[3185] Sign Language Bible Dictionary and standardization of Christian terms expected to aid evangelistic efforts

Sign Language Bible Dictionary and standardization of Christian terms expected to aid evangelistic efforts

Reported by Simon Lin

Written by Lydia Ma

After a long wait and with much anticipation, a “Sign Language Bible Dictionary” will finally be available in Taiwan. This dictionary is the result of close collaboration between Sign Language Presbyterian Church, non-PCT sign language churches, and organizations working with the hearing impaired. These organizations met for 4 days during Lunar New Year holidays to discuss common Bible terms and the appropriate sign language for each of these terms. They hoped to eventually publish a sign language Bible dictionary so that it would facilitate evangelistic ministries to deaf people.

The Sign Language Presbyterian Church has long since had a burden to help the hearing impaired in Taiwan to read and understand the Bible and receive the Gospel. According to the church’s pastor, Rev. Luo Pei-wen, ministering to those who are deaf is akin to engaging in cross-cultural ministries. Since many biblical terms do not have a standard sign language equivalent and deaf people are usually weaker when it comes to their reading ability, the Bible subsequently becomes a very difficult book to read and understand. For this reason, a “Sign Language Bible Dictionary” is very necessary because it enables deaf people to read the Bible and understand the Gospel in their “mother tongue” besides providing a standard way of signing words.

The publication of this dictionary was greatly aided by visiting sign language churches in Japan. According to Luo, who visited sign language churches in Japan in February of 2012, she learned about the importance of creating and publishing such a dictionary after speaking with many pastors in Japan and taking note of their advice. She discovered that having a uniform lexicon or a common way to sign Christian words in Japan went a long way in facilitating the teaching Christian principles, the creation of seminaries for deaf people, and the clear exposition of the Bible. Consequently, it is also easier to host large Christian conferences for deaf people in Japan. In contrast to Japanese sign language churches, Taiwanese sign language churches lack interaction with one another and a common Christian lexicon. Hence, each church expresses biblical terms differently and deaf people who aren’t Christians have a hard time understanding what is being communicated because many signs used in churches are not commonly used in daily life.

Prior to the making of this dictionary, the Sign Language Presbyterian Church spent some time researching sign language Bible dictionaries from various countries and making a list of important terms. Then, during last month’s week-long Lunar New Year holiday, about 18 leaders representing various organizations that work closely with deaf people got together to discuss their own lists. Taking into account sound theology and respect for this subculture, they came up with a dictionary containing 511 words.

Sign Language Presbyterian Church hopes that discussion of some common Christian terms and how they should be expressed in sign language will soon be finalized and used in sign language churches across Taiwan. It hopes that Christians who understand sign languages will use this system to share the Gospel with their hearing-impaired friends. In addition, pastors from sign language churches hope that this system will provide a firm foundation for discussion on contextual theology for deaf people in the future as well as open up more opportunities to share the Gospel with deaf people in Taiwan.