Fijian translation of New Testament nears completion

The compilation of the original Fijian translation of the New Testament by missionary, Reverend John Hunt is nearing completion.

Two years from the bi-centennial of the famous Methodist missionary's birth, the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma will launch the second in the series of the Hunt New Testament which contains the gospels of Luke, John and the Acts of the Apostles this Friday.

Renown Pacific Church Historian Dr Andrew Thornley who had a part in editing the second book, said this is part of the original Fijian translation of the New Testament completed by Hunt in 1847 while he was on Viwa.

Thornley said since 1847, the first Fijian New Testament has been considerably revised, with many textual changes adding that as a result of these extensive revisions, Hunt's original Fijian translation, made directly from Greek into Fijian, has been lost to the Fiji people.

Thornley believes that Hunt's translation is important because some of his Fijian informants were among the outstanding first generation of Christian converts Ratu Ravisa, Noa Koroivugona and Adi Litia Vatea adding that the 1847 translation is more faithful to the original Greek.