Latest News #295
December 15, 2004

The following news concerns the Netherlands and Belgium.

Marketing campaign achieves wide publicity for new interconfessional Dutch Bible

The Flanders Bible Society devoted its stall at the National Book Fair, held in Antwerp, Belgium, between October 28 and November 11, 2004, to De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling ('The New Bible Translation'). Photo: Flanders Bible Society (BEL04DJ-10.JPG)

HAARLEM, Netherlands and BRUGES, Belgium — The Netherlands Bible Society and the Flanders Bible Society have each launched a new interconfessional Dutch translation of the Bible which they hope will become the standard version for the entire Dutch-speaking region*.

Produced in cooperation with the Roman Catholic Bible Foundation and the Flemish Bible Foundation, the new translation, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling (NBV), is the first official translation to be published since 1951 and has already been acclaimed for giving Scripture "a modern feel".

An elaborate and carefully planned marketing campaign has resulted in wide attention for it both from the media and many Church denominations.

"This level of media interest in the Bible – not least from the secular press – has never been seen in Flanders," said Pascal Lauwaert, Director of the Flanders Bible Society.

Throughout the ten-year project, sample editions of selected books were offered to the public, to universities and to a specially selected team of reviewer-proofreaders, including many Flemish.

An official presentation to Queen Beatrix in the De Doelen concert hall, Rotterdam, on October 27, at which the Belgian Cardinal Daneels was the keynote speaker, also brought wide media coverage.

Two days later there was a launch in Antwerp for the Belgian market. At a thanksgiving ceremony in Antwerp cathedral 800 people were welcomed by the Bishop of Antwerp and the six representatives of the churches in Belgium were presented with copies of the new translation.

That afternoon saw a seminar for academics in the nearby Lessius College, which provided the project with linguistic advice, and the day ended with a reception hosted by the council at Antwerp's town hall.

The most prolonged exposure, though, occurred at the annual Antwerp Bookfair, held during the first two weeks of November. The location was particularly appropriate as, along with Geneva, Antwerp was one of Western Europe's acknowledged centres of Bible printing in the sixteenth century. The Bookfair was well attended and, thanks to good media coverage, demand for information about the NBV there was high.

At a special event at the Bookfair, Paul Van Grembergen, the Flanders Minister of Culture and Religious Affairs, was officially presented with his own copy of the new translation, and one of Flanders' most accomplished actors read excerpts from it. In the afternoon a lively debate about the role of the Bible in the twenty-first century was deemed a fitting way to round off the launch.

Athough the main event may be over as far as the media are concerned, the task of bringing the new translation closer to ordinary people continues. In order to promote the NBV at 'street level', the Flemish Bible Society has produced a series of posters, featuring eye-catching texts, which can be now be seen in the windows of homes and in hospitals, schools and churches across Flanders.

Summarising the importance of the whole project for the region, Mr Lauwaert said that three significant elements were its inter-confessional nature, its highly praised literary qualities and the synergy and close partnership it had spawned between scholars and the Bible Societies in the Netherlands and Flanders.