Bible society

{{biblenav}}
A '''Bible society''' is an organisation dedicated to [[Evangelism|spreading]] the [[Christian]] message, by increasing the number of [[Bible]]s in the world. Depending on the organisation, their activities may include [[Bible translation]]; editing and producing new editions of the Bible, including audio books, e-texts, sign language Bibles, and other formats; publishing; printing; purchasing editions; and distributing Bibles. Many have also worked more widely to promote [[literacy]] and [[education]] to allow people to read and teach the Bible; run bookshops; publish other books; and be involved in educating or supporting clergy and lay preachers.<ref name=bs>{{wpa|Bible society}}</ref>

Traditionally Bible societies are non-sectarian and focus on offering the Bible text itself rather than promoting interpretations or providing commentaries. Inevitably, they're not entirely non-sectarian, and religious doctrines influence the texts they produce and how they are distributed: in particular there were disputes over the [[Apocrypha]] and whether they should be omitted for reasons of cost or doctrine, or included on the grounds of inclusivity.<ref name=mpbeginning/>

Shortly after movable-type printing was brought to [[Europe]], people began printing Bibles. The [[Protestant Reformation]] and Catholic Counter-Reformation both increased demand and supply of Bibles, but many people were too poor to buy a Bible or for some reason didn't want one. Early organisations included the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England, incorporated in 1649; the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge founded in the [[UK]] in 1698 and still in operation; and the Canstein Bible Institute founded in [[Germany]] in 1710. New organisations were founded and operated in the 18<sup>th</sup> and 19<sup>th</sup> centuries, catering to soldiers, sailors, and other people at risk of [[moral]] turpitude far from home; the [[poor]]; and non-Christian citizens of western nations' [[empire]]s. The United Bible Societies was formed in 1946 as an umbrella organisation for many of the national Bible societies. [[Pope]] Gregory XVI got huffy about Bible Societies in his 1844 encyclical ''Inter Praecipuas'', which discouraged [[Roman Catholics]] from involvement, but [[Protestants]] kept at it and in the 1960s [[Vatican II]] reversed the [[Vatican]]'s opposition to Bible reading.<ref name=mpbeginning/><ref name=bs/>

From the mid-19<sup>th</sup> century many Bible societies employed Bible pedlars who sold cheap Bibles from house to house, but unlike [[missionary|missionaries]] they worked in their own country or community rather than being transplants from distant lands.<ref name=mpbeginning/>

Today there are still many well-known organisations spreading the word of 
God
 whoever wrote the damn thing. Most still adhere to the principle of trying to distribute the Bible without interpreting it or imposing doctrine, but some have strayed a long way from the original goals.

==Famous examples==
===Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge===
[[File:SPCK.png|thumb|right|165px|SPCK logo]]
A British charity founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray and his friends, who were upset by the vice and immorality in [[London]]. The organisation was originally [[Anglican]] but is now more [[Ecumenism|ecumenical]], although it still provides support to Anglican lay members and clergy. It initially focused on the [[UK]] and British colonies in the Americas, funding schools and libraries, but it has expanded worldwide. In the mid-20<sup>th</sup> century it had a chain of Christian bookshops with 40 in the UK and 20 overseas. It also publishes books under various imprints including SPCK, Marylebone House (Christian-themed fiction such as Christian detectives investigating Christian crimes), Diffusion (aimed at adults learning to read, and widely used in [[prison]]s), and the African Theological Network Press.<ref name=spck>{{wpa|Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge}}</ref>

In [[Scotland]], it has an independent sister organisation, the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, founded by royal charter in 1709. This was controversial for its early attempts to repress the [[Gaelic]] language and force teaching in English even to native Gaelic speakers, although in the late-18<sup>th</sup> century it published a [[New Testament]] with Gaelic and English text. As well as Scotland, it was active in the eastern [[US]] in the 18<sup>th</sup> century.<ref name=spck/><ref>[https://collections.dartmouth.edu/occom/html/ctx/orgography/org0096.ocp.html Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge], Occom Circle Project, Dartmouth</ref>

===British and Foreign Bible Society===
[[File:Bible-society-logo-2017.jpg|thumb|right|165px|BFBS logo]]
Otherwise known simply as the Bible Society, this was founded in 1804 by a group including William Wilberforce (better known as an anti-slavery campaigner) and the [[Welsh]] [[Calvinist]] [[Methodist]] Thomas Charles. Its goal was to "translate, print and distribute the Bible, without any notes or commentary, throughout the British Isles and the whole world".<ref name=mpbeginning>[https://www.museeprotestant.org/en/notice/the-beginning-of-the-bible-societies/ The beginning of the Bible Societies], Musée virtuel Protestant, French Bible Society</ref> Although its founders were non-conformists it tried to include Church of England members from the beginning.

