May 5, 1816 - The American Bible Society was founded in New York City "to encourage the wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures throughout the world." An early goal was to place a Bible in every home, especially those on the American frontier.
According to Wikipedia, The American Bible Society provided the first Bibles in hotels and the first pocket Bibles for soldiers (during the American Civil War). The first translation by the Bible Society was in 1818 into a Native American language. By 1912, the Society issued Bibles for use in the United States in 83 languages besides English. Foreign circulation was rising steadily, increasing from 250,000 copies in 1876 to over 2,000,000 copies in 1915. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the ABS distributed more than one million Scriptures and offered downloadable portions free of charge to those affected by the tragedy.
It has also maintained its commitment to military, including producing a pocket-sized military Bible, developed jointly with the aid of Catholic and Protestant chaplains from all branches of the armed forces.
It has also provided Scriptures to victims of natural disasters. Following the tsunami in 2004, ABS worked in cooperation with the United Bible Societies and partner Bible Societies in Thailand, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka to provide a host of Bible resources to people in the affected regions. In 2005, it sent nearly a million Bibles and Scripture portions to those who survived the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
ABS has formed a partnership with Habitat for Humanity to give a free Bible to each of its new homeowners in the United States.
Saturday, May 05, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment