“Want to meet Michael Jordan, a Bible translation?”
In the early 2010s, Jordan Monson was a low-level Bible translation intern. He was at the meeting when a friend raised the question to him.
Monson was naturally surprised when he agreed to the offer and began to step into the early ’70s to meet British women.
“The whole room was just stopped around the room, and everyone looked at her, one by one, these incredibly important people approached her,” Monson joked, adding, “The only way they could show more respect was if they bowed, it was crazy.”
Listen to the latest episodes of “Quick Start”
Needless to say, the fast-growing academic has decided to learn more about Dr. Katherine Burnwell. And he soon discovered that she was one of the most influential missionaries that people have never heard of.
In the West, infamy is considered a by-product of influence, but that is not necessarily the case. In fact, Burnwell’s ambiguity spins the aforementioned assumptions. Her ambiguity in the “evangelical industrial complex,” as Monson called it, was because she was busy working in West Africa to make the Bible accessible to those who had never heard the gospel.
“She couldn’t get into the spotlight, or she didn’t notice,” he said. “But looking at the number of people in the world who have become Christians, primarily because of her work, there is a very realistic claim that she is more than 100 times more than Billy Graham’s influence.
For several years after that meeting where he first met Burnwell, Monson became a true student of her work.
He is the author of a upcoming biographies on the renowned missionary, “Katherine Burnwell: How One Woman Revolutionized a Modern Mission,” released April 29th and is now available for pre-orders.
As missionary activities left the indelible mark as they left the silent influence of Burnwell, leaving behind the indelible mark as they relocated around the churches of the world.
“Around the world of missions, people lift the nation, lift the churches of the world, and “Western people have been doing this for 400 years. …It’s time to hand over the baton and hand it over to the local church,” explained Monson. “Katy Burnwell… trained the world and translated the Bible for themselves.”
Burnwell, 87, is a pioneer in the way of translation of the Bible “native language.” A loyal linguist who spent much of his Nigeria career focused on establishing a system for the community to access old and new wills in the heart language.
Her technique, now known as the Burnwell translation method, is widely used, as designed by non-professional translators. The system has three goals: It is to accurately convey the meaning of the Bible, adopt a natural and clearly understood language, and remain firmly and faithful to the original text’s intentions.
Due to a team of community translators, Burnwell’s method relies on the original language of the source text (mainly Greek and Hebrew), focusing on meaning- and idea-based translations (as opposed to word-word translations), reverting the draft to major languages, French, etc. to ensure translation accuracy. The system also features in-depth linguistic and exemplary workshops to equip local translators with the tools they need to achieve their goals.
Despite her unprecedented success and uncontroversial contributions to biblical translation, Monson recalled whether, for example, she even bothered seeing her face on the cover of a biographer.
He said the exchange was a symbol of her lifelong philosophy.
“She’s made tireless efforts for people all over the world and has little thought of herself, so when she remembers, she’s almost offended,” Monson said. “She kept insisting on, “Everything I did, I did it on a team. I don’t know why this whole book is me.”
That attitude – Burnwell’s counterintuitive humility – serves as a deep encouragement for Monson.
“What does it look like to focus on lasers on the kingdom and focus on lasers on spreading good news about Jesus while we are completely self-forgettable about our people?” he reflected.
You can see the full conversation with Monson in the “Faith vs. Culture” episode below.
As the number of voices facing big technology censorship continues to grow, sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN news app developed by the parent company to keep you up to date with the latest news from a clear Christian perspective.