In [[World War One]] it distributed nine million copies of the scriptures in 80 languages to soldiers, prisoners, and refugees on all sides of the war, in a major achievement of logistics if nothing else.<ref>{{wpa|British and Foreign Bible Society}}</ref> As early as the 1820s there was controversy over whether it should be ecumenical and distribute the Apocrypha or follow strict Protestant teaching and omit the contested books. As a result the Bible Society [[Schism|split]], with those opposed to the Apocrypha leaving: most of the Scottish branches eventually formed the Scottish Bible Society, while the Trinitarian Bible Society was formed in England to oppose the [[heretical]] deuterocanon.<ref>{{wpa|Apocrypha Controversy}}</ref>

===Bible Society of Australia===
The Bible Society of Australia was founded early 19<sup>th</sup> century.

===Biblica===
[[File:Biblica.png|thumb|right|165px|Biblica logo]]
Biblica was founded in 1809 as the New York Bible Society by a group including soap baron William Colgate, and from 1810 sponsored the [[missionary]] {{wpl|William Carey (missionary)|William Carey}} in [[India]]. It went through many name changes before becoming the International Bible Society in 1988 (when it moved from godless [[New York City]] to Colorado Springs), and Biblica in 2009.<ref>{{wpa|Biblica}}</ref>

===Trinitarian Bible Society===
Founded in 1831, split from the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Trinitarian Bible Society was opposed to the distribution of the Apocrypha. It claims to be "for the circulation of Protestant or uncorrupted versions of the [[Word of God]]".<ref>[https://www.tbsbibles.org/ Trinitarian Bible Society website]</ref> It distributes materials including the [[King James Version]] (KJV) in English, translations into other languages, and tracts and materials for children; it is strongly associated with the [[King James Only]] movement although they only go so far as saying that the KJV is the best, not that it is perfect.<ref>{{wpa|British and Foreign Bible Society}}</ref>

===American Bible Society===
Founded in 1816 in New York, and known for its Good News translation.<ref>{{wpa|American Bible Society}}</ref> Recently there has been controversy over it taking an [[evangelical]] bent. In 2001 it dropped its goal of distributing the Bible "without doctrinal note or comment", and increased its involvement with evangelical groups. As of 2018 it requires staff to sign a [[Statements of faith|statement of principles]] that includes opposition to [[gay marriage]].<ref>[http://theconversation.com/how-the-american-bible-society-became-evangelical-97525 How the American Bible Society became evangelical], The Conversation<, June 4, 2018</ref>

===United Bible Societies===
A confederation of several Bible societies around the world, including the British and Foreign Bible Society and American Bible Society. Headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It also publishes a refereed journal, ''The Bible Translator''.<ref>{{wpa|United Bible Societies}}</ref> Reportedly in one year (2003) they distributed 430 million texts (Bibles, New Testaments, and Scripture portions), including 21.4 million Bibles and 14.4 million New Testaments, and as of 2001 produced texts in 672 languages.<ref name=wayoflife>[https://www.wayoflife.org/database/biblesocieties.html The United Bible Societies and Rome], Way of Life Literature</ref> 

===Gideons International===
{{main|Gideons}}
Famous for leaving Bibles in hotel rooms, the Gideons don't translate but do distribute. A lot.

