Bi-centenary of Ceylon Bible Society

Trevor Ludowyk

The Ceylon Bible Society (CBS) which commemorates its bi-centenary this year is by far the oldest registered organization in Sri Lanka, registered in 1812, in then Ceylon. It was known as the Colombo Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Today the Ceylon Bible Society is an organization consisting of individual members deeply committed to spreading the Word of God among people and is neither a church in its own right nor exclusively affiliated to any one particular Christian church or Christian denomination.

As CBS celebrates its bi-centenary with thanksgiving to almighty God it is a good opportunity to take a closer look at the true nature of this long-standing society and the multifarious missionary activities it has accomplished over a period of two centuries here in this small island once called paradise.

CBS was introduced to Ceylon during the early period of the British era and with the blessing and sponsorship of the Anglican missionaries. It was a time of spring for the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka which had suffered suppression by the Dutch rulers who banned Catholicism from this country. It was also a time when the Bible was less accessible to the Catholic laymen and distribution of copies of the Bible among laymen was not encouraged by the Catholic Church until after the Second Vatican Council. Furthermore, the Bible Society which was founded in London in 1804 for the purpose of printing and distributing Bibles both at home and abroad composed of a committee which was half Anglican and half Free Churchmen in England. Although the Bible Society has been a non-denominational body since its inception and was open to all evangelical Christians, the absence of any Catholic membership among the governing body during the pre-Vatican II era was a notable fact.

Missionary activities

The Catholic Church which was a much larger community and coming directly under the Vatican administration, maintained its independence in all spheres of her missionary activities while maintaining extremely cordial relations with the mainline Christian churches. On the other hand the mainline Christian churches and other Christian denominations were heavily dependent upon the CBS for their missionary activities. These churches and denominational sects rallied round the CBS owing to the vast amount of resources that were made available by the CBS with regards to spreading the Word of God since its inception.

The Catholic Church however, did not avail itself of the resources made available by CBS owing to several reasons. It is a known fact that Bible translations and other material published by CBS in the initial stages had not included the deuterocanonical books of the Bible, which the Catholic Church had included.

This was the main reason why the Catholic Church was unable to utilize the resources of CBS. As a result CBS resource persons who were assigned the task of producing translations and bible publications under CBS were mostly pastors and laymen from mainline Christian churches and other denominational sects who were only familiar with the bible versions without the deuterocanonical books.

Thankfully, winds of change had blown through the Roman Catholic Church worldwide in the wake of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s and laymen were encouraged to read the Bible more frequently and to pursue biblical studies. Ecumenism came to be pursued by all Churches globally and greater collaboration was among them was evident in the Christendom. In post independent Sri Lanka the Christian churches moved closer.

The Christian churches moved closer together and commenced sharing some of their resources as part of their sincere efforts towards ecumenism. In 1967, the CBS initiated preliminary discussions in respect of a common translation of the Bible with representatives of the Catholic Church. Catholic Church co-operation towards the work of CBS is significant in Sri Lanka as the Catholics have always been the majority Christian community in the island. Greatly influence by the ecumenical directives of the Second Vatican Council of 1962 the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka relaxed its stand on the use of the Bible by the faithful and promoted the reading of the Bible and bible study by laymen. The Catholic Church, which until then had kept aloof from the CBS and its missionary activities, joined ranks and Catholic Church leaders like the great scholar priest Rev.Fr. Peter Pillai, Frs. Pio Champa, Rt. Rev. Don Sylvester (later became Bishop of Galle), and erudite scholar Bishop Edmund Peiris, joined the Translation Committee of the Bible Society, giving it greater purpose, strength and scholarly support.

