Thirteen years in the making, a new edition of Te Paipera Tapu (the Holy Bible in Māori) was launched during Holy Week at Te Rau College in Gisborne. A team from Bible Society New Zealand has been reformatting the Māori Bible for a new generation of Māori speakers. The current translation, first published in 1952, has been Read more
I soooooooo don’t get it. John Main says, “Language may not be able to lead us into the ultimate communion but it is the atmosphere in which we first draw breath of consciousness.” I have spent more than fifty years acquiring language – a spiritual language, that is, not my native tongue – and suddenly Read more
With Passover only weeks away, the timing of a massive swarm of locusts in Egypt is striking many Israelis as downright biblical. Millions of the grasshopper-like insects have swarmed Israel’s southern neighbour, damaging crops. Some have since made their way to southern Israel. On the eve of Passover, which this year begins at sundown on Read more
Tiny Bibles flown to the moon and back are at the centre of a dispute between Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services and an Oklahoma Christian author who is trying to sell one at auction. The microfilm King James version Bibles are the size of a postage stamp. They were produced by a group Read more
During the papal audience at the 23rd World Congress of the Apostleship Of the Sea, Benedictus XVI addressed encouraging words to those working in the vast fishing sector and their families: “…, they more than others must face the difficulties of the present time and live the uncertainty of the future, marked by the negative Read more
The Bible is helping in the fight against domestic violence in the Solomon Islands, according to a recent report prepared by Sean Dorney, Pacific correspondent of ABC News Australia. World Vision and the local Anglican Church, the Church of Melanesia, are working to get to grips with the issue of domestic violence in the Solomon Read more
An Auckland school is planning to cancel Bible Study education in the classroom, while others are planning to review the controversial programme. Torbay School, on Auckland’s North Shore, will cancel the optional Churches Education Commission Bible in Schools programme, after 40% of parents surveyed voted to discontinue the programme in the school. In other schools Read more
In the most recent Census, almost a third of New Zealanders said they had “no religion”. As might be expected in an increasingly diverse society, far more people also aligned themselves to non-Christian religions, notably Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. It is, therefore, somewhat unsurprising that there is increasing tension about the teaching of the Bible Read more
There was was not much sympathy on the talk back shows for the Sky City employee whose job was in jeopardy because she was carrying a Bible at work. On Wednesday aftenoon, on National Radio, host Jim Mora and his fellow panelists expressed surprise at the amount of support that seemed to exist among the Read more
A union claims an Auckland casino worker faces the sack after bosses caught her carrying a pocket Bible at work. Tuni Parata was left stunned after receiving a letter from her SkyCity managers accusing her of misconduct for carrying the Bible on her shifts as a tower host at the casino. SkyCity says carrying the Read more