COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Churches in Greenland recently celebrated the launch of a new translation of the Greenlandic Bible, which makes the Word of God accessible to contemporary speakers.
The new Bible, which has taken more than 20 years to complete, has come at a critical time in a country that has experienced “dramatic social and economic changes,” according to the Rev Morten Aagaard, General Secretary of the Danish Bible Society.
“Over the past 20 years, Greenland has experienced dramatic social and economic changes that have had an enormous effect on people’s lives and their language,” noted Mr Aagaard. “Today, instead of living in small communities…most people live in a few major cities. It has…been difficult for churches to adjust to the changes in society, and for many Greenlandic people the church is no longer an integral part of their life.”
Mr Aagaard added that in 1973 a new spelling and grammar system was introduced in Greenland, which further outdated the first complete Greenlandic Bible translation, published in 1900.
“The established Bible translation used the old grammar, so many people – especially young people – found it difficult to understand and so lost interest. This new translation was therefore desperately needed.”
In response to a request sent “on behalf of the Church and people of Greenland” by the Rt Rev Sofie Petersen, Bishop of Greenland, and Greenlandic Home Secretary, Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II officially endorsed the new Greenlandic Bible and attended a celebration service last July. Celebrations were also held in churches across the country in December when the Bibles were made available in a number of different editions.
Scriptures in Greenlandic were available as early as 1766, when the New Testament was published. It was revised in 1799, but the Old Testament was only made available nearly a century later, in 1897. (WR 358/6 - 03.01)