The Institute for Biblical Text Research was opened with the aim to promote biblical studies in Korea and to instrumentally support the work of translating, publishing, distribution and to facilitating the use of Scriptures in daily lives, the core mission of the Korean Bible Society. We hope that the establishment of this institute within the Korean Bible Society will also facilitate a more effective use of the Library for Biblical Studies of the Korean Bible Society.
Areas of Interest
The institute aims to support academic researches of scholars in Korea and abroad in the areas of biblical languages like Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, etc and languages like Arabic, Ethiopic, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Slavic which are related to ancient translations; and in the fields of studying the history of Bible texts, biblical manuscripts, Bible translation, etc.
Another important role of the institute is to review and revise existing translations published by the Korean Bible Society such as the Revised Version, Common Translation, New Korean Standard Version, etc. It also searches for problems of existing problems, and prepares resource papers for revision. Through the work of this institute, the Korean Bible Society seeks to prepare the manpower needed to revise our existing translations or to do a new translation of the Bible. At the same time, we aim to accumulate the knowledge base for our translation/ revision projects for our next generation.
The Korean Bible Society has undertaken the work of translating and revising the Korean Bible for the readers during the past century, and this will continue to be carried out in the future. In face of the new century, the institute will focus on producing the following resources: scholarly materials for biblical scholars and students; study materials for Christians to help them grow in their understanding of the biblical message; Scripture-relevant materials and study Bibles that connect non-Christian readers to the Bible; and biblical resources that respond to many social and human needs rising out of the contemporary society.