Untitled

Te Ao Hou, March 1968, Page 44

When Samuel Marsden conducted the first Christian service in New Zealand on Christmas Day, 1814, he had only the English Authorised Version of the Bible, and Ruatara, a Maori chief with whom he had struck up a friendship, acted as interpreter. The translation was imperfect, but it was the first step in the long task of producing the whole Moari Bible. The Maori language, full of poetic imagery, expressed thoughts about God closely resembling those of the ancient Jews. Maori legends were told in language well suited to the expression of Christian thought, but it was only a spoken language. The early missionaries reduced the language to writing, and set down its grammatical forms. Within six years their knowledge was sufficient to begin translation of the Bible, and the first part to be published was the Lord's prayer, in 1820. Then the Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Creation Story and the first chapter of St. John's Gospel were translated, and in 1827 these selections were sent to Sydney and produced in one volume. The arrival in 1835 of William Colenso, the first missionary-printer, enabled books to be printed in New Zealand, and the first to appear was a 16- Pictured at right is the stamp issued to mark the Maori Bible centenary. It shows Bishop Hadfield's Bible. still in use at the historic Rangiatea Church, Otaki, open at the book of Deuteronomy.