Why would a church that finally has a Bible translation in its heart language keep using a language of wider communication Bible that many people in the pews cannot follow? Dr. Wayne Dye, professor emeritus at Dallas International University and longtime Scripture Engagement consultant with SIL Global, takes up that question with host Dr. Tim Hatcher, who also counts him as a mentor and friend for over 17 years.

This episode continues a series on the theological questions the global church asks about Bible translation. Earlier conversations looked at the symptoms: preferences for harder-to-understand translations and the use of Scripture as a protective object (talisman or fetish).

Here the discussion turns to diagnosis, using anthropology to ask why believers may approach the Bible as ritual rather than as a text to understand.

It also asks what Bible translation organizations owe the communities they serve once a translation is finished, and why translation training may need to address the purpose of translation as well as the method.

• How worldview and the search for spiritual power shape the way people receive a sacred text
• Why sacred texts tend to stay fixed while spoken language changes
• Ritualistic reasons a language of wider communication can seem more fitting for worship
• Church services as ritual, and the difference between ritual with meaning and ritual without it
• How cross-cultural teaching can discourage people from reading Scripture for themselves
• Hierarchical cultures and the question of who may interpret the text
• Scripture Engagement courses and the translation movement's responsibility beyond delivering a text
• Training translators in why to translate as well as how

• Five Questions the Global Church Asks about Bible Translations that Bible Agencies Neglect - Timothy Hatcher
• The Power of Understanding the Word of God - Scripture Engagement Catalyst training module
• The Role of Meaning – T. Wayne Dye
• The Perspicuity of Scripture – Wayne Grudem
• ScriptureImpact.org

Dr. Wayne Dye is professor emeritus at Dallas International University and served for many years as a Scripture Engagement consultant with SIL International. He is regarded as a catalyst for the beginning of Scripture Engagement as an academic discipline and an area of ministry focus within the Wycliffe family of organizations.

Wayne and his wife, Sally, lived in Papua New Guinea, in a village on a lake, where they raised their children. His interest in Bible translation grew from his studies at the University of Michigan, where he met Kenneth Pike and other Wycliffe personnel, and from his early engagement with anthropology.