Lighthouse Project

Overview
The project is the translation of the Gospel message that will speak to the hearts of 300 million Arabic speakers. The completed work will be a beautifully presented, culturally sensitive, hard cover volume including the four Gospels and the book of Acts with explanatory articles and an introduction.

Need
Although the Bible or portions of it have existed in Arabic for over a thousand years, existing Bible translations are wooden and laden with ancient church terminology. Many Old Testament concepts either do not exist in the mind of the audience, or exist in a much distorted form. Based on extensive surveys and testing of the intended audience, it was found that the existing Bible translations, which were done for traditional Christian communities, either do not communicate well, or in some cases miscommunicate the intended meaning.

Process
One thousand people with no previous experience of the Bible were asked to comment on the ease of understanding of the existing translations in Arabic. From that a list of problem words and concepts was drawn up and alternatives proposed. An Arab translator assisted by a western expert have been working on draft translations of the five books, and the drafts reviewed by a group of Arabic-speakers, and tested again amongst the general population, our intended readership. This process is repeated until a thoroughly comprehensible version is arrrived at.

Articles
Al Kalima’s biblical commentaries have demonstrated the importance of background articles. Articles explain or develop a concept that has been troublesome for Muslims to understand. For example the Trinity or Jesus as the Son of God or the nature of God. These concepts challenge the most mature of Christ’s followers, let alone a person who is suspicious of the Scriptures.

Presentation
In the tradition of great Arabic literature, this work will be hardbound and printed with beautiful, ornate calligraphy in the same striking, decorative manner characteristic of holy books. This special presentation gives the message that the book and its message are to be treated reverently and helps overcome the prejudice of even touching a Bible. It creates an openness to receive and read the book. Publication date should be late 2006 or early 2007.