LATVIA: Latvians will receive the first modern translation of the Bible in 300 years

Record ID: 844604

  • Title: LATVIA: Latvians will receive the first modern translation of the Bible in 300 years
  • Date: 17th April 2006
  • Summary: (CEEF) ALUKSNE, LATVIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF ALUKSNE LUTHERAN CHURCH
  • Embargoed: 2nd May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Latvia
  • City:
  • Country: Latvia
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA1OOFOE1RDGNEBHNUBEAN37LWJ
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  • Story Text: In Latvia, the only museum dedicated to the Bible in Europe is undertaking the mammoth task of translating a brand new and modern version of the holy scriptures.
    This latest Bible is being translated from scriptures in their original Aramaic, Hebrew and Ancient Greek languages.
    The project, which begun in 1995, required 15 experts such as linguists, poets, theologians, as well as priests representing Lutherans, Catholics, Orthodox, Baptists, and Adventists.
    Currently the latest version of the Bible is being proof read and its publication is expected two or three years.
    The Dean of the Faculty of Theology and the coordinator of the Bible translation committee, Juris Calitis, is happy that the new version will only take ten years to make compared to the average pace of twenty years.
    "The Soviet times were an immense loss, for 50 years we could not do anything. Therefore, we should overcome the waste when the new interpretation which has been underway for the past few years by our experts, goes into circulation," he said.
    Despite the project being a huge undertaking Grinberga believes it is good update versions of the Bible at least once per generation particularly as language as well as the knowledge of the ancient cultures evolves which allows better interpretation of the Scripture.
    More importantly, translations of the Bible into Latvian are rare and contain what Grinberga called 'gaps' in the scriptures making a 300 year-old Bible translated by German pastor Ernst Gluck the only version available for Christian Latvians.
    German crusaders brought Christianity into Latvia at the turn of the 13th century and imposed their rule over most of the rest of the region, including Christianity.
    However, they did not succeed in implementing the religion as German pastors did not speak the local language and the suppressed Latvians were not able to read the Scripture which were only available in German.
    It wasn't until the 17th century during Swedish rule that King Charles XI gave support for the Bible to be translated Latvian. The assignment was given to a young pastor Ernst Gluck.
    "He (Ernst Gluck) witnessed the misery of the consequences that many people could not read the holy scriptures and did not even understand them as the service ran in German instead of native Latvian. Then he promised God and himself that he would undertake the task to translate the Bible for Latvians," said Andzelika Grinberga, the director of Ernst Gluck Bible museum.
    After eight long years the first translation of the New Testament was finished in 1685, but the rendition of the Old Testament was later accomplished in 1689.
    The Latvian Bible was printed in Riga in 1694 on paper brought from France. The edition had 200 pages and 1500 copies were published. Today only 11 original exemplars remain.
    One of them, an immensely valuable relic is kept at the "Ernst Gluck Bible museum" in Aluksne, it is the only museum in Europe devoted solely to the Bible and exhibits 500 Bibles in Latvian as well as translations in other languages.
    The Ernst Gluck translation not only crucially influenced the development of Latvian language but also paved the way for Christianity in Latvia.
    "On the one hand it is very nice and could not be otherwise but on the other hand it hinders us slightly as the translator experiences difficulties to side-step its value and to view the text anew with a fresh sight," said Calitis.
    Now the devout can look forwards to two valuable changes in their Bible. The first is that poetry was made to regain its poetical style, which had been turned into prose in Gluck`s version and sounded pretty stiff.
    Secondly, the text is no longer sectioned into verses in which each sentence is a dogmatic unit, instead, it will be divided into paragraphs to form a narration.
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