I have had a busy summer 2010. In May, I taught a course on World Religions at North Park University. In June I taught in Germany, a course on ancient texts called the Targums, in the language spoken during the time of Jesus, called the Aramaic. In July, I led a delegation of Covenant World Relief to see the work done in the slums of Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi, India. During my time in Germany and India, I had some of the most fascinating experiences related to the translation of the Bible.
In Germany, I taught every day except for Sundays. One Sunday, I decided to take the train to a place called Eisenach. This town was in former East Germany. In this town, there is a castle called the Wartburg Castle. In this castle, a crucial historical person by the name of Martin Luther hid for 10 months because his life was in danger. He lived there in a room under the disguise of Junker George. He grew his hair and his beard so that no one would recognize him.
Yet, during this time, he did not waste his time in despair. Instead, he got busy translating the New Testament from Greek into the language of the common people—German. He believed that the Bible alone had the power to transform society and give people true freedom. For this to happen, they had to read the Bible in their own common language. He considered this task to be so important that it took him 10 weeks to translate the New Testament into German. This New Testament is called the September Testament.
When I went to Wartburg Palace, the guide talked about all the other things that happened in the palace—how the princes and princesses ate, drank, and made merry. Finally, she said, “There is a room in this palace that was used by a person by the name of Martin Luther.” It is sad that people have forgotten the immense historical significance of the event, which took place in this room, in September 1521.
I spent much time in prayer and meditation in this room.
In India, I decided to stay after the delegation left for the USA. I took a trip to Kedgaon, in a state called Maharashtra. At this place, in the early 1900s, a woman by the name of Ramabai accomplished the same task that Martin Luther accomplished for Europe. She translated the whole Bible from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into the language of the common people in India.
Ramabai was raised in a high caste family. In a culture which disdained womanhood, she learned Sanskrit, the language of the high caste gurus. She then married a low caste person, much to the contempt of her high caste relatives. Her study of the state of women in Hindu society led her to a wide quest for solutions for women in India. She eventually found the solution in the person and work of Jesus. She came to the conclusion that if this Jesus could give freedom to the Samaritan woman, and other women in biblical times, he could do the same for women in India today.
Fueled by this realization and calling, she began rescuing girls from temple prostitution, and from child widowhood, and female infanticide. She opened a huge home for hundreds of girls that she rescued. Parents began bringing female babies to her doorstep, instead of killing them. Her work of the emancipation of female slaves of various kinds continues today at Ramabai Mukti Mission, Kedgaon, India.
Ramabai did not merely rescue these hundreds of girls. She educated them, and trained them to multiply the task she had begun. At Mukti, I was taken to a room where Ramabai translated the whole Bible into the low caste language Marathi. She trained the girls to help her translate and put the text into print.
I spent much time in prayer and meditation in this room.
It is people like Luther and Ramabai who have sacrificially made it possible for us to read God’s Word in our languages. They did this because they came to the realization that the words of the Bible have the transformative power to radically change society; to give hope and freedom to the poor, the enslaved, widows, and more.
May we also spend much time in prayer and meditation!
May we be blessed with Luthers and Ramabais for our time!
Dr. R. Boaz Johnson, Chair, Department of Biblical and Theological Studies; and Director, Division of Christian Life and Thought
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