Bible Caravan Goes To Northern Luzon
The Philippine Bible Society (PBS) recently held a Bible Seminar Caravan, covering three major cities in Northern Luzon from July 26 to 29.
Joining the Translation Seminar Team, composed of Translation Department Manager Rev. Edgar Ebojo, United Bible Societies Translation Consultant Dr. Annie del Corro, and PBS Honorary Translation Consultant Bishop Daniel Arichea, Jr., Were Marketing Department’s Joti Jotojot, Aries Aguilar, and Dario Esponilla.
First stop for the team was Laoag City in Ilocos Norte, where 86 participants attended the seminar. The same number of participants joined them in the Vigan, Ilocos Sur seminar, while 113 participants attended the seminar in San Fernando, La Union.
During the seminars, Dr. del Corro discussed the importance of knowing the reasons why there are so many versions of the Bible. She also underscored the various socio-historical factors behind the printing of Bibles with Deuterocanonical books.
For his part, Dr. Arichea leisurely presented, to the audience’s delight, the virtue of correctly interpreting the Word of God in light of various translations of the Bible.
On the other hand, Rev. Ebojo, provided the historical sketch for the Marketing Department during the caravan. Majority of the participants were grateful for the activity, saying it was “very informative and it helped them understand the Word of God better.”
According to Rev. Ebojo, it is also noteworthy that in all three seminars students from Bible colleges have been consistently part of their audience, which has been usually composed of pastors and church lay people.
“A reason for this could be the fact that biblical translation is not part of the usual fare in Bible schools,” he explained, adding that this could be an indication that PBS is slowly being recognized as a solid resource in the field of translation.
The Bible Translation Seminars will be PBS’ continuing service to inform and educate our constituents about PBS translations and its ministry. Another Bible Caravan is scheduled this September in the Visayas area, particularly in the cities of Ormoc, Tagbilaran, and Dumaguete.