Bible Encyclopedias
Mexican (or Aztec) Version of the Scriptures

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Search for…

Enter query below:

or

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Prev Entry
Mevlevies

Next Entry
Mexican Religious Beliefs and Fables

Resource Toolbox

Print Article

Mexican (or Aztec) Version Of The Scriptures

At a very early period efforts were made to provide the Mexicans with the Word of God in their own vernacular. Didacus de Santa Maria, a Dominican friar, and vicar of the province of Mexico (1579), is said to have translated the epistles and the gospels into Mexican; and Louis Rodriguez, a Franciscan friar, prepared a translation of the Proverbs and other fragments. But of these translations nothing is known at present. In 1829 Mr. Thomson, agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, caused a translation of the New Test. to be made a movement which the bishop of Puebla not only favored, but also consented to superintend. Three persons were appointed by the bishop to execute the translation, but unhappily the bishop died in 1830, and the only portion of Scripture that has hitherto been printed in Mexican consists of the gospel of Luke, which Dr. Pazos Kanki had translated about the year 1829. From the report of the British and Foreign Bible Society for the year 1870, we see that at the request of Mr. J.W. Butler, a native Mexican has been engaged to revise or retranslate the gospel of Luke. The version was made, and after having been committed to an independent person for examination, was printed. This is the only part of the Mexican Scripture now extant. See Bible of Every Land, page 405. (B.P.)