WEA Announces Names of Panel Experts and Schedule for Bible Translation Review

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New York, NY – September 28, 2012

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) announces the names of the twelve experts who will serve as members of the independent panel that will review SIL and Wycliffe’s translation practices of ‘Divine Familial Terms’. The global group of scholars from Eastern and Western locations represents Biblical, Theological, Missiological and Anthropological expertise and includes national believers from countries with majority Muslim population.

The review panel, moderated by Dr. Robert Cooley, will hold its first working session in Toronto, Canada, at the end of November, 2012, with a second session planned in early spring, 2013, at a location within the Mediterranean world.

The focus of the review will be on the translation of “God the Father” and the “Son of God” as described in SIL’s statement of best practices. The panel’s mandate is to “review SIL’s translation practices, set boundaries for theologically acceptable translation methodology, particularly in Muslim contexts, and suggest how to practically implement these recommendations.” Wycliffe and SIL have agreed to abide by all the recommendations.

The attention of the panel will be on the above mentioned translation practices of Wycliffe Global Alliance and SIL International. It will not discuss wider, intense debates about contextualization, or Bible translations in majority languages, or any other Bible translation practices by other agencies, churches, or groups – though some or all of its conclusions may well be used by others to feed into those wider debates in the coming years.

It is anticipated that the final report will be provided to Wycliffe and SIL by April, 2013. Further communications about the progress of the review are at the discretion of the panel. An overview of published communications can be found online on WEA’s Bible Translation Review page: www.worldevangelicals.org/translation-review.

The panel members and their expertise are (in alphabetical order): 
     Milton Acosta, Old Testament
     Donald Fairbairn, Early Christianity and Historical Theology
     Atef Gendy, New Testament
     Ida Glaser, Biblical and Islamic Studies
     Rob Haskell, Systematic Theology
     Karen Jobes, New Testament
     Ghassan Khalaf, Biblical Studies and Theology
     Melba Padilla Maggay, Social Anthropology
     Scott Moreau, Intercultural Studies
     Kang-San Tan, Mission Studies
     Roland Werner, African Linguistics & Theology
     Dudley Woodberry, Mission Studies
     Robert Cooley, Panel Moderator

See also:
> WEA to Form Independent Review Panel on Wycliffe and SIL Bible Translation (March 27, 2012)
> WEA Announces Dr. Robert E. Cooley as Chairman of Wycliffe and SIL Review Panel (May 9, 2012)


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PRESS CONTACT: [email protected]

The WEA is the largest global evangelical body with a network of churches in 129 nations and an alliance of 100 international organizations representing over 600 million Christians worldwide. It representatively speaks as a trusted voice on behalf of global evangelicalism, connects diverse Evangelical church networks and ministries for effective collaborative action, and actively equips their needs with valuable resources to optimize their impact. For more info e-mail at [email protected] or go to Worldea.org.