===World Bible Society===
An evangelical organisation rather than a conventional ecumenical Bible society. In 2012, then-president F. Kenton Beshore predicted the [[Rapture]] by 2021 and the [[Second Coming]] by 2028, and has repeated this claim numerous times since then. Beshore claimed to be a "father of the modern Bible prophecy movement".<ref>[http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/3136170712.html World Bible Society President Says 'Rapture' Likely to Occur by 2021], World Bible Society press release, 2012</ref><ref>[https://metro.co.uk/2014/11/28/the-world-will-end-within-seven-years-christian-group-predicts-4965947/ The world will end within seven years, Christian group predicts] Metro (UK), 28 Nov 2014</ref>

===SIL International===
[[File:SIL International logo (2014).svg|thumb|right|165px|SIL logo]]
SIL International was founded in 1934 by American missionary William Cameron Townsend as the Summer Institute of Linguistics.<ref>[https://www.sil.org/about/history Our History] SIL International.</ref> Townsend began a relationship with the Mexican Ministry of Education to translate Bible into indigenous languages. Since that time, Bibles have been translated into many languages throughout the world. The society has also created dictionaries and grammars for many indigenous languages. It has also created {{wpl|Ethnologue|''Ethnologue''|,}} which provides statistics and bibliographic information on languages throughout the world. Notable branches have existed in [[Mexico]], [[South America]], [[Papua New Guinea]], and the [[Philippines]].

SIL was accused of being a front for the [[CIA]] in several countries,<ref>[http://articles.latimes.com/1995-11-12/books/bk-2049_1_sil-cia-laos Misperceptions, Missionaries And The CIA] Colby & Dennett's letter to the ''Los Angeles Times'' regarding a review of their book ''Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil''</ref> and was evicted from several countries in [[Latin America]] for this.

Townsend also founded Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1942, now known as Wycliffe Global Alliance.

==Criticism==
===From fundamentalist Christians===
{{main|Fundamentalist Christianity}}
To fundies, Bible societies are dangerously heretical and ecumenical, letting in Roman Catholics, [[Unitarianism|Unitarians]], and [[Omniscience|God knows]] who else. Example diatribe:<blockquote>Today the United Bible Societies are fully committed to an unholy ecumenism. Hundreds of examples could be given to illustrate this. The UBS is "in effect the Bible society wing of the World Council of Churches" (Andrew Brown, The Word of God Among All Nations, p. 124). It matters not that the major Protestant denominations today are filled with theological modernism. It matters not that the Roman Catholic Church preaches a false gospel that leads multitudes to [[Hell]]. It matters not that Roman Catholicism is filled with all sorts of doctrinal error. The UBS intends to "serve all churches" no matter what they believe and no matter what the Word of God says about separation from error!<ref name=wayoflife/></blockquote>

===From Jews===
Christian Bible societies have distributed cheap editions of [[Hebrew]] texts to [[Jew]]s, undercutting the overpriced Jewish texts. This could be seen as an attempt to convert Jews to Christianity.<ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/bible-societies Bible societies], Encyclopedia Judaica</ref>

===From Roman Catholics===
The Vatican objects to the idea that the Bible is the most important part of Christianity, and because it believes itself to be the only way to [[Jesus]] and God, it opposes missionary work that does not involve lots of Roman Catholic doctrinal teaching.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02544a.htm Bible societies], Catholic Encyclopedia</ref> It may be accurate in its claims that distributing the Bible is a poor way of making Christian converts (and people may use Bibles for other purposes ranging from reading as literature to use as toilet paper), but that doesn't mean that alternatives are more moral.

===From linguists and anthropologists===
Bible translators that engage in missionary work, and SIL International in particular, have been accused of exacerbating language and cultural extinction.<ref>"Language endangerment Amazonia: The role of missionaries" by Patience Epps (2005). In: ''Bedrohte Vielfalt: Aspekte des Sprach(en)tods — Aspects of Language Death'', edited by Jan Wolgemuth & Tyko Dirksmeyer. Weißensee-Verlag. ISBN 3899980417. pp. 311-328.</ref><ref>[http://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/biblio%3Ahvalkof-1981-god/Hvalkof_Aaby_1981_Is_God_an_American_OCR.pdf ''Is God an American? An Anthropological Perspective on the Missionary Work of the Summer Institute of Linguistics''], edited by Søren Hvalkof and Peter Aaby (1981) Survival International. ISBN 8798071726.</ref><ref>''Linguistics in a Colonial World: A Story of Language, Meaning, and Power'' by James Joseph Errington (2007) Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1405105704.</ref>

==References==
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