A series of videos to be used for Bible Sunday and beyond have been produced by the Revd Mark Smith, Vicar of Rawdon and Minister with Deaf People in the Diocese of Leeds.
Bible Sunday is an annual celebration of the scriptures run by the Bible Society, and this year Revd Mark (pictured) has published a set of videos, available to all churches, that share his love of the Bible and details of a project to translate the Bible into British Sign language (BSL).
The videos can be viewed here or if your church wishes to download them, they can be made available on request from Mark at mark@deafchurch.co.uk
Commenting on the BSL Bible Translation Project, the Revd Mark Smith said, “It is aimed at producing a video translation of the whole Bible in British Sign Language. It is a collaboration of Bible Scholars, Sign Language Interpreters and informed native language Deaf sign language users.”
“The aim is to produce an authoritative translation of the Bible signed to camera by Deaf presenters and to make it available on DVD and online. So far, Mark's gospel has been translated though only limited chapters have been published.
“The process has been slow as signing Deaf People in the UK have never had an authoritative version of the Bible in their own language.
“As well as creating a new version of the Bible this is creating a new knowledge base and community with expertise. It is a considerable investment in the future.”