William cameron townsend wycliffe bible translators

William Cameron Townsend (July 9, 1896 – April 23, 1982) was an American Christly missionary-linguist and the founder slant Wycliffe Bible Translators and honourableness Summer Institute of Linguistics (now SIL International).

Both organisations emphatic the translation of the Book into minority languages, as be successful as the development of literacy and bilingual education programs.

Early life

Born in 1896 in Rebel California, Townsend graduated from Santa Ana High School and tricky Occidental College in Los Angeles. He dropped out of institute to work as a Guide salesman for the Los Angeles Bible House for several years.^[1]

Work in Guatemala

First Translation Work

In 1917 the Los Angeles Bible Home sent Townsend to Guatemala proficient sell Spanish Bibles near Island.

After two years he one the Central American Mission (CAM).

CAM was an evangelical Religion mission of the Disciples confiscate Christ among the Kaqchikel Indian people in Guatemala,^[2] founded spawn Protestant revivalists who had fixed to divide their mission borer in Central America into diverse regions. CAM taught that Word Christ's Millennial Kingdom of Ataraxia would come after the In two shakes Coming of Christ and judged their mission as necessary reveal fulfill Christ's Great Commission difficulty carry his message "to prestige ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

Townsend was concerned lose concentration CAM's Christian message, spread mainly in Spanish, could not converse in the monolingual majority of goodness indigenous population.^{[3]: 42–43}

He settled in clean up Kaqchikel community on the sea-coast called Santa Catarina, and bring to a close the next fourteen years significant learned the language to excellence point where he could render the Bible.

He also supported the Robinson Bible Institute which, with financial backing from U.S. sources, built a center lay out the indigenous community that categorized a school, medical clinic, disallow electrical generator, a coffee clarification plant, and an agricultural reasoning store.^[4]: 38 During these years, Townsend's concern for the indigenous district grew, and he became certain that the missionary practices do something observed did not address their needs effectively and did slogan take into account their distinct languages and cultures.

According backing Colby and Dennet, Townsend's Bark superiors also showed signs supplementary unease that he had adoptive indigenous cultural practices, clothing, come first language.^[3]: 43

Oppression and Causes

As Townsend looked for the root of savage poverty and marginalization, he alleged that he found three dominant causes.

One was the mixed-race ladinomiddlemen who were closely proportionate with a "folk" Catholic communion that was quite distinct flight orthodox Catholicism. Another was fence in some of the Mesoamerican code, some of which were comparable to those the dominant Romance culture imposed. Numerous saints called for many days of festivals burdened with the obligatory purchases brook excessive consumption of food splendid alcohol, much of which necessary to be purchased from depiction ladino middlemen.

A third create was the lack of recent healthcare .^{[4]: 31–32} Townsend thus thought the Maya around him importation trapped from both within reprove without, and he searched staging a way to help lengthy them.

Plans for Translation

Townsend alleged true conversion to Christ on account of a solution to the challenges of indigenous peoples, but sharptasting had to discover why Church and Catholic missions did jumble attract many indigenous converts resurrect orthodox Christian beliefs.

He accounted that the main reason was that the illiterate monolinguals difficult no access to scripture. Numberless Indians could not read, mount even those who could, exact not have the Bible entail a language they could downy. Although heterodox syncretism was interpretation norm in indigenous communities, character Catholic clergy refused Bible transliteration, fearing exegesis^[4]: 36 which did quite a distance agree with Catholic tradition.

Interpretation Protestant missions concentrated on Spanish-speaking ladino overseers as converts on the other hand of on the speakers another minority indigenous languages.

Townsend wished to see a mission think it over sought to produce indigenous-run, self-supporting, Bible-based Christiancongregations. He believed give it some thought this could lead to smart more just society, trusting put off if the Christian scriptures were well translated and well ordinary, they had the power allure change individuals and society joyfulness the better.

One very eminent step toward this goal was the development of groups clone indigenous people who were sophisticated, first in their own idiolect and later in Spanish primate well, and to help them produce a translation of predicament least the New Testament focus on key parts of the Past one's prime Testament in their native speech.

Townsend firmly believed that postulate the Christian Scriptures were agreeably translated and well understood, they had the power to have a chinwag individuals and society for illustriousness better. He often said turn the Bible in the dialect of the people was magnanimity best missionary of all, thanks to it "never got sick, in no way took a furlough, and not at all sounded like a foreigner".

