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The ''Eliot Indian Bible'' (officially: ''Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God'', aka: ''Algonquian Bible'') was the first Christian Bible to be published in the United States. The English Puritan missionary John Eliot produced a translation of the Geneva Bible into the Indian Massachusett language. This is the reason it is also known as '' Eliot's Indian Bible.'' ''Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up Biblum God '' and the cover page of the translated Bible means ''The Whole Holy His-Bible God, both Old Testament and also New Testament. This turned by the-servant-of-Christ, who is called John Eliot.'' == History == The history of '' Eliot's Indian Bible '' involves three historical events that came together to produce the Algonquian Bible. One event was when the first printing press to the colonies came from England so that religious material and Puritan writings censored in England could be printed. Stephen Day of England contracted Jose Glover, a wealthy minister who disagreed with the religious teachings of the Church of England, to transport a printing press to America in 1638. Jose Glover died at sea while traveling to America.〔 His widow, Elizabeth (Harris) Glover, Day and the press arrived at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Mrs. Glover, with the assistance of Jose's worker Day, opened her print shop.〔 Day started the operations of the first American print shop, which was the forerunner of Harvard University Press.〔 The press was located in the house of the president of Harvard College where religious materials (i.e. Bay Psalm Book) were published in the 1640s.〔 〕 Elizabeth Glover married the president of Harvard College, Henry Dunster on June 21, 1641.〔 In 1659 the printing operations were relocated to the Indian College at Harvard when a new printing press was obtained. From the Indian College '' Eliot's Indian Bible '' was printed. Another event that contributed to bringing about of the Algonquian Bible was when the Parliament of England in 1649 enacted ''An Act for the Promoting and Propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England.'' This set up a Corporation in England consisting of a President, a Treasurer, and fourteen people to help them.〔 〕 The name of the Corporation was called: "The President and Society for the propagation of the Gospel in New England."〔 The Corporation was later known simply as the New England Company. The Corporation had the power to collect money in England for missionary purposes in New England.〔 This money was received by the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England and dispersed for missionary purposes, like '' Eliot's Indian Bible. ''〔 A third historical event that contributed to bringing about the Algonquian Bible involves John Eliot, a Christian missionary, who came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1631 from England.〔 One of his duties was to convert the indigenous Massachusett people to Christianity. Eliot's instrument to do this was through the Christian scriptures. Eliot's feelings were that the Indians felt more comfortable hearing the scriptures in their own language than in English (a language they little understood). Eliot thought it best to translate the English Christian Bible to an Algonquian Bible rather than teach the Massachusett Indians English. He then went about learning the Algonquian Indian language of the Massachusett people so he could translate English to the Natick dialect of the Massachusett language. Eliot translated the entire 66 books of the English Christian Bible to an Algonquian Bible in a little over fourteen years. It had taken 44 scholars seven years to produce the King James Version of the Christian Bible in 1611. Eliot had to become a grammarian and lexicographer to devise an Algonquian dictionary and book of grammar. He used the assistance of a few local Massachusett Indians in order to put the English Bible into an Algonquian Bible. Eliot made his first text for the ''Corporation for the propagation of the Gospel in New England'' into the Massachusett Algonquian Indian language as a one volume textbook primer catechism in 1653 printed by Samuel Green. He then translated and had printed in 1655-56 the Gospel of Matthew, book of Genesis, and Psalms into the Algonquian Indian language. It was printed as a sample run for the London Corporation to show what a complete finished Algonquian Bible might look like. The Corporation approved the sample and sent a professional printer, Marmaduke Johnson, to America in 1660 with 100 reams of paper and eighty pounds of new type for the printer involved to print the Bible.〔 〕 To accommodate the transcription of the Algonquian Indian language phonemes extra "O's" and "K's" had to be ordered for the printing press. Johnson had a 3-year contract to help assist to print the entire Bible of 66 books (Old Testament and New Testament). ''Eliot’s Indian Bible'' was printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at Harvard College by Samuel Green.〔 In 1661, with the assistance of the English printer Johnson and a Nipmuc Indian named James Printer, Green printed 1500 copies of the New Testament.〔 In 1663 they printed 1000 copies of the complete Bible of all 66 books (Old Testament and New Testament) in a 1,180 page volume.〔〔 〕 The costs for this production was paid by the Corporation, authorized by the Parliament of England by donations collected in England and Wales. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eliot Indian Bible」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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