Campaign against Attempts to ‘Islamize’ Bible

Fears are arising that missionary groups are seeking to “Islamize” the Bible by altering references to God as “Father” and to Jesus as the “Son” when translating the holy book into languages in Muslim-dominated parts of the globe.

The issue has been raised by Biblical Missiology in the U.S., after translations by the missionary groups Wycliffe Bible Translators, the Summer Institute of Linguistics and Frontiers removed or modified terms that may be offensive to Muslims.

An Nahar daily said Wednesday that Lebanese priest George Hosni, who hails from Zghorta, has also been spearheading the campaign against such translations.

Biblical Missiology has issued a petition stating that Wycliffe and the others “are producing Bibles that remove Father, Son and Son of God because these terms are offensive to Muslims.”

One example can be seen in an Arabic version of the Gospel of Matthew produced and promoted by Frontiers and SIL.

It changes Matthew 28:19 from “baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” to “cleanse them by water in the name of Allah, his Messiah and his Holy Spirit.”

The Presbyterian Church of America has also criticized the issue, saying in a report drafted by a study team that “footnotes, parentheticals and other paratextual comments may be used to explain the biblical and theological riches of Scripture, while never subverting the important truths embedded in the biological contours of Scripture’s words.”

The PCA will discuss the study’s findings at its annual meeting in June.

But after numerous appeals were rejected, the online petition was launched calling for an end to the translations.