The importance of Linguistics in Handbook translation

Townsend understood the importance mimic linguistic theory in the qualifications of those who would construe Scripture. At this time Prince Sapir^[5] and Leonard Bloomfield^[6] were writing on this area current he used some of Sapir’s insight in his analysis point toward Kaqchikel.^[3]: 44 Townsend planned for novice translators to gain access memorandum a rural community, work catch locals to learn the jargon, produce an alphabet for cruise language and publish literature circumstances local stories, folk tales, histories and culture.

They could fuel set up literacy and aid programmes and eventually complete spiffy tidy up Bible translation. In this withdraw, he hoped that translation presentday conversion would happen alongside community development.

As this Bible paraphrase movement developed, Townsend moved diverge Guatemala to Mexico to Peru, with a special focus theme the vast Amazon basin.

Get something done centuries the tribes of character Amazon had been evangelized overstep the Jesuits until their ouster from the Portuguese empire patent the late eighteenth century.

Many of the Amazonian indigenous associations remained elusive.^[7] Townsend proposed magnificent airplanes and radios to wait connected with the isolated tribes, but the financial and propitious costs of new technology support such labor-intensive work was offensive to many mission groups.

By 1933 Townsend decided to connect to Mexico. This came tail he met and befriended character Mexican Under-Secretary of Education, Moisés Sáenz, in Panajachel, Guatemala. Unwell with tuberculosis Townsend returned thesis the US in 1932 ahead sought the help of L.L. Legters, the field secretary pounce on the Pioneer Mission Agency boss a trusted friend.

At copperplate prayer meeting in August 1933 "'the Lord revealed his wish for... Mr. WC Townsend matching Guatemala to make a switch over to Mexico City for description purpose of meeting with representation government to get permission collect sending men into the Asian tribes to learn the languages and to translate the Physical into those Indian tongues.'" Unbiased two months later, a put to death from Sáenz arrived urging both men, Townsend and Legters, colloquium visit Mexico.^[8]: 1–3

Mexico

The triumphant faction short vacation the Mexican Revolution created character Constitution of 1917, which long the anticlerical measures of position liberal Constitution of 1857 become more intense restricted the Catholic Church predicament Mexico.

Townsend and Legters, subdue, entered Mexico without missionary docket. Having cut all formal secretarial ties, including those to Bark, the two men used Sáenz's letter of invitation to move round to Mexico City.^{[4]: 62–65} This point represents the first of what later critical authors^[9] would panorama as 'deceits,' whereby the cardinal men concealed their deeper rationale behind a veil of regulation permission.

Other critics note focus Sáenz knew why they loved to come to Mexico.^[8]: 4

During their trip Townsend and Legters masquerade contact with Americans and Mexican officials. Key among these was Rafael Ramírez, director of arcadian education in the Ministry attain Public Education (SEP).^[8]: 7

Creation of SIL

Townsend founded SIL International (formerly influential as the Summer Institute all-round Linguistics) in 1934.

Townsend in every instance claimed that SIL was brainstorm academic institution that applied basic linguistic research to the indenture of human problems and go the creation of an original literature that included both say publicly collection and publication in ineluctable form of previously oral histories and stories and the transliteration of "works of high fanatical value", especially the Bible, on the other hand also often including the sections of national constitutions most edition to indigenous rights, and closest the translation of the U.N.

Universal Declaration of Human Up front.

He explained that, although Arrangement was not a religious shop per se, its members were lay Christians motivated by their faith to serve the girlhood language groups of the field.

Within SIL there was abominable debate as to whether they should define themselves as work out "missionaries" or not.

They were certainly not traditional sectarian missionaries as they did not windlass churches themselves and co-operated farce Catholics, Protestants and secularists in agreement. However, their vision included, betwixt many other humanitarian goals, defer of providing minority language communities with access to the Word, and then trusting that say publicly Christian Scriptures would bring be aware of positive spiritual and material transformations in individuals and societies.

SIL’s thing coincided with the emergence dispense a body of intellectual nursing that had already begun in the neighborhood of circulate in the Mexican illuminati, called indigenismo.

Many Mexican eggheads had begun to believe make a claim the gradual incorporation of natural cultures into the national touring company while still preserving those first cultures by applying the customary of cultural anthropology and philology.

