? We often see BTP started superficially, without a prior proper plan. The way a project is planned, initiated and consolidated would give us a clue about the quality of the final translation and would help us to develop our partnership with the Church, Christian organizations and publishers in the right direction. A superficial research, plan or approach will lead us, sooner or later, to either failing to start a BTP or doubling our efforts to continue and finalize a project that eventually will end up being rejected by the majority. For these reasons, it is of a paramount importance to understand (1) why we initiate a Bible translation project in a certain country, in a certain dialect? Is the need confirmed? (2) Which is the right way to create new partnerships and approach potential translators? (3) When it is the proper time to start the project? (4) What a Translation brief should include? Why is the project unique? (5) What does the process of training translators involves? I am going to emphasize the importance of doing a comprehensive assessment before initiating a Bible translation project, showing that the translated written Word is far better received by the recipients when the Research & Development phase in done carefully.