In recent times CBS has maintained extremely close relations with the Catholic Church islandwide and organized various programmes within parishes in many dioceses. Special programmes for clergy in the Badulla Region with the participation of Rt. Rev. Dr. Winston Fernando.S.S.S, Bishop of Badulla, Bible distribution at the Bishop’s House in Batticaloa, St.Philip Neri’s Church, Katukurunda and the Shrine of our Lady of Matara under the 10,000 bible distribution programme, Bible History exhibitions at Sacred Heart Convent Galle, Christ the King College Thudella, Children and Youth programmes, Sunday School Teacher’s Empowerment programmes in Deltura, Ja-Ela and Chilaw Cathedral with the participation of Rt.Rev. Dr.Valence Mendis, Bishop of Chilaw and Bible quiz programmes are a few cases in point. The workshop for the Sunday School teachers organized by CBS at St. Anthony’s Church, Thoduwawa was conducted by Very Rev.Fr. Henry Silva, Scripture scholar of the Catholic Church who was also invited to deliver a special lecture at the Theological College at Pilimathalawa in September 2011. Furthermore, a team of CBS members visited the Basilica at Tewatte in August 2011 and conducted an awareness programme for the clergy on the work of the CBS. At this gathering of Catholic clergy, Very Rev.Fr. Henry Silva explained the work performed by the Translation Committee of the CBS.

Major activities of CBS

The primary objectives of the Ceylon Bible Society as enumerated in the Record of Inaugural meeting of The Colombo Auxiliary Bible Society are, “to encourage the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, without note or comment, and especially to supply the demands of the native Christians in the Island of Ceylon” (Ceylon Government Gazette No.568 of August 5, 1812). Looking back over the activities of the CBS for past two centuries, it is evident beyond doubt that these objectives have been faithfully pursued by successive General Councils of CBS to this very day and is praiseworthy.

Some of the major missionary services of the CBS are as follows;

* Translate, print, publish and distribute Bibles in, Sinhala and Tamil.

* Distribute English Bibles published by other Bible Societies

* Make available Braille Bibles for the visually handicapped and Audio Bibles (recorded)

* Facilitate interaction with the Bible targeting children, youth and women; All island Bible Essay Competitions, Bible Quiz, Bible History Exhibitions, Creative Bible Study programmes, Sunday School Teachers' Empowerment Training programmes etc.

During these two centuries CBS has done yeoman service in the field of Bible translations and distribution of Bibles islandwide in both Tamil and Sinhala languages as well as sections of the scriptures in various forms while also distributing English Bibles published by other Bible Societies. Regular Bible distribution programmes and other Bible study programmes have reached all parts of the island including IDP camps in the North. In 2011 alone 73,592 Bibles, 9,884 New Testaments, 24,569 portions of the Bibles were sold by CBS at concessionary rates. Braille versions of the bible for the visually handicapped have also been made available by CBS and audio recording of sections of the Bible were also produced.

Recognizing a long felt need, the CBS has also published a Parallel New Testament with the text in the News Revised Sinhala Version 3rd Edition in Sinhala language and the Today’s English Version in English. Various bible study programmes have been initiated and conducted by CBS targeting women, children and youth. CBS has appointed regional coordinators in various districts and engages them in implementing Bible interaction programmes. ‘Sponsor a Bible’ project invites sponsorships to make the Bible available to those who thirst for the Word of God but cannot afford to buy one.

With a view to commemorate the bi-centenary CBS has launched the 200th Anniversary Bible Project. The project consists in distributing 10,000 Bibles islandwide in Sinhala (NRSV/NRSC-DCC) and Tamil CLIC/CLIC-DC. This follows a number of research programmes which indicated that there were a vast number of children and youth who do not have Bibles while some of them could not afford to buy one. The project aims to ensure that a Bible or at least a new testament is made available to every Christian home in the island in 2012. This project has been funded by the Canadian Bible Society and local businessmen and professionals. The CBS gladly welcomes contributions towards this noble endeavour.

The main Service of Thanksgiving of the bi-centenary celebrations of CBS will be held on August 1, 2012 at the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour with the participation of Bishops, religious dignitaries and the faithful of mainline churches as well as other denominations, including Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, who will deliver the main homily.

A combined Catholic Schools Children’s choir under the direction of Francis de Almeida will be in attendance at this thanksgiving service and would sing God’s praises in several languages including Hebrew, Greek and Latin. A commemorative postage stamp to mark this anniversary will also be issued on August 1, 2012 at the CBS headquarters.