Category

Language Issues

Healthy Bible Translation Programs: Successful L1 Scripture Engagement in Previously L2 Dominant Churches Healthy Bible Translation ProgramsLanguage IssuesResearch

Healthy Bible Translation Programs: Successful L1 Scripture Engagement in Previously L2 Dominant Churches

This article responds to Anonby, et al, through a systematic review of eighteen separate Scripture Engagement studies that examined seventy-three distinct language communities in twelve countries on four continents. In sixty of these seventy-three language groups, languages of wider communication…
Richard
March 9, 2026
When the High language wins – and when it doesn’t: How diglossia and the timing of translation affect vernacular scripture use Sulawesi Research PilotLanguage IssuesResearch

When the High language wins – and when it doesn’t: How diglossia and the timing of translation affect vernacular scripture use

The non-use of completed local language (LL) Scripture translations is a persistent and costly problem for the Bible translation movement. This article opens a broader Vernacular Scripture Use research program with a pilot study conducted across eighteen language communities in…
Richard
February 26, 2026
Multilingualism in Lystra Language Issues

Multilingualism in Lystra

"Multilingualism is a resource for effective Gospel communication, not an impediment. The Acts 14:8-20 account demonstrates the risks involved with relying too heavily on gateway languages as a medium for ministry. The potential for catastrophic miscommunication like what was seen…
Richard
June 17, 2025
Translanguaging: Leveraging Multilingualism for Scripture Engagement Bible TranslationLanguage Issues

Translanguaging: Leveraging Multilingualism for Scripture Engagement

Translanguaging as both a theoretical and andragogical lens respects established language-use preferences of end users and seeks to create engagement opportunities that correspond most naturally to a community's current language-use patterns. Use of Scripture should mirror language-use patterns observed elsewhere…
Richard
August 9, 2022
Translating the Bible into Action Translating the Bible into Action (2nd edition)AdvocacyBible PreachingBible ReadingBible StorytellingBible StudyBible TranslationChildrenCultureDigitalDramaLanguage IssuesLiteracyMarketing and DistributionMeditation and PrayerMemorising ScriptureMusic and WorshipTrauma HealingVisual Arts

Translating the Bible into Action

Second Edition (2022) When Jesus was born to Mary, God “translated” himself into our human world. This act of God’s translation continues today wherever the gospel is expressed, in each language and lived out in each culture that makes up…
Richard
June 18, 2022
God and Language God and LanguageLanguage IssuesOrality

God and Language

From the book description: What is language? “Language is more than syntax and morphology; it is the vehicle for assuming the weight of a culture,” writes John Pobee, quoted in Michel Kenmogne’s Foreword to this volume. More than that: language…
Richard
April 21, 2022