Symposium points to shared Bible mission

COLOMBIA — The delegates at a symposium held in Bogotá in June to mark the 40th anniversary of the promulgation of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) experienced “a journey of discovery”, according to Dr Bill Mitchell, UBS Americas Area Translation Coordinator and one of the organisers of this event. Over three days, representatives of the UBS, national Bible Societies, the Catholic Biblical Federation and the Latin American Bishops’ Conference found a “true meeting of people and minds”.

Impact of the Bible

The symposium consisted of a series of working groups and plenary sessions through which the 55 delegates were invited to look in detail at the impact of the Bible on the Church in Latin America in the light of Dei Verbum, which paved the way for ordinary Roman Catholics to gain access to the Bible in the vernacular.

“The Word of God really brought us together and fostered a sense of mutual discovery and shared understanding,” says Dr Mitchell. Most significantly, the sessions served to generate confidence and to point to ways in which the various parties could work together more closely in the future.

“This was a unique event that went beyond all our expectations,” continues Dr Mitchell. “There was an exciting sense of a desire to work together.”

And this desire has already started to bear fruit: one Guatemalan bishop was so enthused by what he heard about the potential impact of an interconfessional approach to Bible work that, on his return home, he contacted the Bible Society of Guatemala and arranged for it to become involved in developing projects with a local diocese.

Guidelines

When Dei Verbum was published, the Bible Society movement did not really appreciate its full significance. Nevertheless, guidelines for interconfessional translation work were developed soon after, and in the Americas, work on interconfessional Bible texts in contemporary Spanish began in the late 1960s, leading eventually to the Dios Habla Hoy Study Bible. “This is one of the greatest fruits of Dei Verbum in the Spanish-speaking world,” Dr Mitchell says. Today, UBS is able to make this Bible available in large quantities at an affordable price and priests and bishops are happy to recommend it.

Interconfessional

For UBS delegates in particular, the symposium provided a valuable opportunity to make others aware of the history of the Fellowship’s involvement in producing interconfessional editions. For all the organisations involved, though, “it took our relationships to a new level,” Dr Mitchell explains. “It showed that our missions coincide and that we can work together.” (WR 396/23 - 09/10.05)