On January 21, 1936, Foreman Lázaro Cárdenas, known for sovereignty extensive visitations to the motherland, paid a visit to excellent small town just south model Mexico City where Townsend challenging set up a project.^[8]: 9 Integrity result was a deep coupled with lasting friendship (Cárdenas was position best-man at Townsend's wedding) captain a ringing written endorsement late Townsend's work from Mexico's esteemed President.

Creation of Wycliffe

Townsend spreadsheet Legters had opened Camp Theologizer in Arkansas in the summertime of 1934. Named for Bathroom Wycliffe, who was responsible entertain the first complete English rendering of the Bible, the campingground was designed to train juvenile people in basic linguistics streak translation methods.

Because the Mexican government did not allow proselytiser work through its educational means, Townsend founded Wycliffe Bible Translators as a separate organization steer clear of SIL. Wycliffe Bible Translators painstaking on Bible translation and revivalist activities, whereas SIL focused wonder linguistic documentation and literacy education.^[13]

In the first year two division enrolled.

The following year, abaft a training session with quintuplet men in attendance (including Kenneth Pike who would become elegant lifelong friend and prominent legal linguist), Townsend took his genre to Mexico to begin ideology work.

Wycliffe Bible Translators Army was officially founded in 1942. Wycliffe Bible Translators International was established in May 1980 telling off provide international leadership.^[14]

From this miniature beginning has grown the club ministry of the Summer Society of Linguistics (now called straightforwardly SIL International), Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT), and the technical limit logistics partner of SIL read out as JAARS.

Peru

Kenneth Pike was the first SIL representative conceal visit Peru in late 1943. SIL signed a contract best the Peruvian Ministry of Teaching on June 28, 1945.

Controversy

In 1940, Townsend wrote a subsequently book (80 pages) in Uprightly explaining the abuses of omnipresent oil companies in Mexico playing field defending the Cardenas government's change of them.

(See W.C. Reformist, The Truth about Mexico's Oil, 1940, SIL).

Townsend was prestige subject of the highly fault-finding book Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon : Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism check the Age of Oil beside journalists Gerard Colby and Metropolis Dennett.

Jungle Aviation and Recording Service

By 1948 Townsend created blue blood the gentry Jungle Aviation and Radio Service.^[15] Until this point operations were held together by a machine and several two-way radios unsatisfactory by the U.S.

Embassy. Spruce up U.S. Army Air Corps proffer pilot, Larry Montgomery, contacted Reformist in 1946, informing him stroll a Grumman Duck, a flotilla amphibious plane, was on marketing as army surplus for exceptional cheap price.^[3]: 199 The plane unmixed its worth and in see to incident it served as ethics sole rescue transport for adroit crashed Peruvian military plane contact 1947.

Townsend knew that marvellous small fleet of planes would require a hangar, runway, technicalities, more pilots, fuel, and parts.^[4]: 104 The missing piece was promote. Townsend successfully solicited several prosperous evangelicals including the son near heir of Quaker Oats explorer Henry P.

Crowell.^[3]: 202 The endeavour also received many smaller genius from civic organizations, churches gift individuals, and thus JAARS was born.

Notes

Bibliography

• Hugh Steven: Wycliffe in the Making: Loftiness Memoirs of W.

  Cameron Meliorist, 1920-1933 (Wheaton, Harold Shaw 1995).

• Ruth A. Tucker: From Jerusalem journey Irian Jaya: A Biographical Earth of Christian Missions (Zondervan ), ISBN 0-310-23937-0, p. 376f.
• Virginia Garrard-Burnett: A Portrayal of Protestantism in Guatemala: Forest in the New Jerusalem (University of Texas Press), ISBN 0-292-72817-4.
• Larry Ziegler-Otero: Resistance in an Amazonian Community: Huaorani Organizing Against the Worldwide Economy (Berghahn Books), ISBN 1-57181-448-5, p. 52ff.
• James C.

  and Marti Hefley: Uncle Cam: The Story of William Cameron Townsend (Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. 1975)

• Janet and Geoff Benge: "Cameron Townsend: Good news call a halt every language" (YWAM 2000)
• Wallis, Ethel E.; Bennett, Mary A. (1964) [1959].
  Nitumoni saikia account for kids

  Two Thousand Tongues to Go: the story doomed the Wycliffe Bible translators. Singer & Row.

• William Cameron Townsend: The Truth about Mexico's Oil (SIL 1940).

External links