I read a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal today on the Gullah New Testament, or, in Gullah, De Nyew Testament. Being a huge fan of the most popular work ever written in Gullah, Joel Chandler Harris’ Tales of Uncle Remus, and its corresponding movie version, and Disney’s best, Song of the South, I decided to look a little deeper into this translation, which you can buy here.

Very quietly noted in the WSJ article is that the main author is working with Wycliffe Bible Translators. It would be right to regard suspiciously the intentions of any group that takes its name from such a vile and impious heretic, but this Adoremus article from 1997 denounces this very translation, or at least its rendering of the Gospel of Luke.

My favorite line, quoted from that Adoremus article, is de nyew version of the institution narrative:

Luke 22:19, 20
De Good Nyews: Jedus take some bread an tank God. Den e broke de bread op, gem ta e postle dem. E say, “Dis bread me body wa A gibe ta God fa oona sake. Oona mus eat um fa memba me.”
Same way, atta de Passoba suppa, Jedus take de cup ob wine and gem ta e postle dem. E say, “De wine een dis cup is de nyew greement tween God an e people. A da make dat greement come true wid me blood, wen A gree fa leh people kill me fa oona sake.

Now that’s the kind of inculturation that ought to get into the new Eucharistic prayers!