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 A representative of the Trinity Theological seminary receiving their Bibles. Among those in the picture is Rev.Dr. Joyce Aryee
A representative of the Trinity Theological seminary receiving their Bibles. Among those in the picture is Rev.Dr. Joyce Aryee

Bible Society, Crossway donate to 22 seminaries

The Bible Society of Ghana, in collaboration with the Crossway Good News Publishers, a UK-based gospel literature organisation, has donated English Standard Version (ESV) study Bibles to more than 4,000 students in 22 theological training institutions in the country.

At a ceremony  in Accra, representatives of the 22 institutions, including Trinity Theological Seminary, Perez Theological Seminary, Daniel Institute of the International Central Gospel Church, Dominion Theological Seminary and the School of Theology and Missions, received the Bibles for onward distribution to each student in their various seminaries.

The donation forms part of efforts by the two institutions to make the Bible easier to read and simple to understand, especially for persons in ministry.

New discoveries

Giving a background to the publication of the ESV Bibles, the General Secretary of the Bible Society of Ghana, Rev. Erasmus Odonkor, said over the years, there had been new discoveries concerning the source text of the original languages in which the Bible was written.

“The ESV is the culmination of the work of Bible scholars from all over world. By this methodology, a more accurate interpretation has been achieved, which in turn has led to a fine-tuning of the text, making it more applicable to all contexts,” he stated.

Advantage

Another advantage with the ESV Bible is the abundance of what he described as “Bible-helps”, including references, concordances, word lists and maps.

In addition, Rev. Odonkor stated that  it had 50 articles on topics of life and faith, dealing with specific subjects such as homosexuality and ethics. 

The general secretary, therefore, urged all Christian ministries and Bible schools to endeavour to use the ESV. 

The Executive Global Vice-President of the Crossway Publishers, Dr Dane Ortlund, said the ultimate aim of the publishers was to “place in the hand of the Christian, a Bible that faithfully communicates the very words of the original Hebrew and Greek.”

“The advantage is that it brings three distinct translation qualities together: accuracy, readability and dignity, and seeks to keep any theological bias out of the translation itself,” he added.

He said the ESV was also the first Bible to be made freely available online.

The Chairman of the occasion, Rev. Professor Joseph Yeboah Mantey, shared his seminary’s dream of taking up the challenge of translating the Bibles, “so that the Bible Society will only come to them for distribution”.

Also in attendance were Mr Michael Pfunder of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) and Rev. Dr Joyce Aryee.

 

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