The Holy Bible and Lebanon
Beirut-LEBANON: On Monday, January 29, 2018, an agreement was signed by the Holy Spirit University – Kaslik (USEK), Bible Society – Lebanon, and Bishop Joseph Naffah (member of the Catholic Biblical Federation – Lebanon), to research and publish “The Holy Bible and Lebanon.”
Based on the previous memorandum of partnership signed between USEK and Bible Society, the President of the university, Fr. Prof. Georges Hobeika, hosted the signing ceremony of this three-year working agreement with Bible Society General Secretary, Dr. Mike Bassous, and Bishop Naffah, Auxiliary Maronite Bishop of Joubbe, Zghorta-Ehden, who will lead the research project. “The Holy Bible and Lebanon” project will build on an existing research already underway by USEK and Bishop Naffah that focuses on biblical sites in Lebanon.
Using the Bible Society’s Good News Arabic Bible text, this project involves researching the entire Bible text to identify all geographic, historical, cultural, traditional and contextual relations to the land of Lebanon, compiling research materials, and eventually publishing a study Bible that includes the full Arabic Bible text along with important national information. The resources will include three levels of research materials: scholarly articles, study notes, and footnotes. This is a very important national project, as it connects about 1,000 issues/topics with God’s word. It will attract the interest of scholars, pilgrims, students, diaspora, tourists, and historians – a very important national project with international dimensions.
Plans to co-publish the Arabic edition of this scholarly Bible will be followed with translations to other languages, such as English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, to reach the plus 10 million Lebanese in diaspora.
Tags: Projects Universities Regions Middle East Bible Lebanon
