MANILA, Nov. 23, 2012?To make the Scriptures more accessible to ordinary folks, a team of Cebuano speaking Bible scholars has translated the Gospels of the Bible from its original Greek to Cebuano.
The Gospels titled “To Euaggelion” (Ang Ebanghelyo) was launched by the San Pedro Calungsod Bible Animators (SPCBA) of Cebu archdiocese last November 17 at the Cathedral Museum of Cebu.
The translation of the Gospels was just a portion of the continuing work of translating the entire Bible into Cebuano tongue.
The translation was a joint effort of a team of Cebuano-speaking Catholic biblical scholars from the Visayas and Mindanao.
The nine-member team spent 12 years doing part time work of translating and editing the Bible from the original Greek edition.
The project of translating the Bible into Cebuano tongue began in 2000, when then Archbishop of Cebu, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal organized a board of bishops from the Cebuano-speaking local churches of Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Ozamis and Cebu to supervise the project.
To ensure accuracy in translation, the scholars employed a more literal approach in translation from the original Greek, but made sure their rendition is intelligible and understandable in Cebuano.
The translators worked closely with Cebuano language experts from Akademyang Bisaya and Maryknoll Institute of Language and Culure, following and adopting the accent marks, standardized spelling, and grammatical rules proposed by the academy.
Ideal for the study of the gospels, the “Ang Ebanghelyo” can be used either alone or in groups, in prayer meetings, lectio divina and public proclamation.
A commemorative copy of the work will be presented by Cardinal Vidal to Pope Benedict XVI. (CBCPNews)
