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07587 September 19, 2007
Modernized message
Presbyterians contribute to creation of new Persian Bible translation
by Toya Richards Hill Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE - A 100-year leap in biblical interpretation and understanding has been made with the publication of a new Persian translation of the Bible.
"Today's Persian Version" of the Bible has been completed and was officially dedicated in Istanbul, Turkey in August, enabling Persian-speaking people around the world to have a present-day translation of the Old and New Testaments.
The translation is significant because the last Persian translation of the Bible was done in the 1890s.
"This means that we now have a translation that is easy to understand and is in contemporary modern Persian language," said the Rev. Kenneth Thomas, translation consultant for the new Bible and a former Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-worker in Iran.
Persian is the language of more than 100 million people worldwide, with the majority of them living in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
The Bible translation was a project of United Bible Societies, a world fellowship of Bible societies, with broad ecumenical help that included the PC(USA) at the national, presbytery and congregational levels.
The first half of the project - the New Testament translation - was completed in 1975, and work then began on the Old Testament. The project was interrupted in 1980 and didn't resume again until 1991.
The new translation, which includes 12 full-color maps, is particularly important to the PC(USA), which has eight Persian-speaking congregations, fellowships and ecumenical partners in the United States.
The new translation is "very, very easy to preach and understand for my congregation," said project volunteer Mansour Khajehpour, the pastor of Persian Church of Philadelphia and former pastor of Persian Church of the Good Shepherd in Seattle. He also is a Master of Divinity student at Princeton Theological Seminary and is seeking ordination in the PC(USA).
"It makes our work much easier," he said.
Khajehpour said a Bible that has simple, easy-to-understand language is especially important in countries like Iran where there are "many new people who are giving their hearts to Christ," yet can't attend church legally and must worship in underground fellowships.
"This is targeted especially for these people," he said. "They deserve a simple and easy-to-understand Bible."
Nahid Sepehri Khajehpour, coordinator of the translation project for United Bible Societies and Mansour Khajehpour's wife, said the translation was essential because many people reading the older version simply did not understand the text.
The New Testament translation was very well received, and the United Bible Societies knew the Old Testament portion was critical too. "The community needs this new translation," she said.
Included in the August dedication in Turkey were several training sessions. Ministers and church leaders from different denominations around the world who work among Persian-speaking people were among those present, and the PC(USA)'s office of Middle Eastern Ministries provided $3,000 to assist with the training.
"I was very glad for some of our Presbyterian pastors to go to that training," said Amgad Beblawi, the PC(USA)'s associate for Middle Eastern Ministries in the USA. "I felt that we needed to support them."
Among those in attendance was the Rev. Mehdi Abhari, special liaison for Iran, Iranians and Iranian Church Fellowships for the PC(USA) and a retired member of the denomination's national staff. He also assisted with the translation project.
More than 150 years ago the Presbyterian Church sent missionaries to Iran and today "the Presbyterian Church is still very committed to supporting this community," Beblawi said. "They are us" and "that translation belongs to us as well in the same way."
The Rev. Victor Makari, coordinator of the PC(USA)'s office for the Middle East, concurred.
"We have been aware of this project for quite a long time and have known that leaders in our partner church (the Evangelical Church of Iran) ... have participated in the scholarship of producing this translation," he said. "We celebrate this event and are happy that it has come to see the light of day."
The Outreach Foundation, a validated mission support group working in covenant with the PC(USA), also helped support the Bible translation project.
Mansour Khajehpour said about 5,500 copies were printed in the first edition, and Nahid Sepehri Khajehpour said more than 15,000 are expected to be published in the second printing. She said the Bible sells for $12, with discounts available for bulk purchases.
Beblawi said his office earmarked $2,500 to purchase 200 of the new Bible translations and 200 of the earlier-translated New Testament, all of which will be made available to the Presbyterian Persian fellowships "for their own use or for outreach.
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