Reversing 'The Amazing Ignorance and Stupidity of some Persons': Baptists, the Biblical Languages, and Bible Translation.

For 400 years, Baptist commitment to the centrality of scripture has led them to a deep concern to learn the biblical languages so that they could read the Bible in the original languages. This has been especially reflected in the vitally important place that learning Hebrew and Greek has occupied in the preparation of men and, in time, women for the pastoral and missionary ministry. Their preaching of the gospel and the pioneering language work their missionaries have excelled in has been greatly facilitated by the painstaking work they have undertaken whether in college or on their own. While there are still Baptists who continue this tradition, among rank and file ministers it is far less common, and no longer occupies the place it once did in the training offered by the present Baptist colleges. This paper calls for a restoration of this key component of the Baptist DNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]