Father, have you heard of the BEC Bible? I was asked a month ago. The first thing that entered my mind was the Christian Community Bible, an edition of the popular Catholic Bible translation from the Latin American BECs made for the Philippines. In Filipino, it goes by the name "Bibliya ng Sambayanang Kristiyano." So I asked whether this was it.
No Father, the answer came back. It is different.
Today I found a copy of this so-called BEC Bible, and I found out that it is actually the Good News Bible with some supplementary articles on topics pertaining to the BEC, the Faith sharing on which it is grounded and some helps on the building up of basic ecclesial communities.
The Good News translation employed in this "BEC Bible" is basically the one that contains the illustrations that Good News users have grown familiar with, with minimal footnotes. I would suspect that this would have a Filipino counterpart since it is the text of the Tagalog Popular Version that we use in our Tagalog Masses. The "Bibliya ng Sambayanang Kristiyano" does not quite lend itself to liturgical use although it contains a lot of auxiliary notes not found in the Good News BEC Bible.
The other day, one of our catechists told me of the "BEC Bible", but she was referring to "Bibliya ng Sambayanang Pilipino". I have been using this version of the Bible myself and have given or lent to others copies of the same. To be sure, the Latin American original was designed for BEC workers who had minimal theological training but who had to help priests and nuns build up christian communities in rural areas. The Filipino version (and other versions in the dialect) were translated from the Spanish original with comparisons made with other English versions of the Bible. The versions made for the Philippines are not accurate, but the notes (also translated from the Spanish) are invaluable for catechists.
The Good News "BEC" Bible have articles on the following topics:
- A General Introduction to the BEC in the Philippines
- Gospel Sharing Methods (Highlighting the LUMKO Methods)
- An Index of Topics For Bible Faith Sharing
