17162: Pilling: Re: 17159: JHudicourt: Creole Bible (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Sara Pilling <sara.pilling@verizon.net>

To Corbeteers,

Responding to Hudicourt's e-mail, YES, Pere Roger Desir spent 25 years plus
translating the Hebrew bible, the New Testament AND the extra-Canonical
books - a monumental task. His 'source' material was the 'original' text, in
both Hebrew and then Greek. The Bible was specific, put into Haitian context
so that the populace could/would experience the Bible in a familiar context.

It was printed by the American Bible Society, in Korea, so that the price
could be low. At that time it was $4.00 - with the goude at a much smaller
ratio so that it was affordable.

My understanding is that while it was very popular with the 'little folk'
the elite hated it and there has been some revision [not of his doing].

Pere Desir still lives in PauP, is retired and continues to work on an
orthography [is that the correct term] for this.

When our church first met him in 1985, Baby Doc had him under house arrest -
putting the Bible into the hands of 'the poor' had had a transformative
effect.

Sara Pilling
Scholarship soley