wfn.org | Trial Readers Sought for Taiwanese "Red Cover Bible"

["pctpress" <pctpress@ms1.hinet.net>]

Taiwan Church News 2751, 15 to 21 November 2004
Trans. & rewritten by David Alexander

As Martin Luther was to the Bible in vernacular German 500 years ago, so was
Thomas Barclay to the Bible in Taiwanese in the 20th Century.  Luther was a
German, but Barclay was not Taiwanese.	Nevertheless his translation of the
Old and New Testaments is still in use today in Protestant Churches in Taiwan
and overseas.  It was originally produced in "Romanized" Taiwanese (a
reduction of the aural language into print using Latin script). In the 1990's
the Taiwan Bible Society reproduced this translation in a Chinese Character
version while maintaining the Taiwanese syntax. This gave new life to a Bible
that was only accessible to older generations of Taiwan's Christians.

Back in 1972 a 7-year ecumenical translation project involving both
Protestant
and Roman Catholic scholars produced a new Romanized Taiwanese version of the
New Testament. The language was updated and popularized. It was published in
1975, but only 10,000 copies were distributed.	It ran afoul of Taiwan's then
Nationalist Party government on two accounts.  Firstly, it was in Romanized
Taiwanese at a time when the Party and the government it controlled were
vehemently asserting a "Mandarin Chinese Only" cultural policy for approved
publications.  Secondly, it came with a red cover.  Considering the role
played by the "Little Red Book" in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
in China so near by, this "wrapping" incurred the ire of the staunchly
anti-communist government in Taipei. This Bible was not officially "banned",
but permission for subsequent press runs was denied.

Now the Taiwan Church Press has produced sample portions of the "Red Cover
Bible" in Chinese Characters (like the Bible Society's version of the Barclay
Bible) and seeks test readers. The portions include tThe Gospel According to
Matthew and the Epistles to the Romans, Ephesians and Philippians.  Although
the time lag between the original translation and the production of these
test
portions already exceeds thirty years, the translators and producers want to
give all an opportunity to sample what is possible.

The Church Press hopes that after reviewing these portions the "test readers"
will give feedback on the advisability of going forward with a project to
"do"
the entire "Red Cover Bible" in Chinese Characters.

Sample portions are available upon request until the end of November.

For More Information: Tel: (06) 235 6277 ext 177
Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages.
Visit our web site: www.pctpress.com.tw