Christian Terminology in the Mongolian Language

In Mongolia since 1993 there has been a debate/division over the proper terminology to use in the Bible for words such as God, heaven, hell, prayer, etc.  The Bible Society of Mongolia (BSM) is committed to NOT using Buddhist terminology, and this is the Bible that we support and are promoting.  There is another translation of the Bible completed in 2000 (Old and New Testament) which uses the Buddhist terminology for spiritual terms, and at present is used by over 90% of the churches, missionaries and ministries here in Mongolia.  If you would like further information you can download and read three papers written about this topic below.  I’m sorry that I do not know who to credit the one paper to, as I’ve had it on my computer for some time.  The “Critical Controversy” paper is by a couple with the Evangelical Free Church working in Ulaanbaatar.  The “How Faint a Whisper” paper is by a missionary with New Tribes (also working in Ulaanbaatar), the subtitle is “The role of translation in the development of syncretism in Mongolia.”  It is the most technical of the three, but is based on a socio-linguistic survey that she conducted.  If you take the time to read one or all of the papers below I think you will see why there is such a great need that the BSM’s complete translation of the Bible be printed as soon as possible.

A new website is now up that deals with this issue in detail if you are interested check it out churchpuritymongolia.com