Categories
Bible Translation

Vision and Action

Do you have a vision for the things you do or the reason you do them? It is a question that all Christians need to ask from time to time. In Christian ministry, the work can be so absorbing and interesting that we easily get bound up in it and lose sight of why we […]

Categories
Bible & Mission

It’s Not Rocket Science (But it Might Involve Time Travel)

Bible Translation really isn’t rocket science. OK, there are lots of tricky technical aspects to it which are far from easy, but the basic principles about why translation needs to happen are quite straightforward. To illustrate this, I’m knicking the whole of a post from Archdruid Eileen, which captures the issue pretty well: Just a […]

Categories
Do Not Use

My Little Jog Round London

My bucket list just got shorter! On Sunday, I did something I’ve wanted to do for thirty odd years – I completed a marathon. The London marathon is a remarkable event and I would encourage anyone to give it a go. I’ve lost count of the number of people who have said to me that […]

Categories
Bible & Mission

Good Translation: Bad Translation

I’m currently thoroughly enjoying Found in Translation by Nataly Kelly and Jost Zetzsche. It is a fascinating and amusing overview of the world of translation. I’ll give a fuller review when I finish it. Those who are interested in Bible translation will be immediately struck by the fact that the authors never talk about ‘dynamic equivalence’, ‘formal translation’ […]

Categories
Do Not Use

Sixty Not Out

Here in Bratislava, I was very privileged to receive a certificate from Kirk Franklin, the executive director of the Wycliffe Global Alliance, celebrating sixty years of the work of Wycliffe in the UK. These milestones are always encouraging. Sue and various of my British colleagues were also called to the front of the room.   […]

Categories
Do Not Use

Bratislava

For the next couple of days, I'm going to be facilitating a conference for Bible Translation agency leaders from across Europe, here in Bratislava. I'm sure it's a lovely city, but I probably won't escape this hotel on a ring road near the airport. Interestingly, the easiest way to get to Bratislava airport is to […]

Categories
Computing/Internet Observations

Blogging: What’s the Point?

Recently, a couple of bloggers whose work I enjoy have been having a little bit of a blogging crisis. Phil Ritchie wrote: As the discussion on Twitter developed some of us switched to discussing the merits of blogging as Christians. I mentioned that I was ambivalent about continuing to blog and had ‘sort of lost […]

Categories
Stories about Us

Some of our Ancient Personal History

In the early 1980s, Sue and I felt that God was calling us into mission work in a French speaking country. For us, this naturally meant something, somewhere in Europe; Bible translation in Africa was the last thing on our minds. Over a period of many months we sought advice from the leaders of our […]

Categories
Bible Translation

The Bible Translator

The Bible Translator is an excellent journal which deserves to be known by a much wider audience. The articles are of interest to translators (obviously) but also to anyone with an interest in the text of the Bible. It is scholarly, but not so scholarly that it is difficult to read. The journal itself has […]

Categories
Reviews

Books I Have Almost Read: It

Someone loaned me this book. They told me that they had enjoyed it and that it had lots of interesting insights into leadership for churches and businesses. Well, I need good insights, so I started to read it. I tried, I honestly tried. But it drove me up the wall. The writing style is fragmented, […]