Essay - Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah Methodist
01 May 2014

People of the Book

Source/Author: By Stanley Bain

PEOPLE OF THE BOOK is the term used to refer to Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike. No wonder, for they believe the record of God’s communication with people at specific times and places in history is contained in the BOOK. The norms of the faithful have their roots in the BOOK. This BOOK is the Koran in the case of Muslims, the Old Testament for Jews, and the Old and New Testaments, i.e. the Bible, for Christians. The word “Bible” comes from the Greek ‘biblia’ which means “books”. That is what the Bible is: a collection of books.

The Bible is the story of mankind in a sense, for it contains legends and myths which go all the way back to the time when civilization was just taking shape in the alluvial plains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and in the fertile delta of the Nile. Its oldest poetry is from victory songs after bloody battles; not unlike the sangkah of headhunting festivals. Its laws are cached in the terms of legal codes set out by the great Mesopotamian king Hammurabi. Its riddles and sayings show the influence of the wisdom school of thought which circulated throughout the fertile crescent. Its festivals portray the vested interests of nomadic shepherds and settled tillers of the land. Its contracts and agreements come straight from the market place and village square. The stories of kings are filled with intrigue, assassination, and suppression. The sufferings of the early Christians are linked with the eclipse of the Roman Empire as they became the scapegoat of fanatic emperors and governors vainly trying to hold on to a decaying empire.

In a very different sense, the Bible is not just another volume of secular history. It is unique in that those who wrote these events down and those who have preserved the writings for 2,500 years saw God’s activity in the events themselves. These are not merely ordinary stories of wars, population movements, and epic heroes. God is working out his purpose on the stage of human history. The Bible is the narration of God’s action—what he has done, is doing, and will do. Here the ultimate meaning of human life is disclosed. However, the theme running throughout the Bible—in both Old and New Testaments is that God’s disclosure of himself must be perceived in terms of faith. God’s acts of deliverance are in unexpected ways, not according to human patterns of power. He chooses an obscure, hodge-podge, and ornery confederation of slave decendents to become the community to receive and bear his message. The long-expected messiah himself comes not as a princely figure but as a teacher of lowly birth who criticized the religious establishment more severely than he opposed the colonial masters. How odd of God to choose the Jews!

Ever since they were written down, individuals
and organized groups have continued to read about these events and to understand them in terms of faith as relevant to their own times. Through the reading and hearing some have been able to discover and work out their own faithful response in their particular circumstances. On the other hand, some have twisted the meaning to justify their own actions and desires.

Translation becomes necessary
Unfortunately, the Bible has not always been readily available to God’s people. Some 200 years before Christ the community of Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt could no longer read the scriptures and understand the ancient Hebrew tongue, so the Old Testament was translated into Greek—the common trade language. This Greek translation was the Bible the early Christians used and frequently quoted when they wrote the New Testament in popular Greek.

Yet, within a few hundred years Latin had become
the most widely used language and more Bible translation took place. Most notable was the work of Jerome. The Latin Bible was used throughout Europe until after A.D. 1522 when Martin Luther translated into vernacular German and William Tyndale into English.

It has been more than 350 years since King
James of England commissioned the authorized version. That Bible and its companion, the Douay Version, have enjoyed complete acceptance in the English-speaking world right up to the present, in spite of the fact that once excellent style and vocabulary have been out-dated for a very long time. No-one would dare speak in such an archaic manner today unless he were talking to God. Only during the past decade have good modern-English translations such as the New English Bible. The Jerusalem Bible and Today's English Version become available.

Of more than 2,000 languages presently being
used on this planet, the entire Bible exists in only 220 of them. The New Testament by itself has been published in 275 others, and selected parts have been printed in nearly 700 more. In
this part of Asia, the Tamil Bible was the first
to appear—in 1727. The Chinese Bible was published early in the 1800’s and the Indonesian Bible only in the middle of our century. All three of these have undergone revisions, and new translations of the latter two are in process.

In East Malaysia, the entire New Testament already
exists in Biatah, Dusun, Iban, Kayan, and Murut. In addition, parts have been translated into Tagal, Penan, Kenyah, Saban, and Kelabit. The Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, and Sidang Injil Borneo are now working together to produce the entire Bible in Iban.

Why is so much time and effort spent in translating
the Bible into so many languages and then retranslating a generation later? Because the contents of this old book are always new and current. Therefore, the language and literary style must always be new and current. We are living in a world that is changing at a faster rate of speed than at any previous time. In only 29 years and 25 days most of the readers of this page will have entered the 21st century. But by that time the population of the world will have doubled again, living conditions will be even more crowded than now. People will be moving about more, they will have less control over their personal lives, and the forces which diminish our humanity will be greater. Then the message of the Bible will be even more crucial for it has to do with the purpose and meaning and value of human life. Then more people will be able to read than ever before in the history of mankind.

Is the Bible going to be available to them in a
language which they can understand? Will it be written in a style which is alive, interesting, and clear? Indeed, the Bible is the Book of the People—not just the church people, not just the pious, not just Christians, but for all people.

STANLEY BAIN
Methodist Message
April 1971

(Mr Bain, a Methodist missionary, is a member of the Iban Bible Translation Working Committee.)