TY - JOUR
T1 - The Old Testament Also Needs Annotations
T2 - The National Bible Society of Scotland's Annotated Edition of the Book of Proverbs in the Mandarin Union Version
AU - MAK, George K W
N1 - Funding Information:
1This article is based on the author’s work presented at the Meeting of the Yale-Edinburgh Group on the History of the Missionary Movement and World Christianity, which was held from th to th June at New College, University of Edinburgh. All English translations in this article are made by the author, unless indicated otherwise. The author would like to thank the Scottish Bible Society, the United Bible Societies (UBS) China Partnership and John Binnington (former Senior Information Co-ordinator, Scottish Bible Society) for their invaluable assistance in locating relevant archival materials. The author is also grateful to Hong Kong Bible Society for its permission to consult its copy of the NBSS annotated Proverbs in the Mandarin Union Version published in . Last but not least, the author acknowledges financial support from Hong Kong Baptist University through its Faculty Research Grant (Project no. FRG/–/) and the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China through its General Research Fund (Project no. HKBU ).
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - This article explores the path of the National Bible Society of Scotland (NBSS) to publishing its annotated edition of Proverbs in the Mandarin Union Version in China during the Republican era. After providing an overview of how the NBSS became the first Bible society to publish annotated Chinese Gospels and Acts in the 1890s, this article examines why it took more than three decades thereafter for the NBSS to publish an annotated edition of another biblical book. It argues that one of the main reasons was that the NBSS had difficulty securing reputable scholarly Protestant missionaries' services to prepare the necessary annotations. Moreover, this article suggests that the familiarity of the Chinese people with short and pithy sayings was a condition favourable for the reception of Proverbs in China. This, together with the status of the Mandarin Union Version as the standard biblical text for Chinese Protestants, helps explain why the NBSS eventually published an annotated edition of Proverbs in the Mandarin Union Version. Annotations in that edition of Proverbs are analysed to understand how they could help bridge the gaps between Proverbs and its Chinese readers, so as to shed light on why such an edition of Proverbs was well-received as an evangelistic tool.
AB - This article explores the path of the National Bible Society of Scotland (NBSS) to publishing its annotated edition of Proverbs in the Mandarin Union Version in China during the Republican era. After providing an overview of how the NBSS became the first Bible society to publish annotated Chinese Gospels and Acts in the 1890s, this article examines why it took more than three decades thereafter for the NBSS to publish an annotated edition of another biblical book. It argues that one of the main reasons was that the NBSS had difficulty securing reputable scholarly Protestant missionaries' services to prepare the necessary annotations. Moreover, this article suggests that the familiarity of the Chinese people with short and pithy sayings was a condition favourable for the reception of Proverbs in China. This, together with the status of the Mandarin Union Version as the standard biblical text for Chinese Protestants, helps explain why the NBSS eventually published an annotated edition of Proverbs in the Mandarin Union Version. Annotations in that edition of Proverbs are analysed to understand how they could help bridge the gaps between Proverbs and its Chinese readers, so as to shed light on why such an edition of Proverbs was well-received as an evangelistic tool.
KW - Biblical annotations
KW - Book of Proverbs
KW - Charles W. Allan
KW - Chinese Bible
KW - Late Qing and Republican China
KW - Mandarin Union Version
KW - National Bible Society of Scotland
KW - Protestant missionaries
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078530745&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S135618631900049X
DO - 10.1017/S135618631900049X
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85078530745
VL - 30
SP - 73
EP - 91
JO - Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
JF - Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
SN - 1356-1863
IS - 1
ER -