A Gospel translation in London street slang—in which Jesus heals by stretching out his "Ramsgate" before "boarding a nanny with his chinas," has won the backing of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey.
The Bible in Cockney—well, bits of it anyway—includes traditional rhyming slang from East London's working-class community in which common words are represented by down-to-earth rhymes: "nanny" stands for nanny goat = boat, "china" is china plate = mate and "Ramsgate" is Ramsgate sands = hand or hands.
The book also uses current street idioms so that the last part of the Lord's Prayer comes out as: "You're the Boss, God, and will be for ever, innit? Cheers, Amen."
The 144-page Bible in Cockney, which is due to be published in the United Kingdom in May and will sell for about 6 pounds sterling (about $9), has a foreword by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Carey writes: "The Bible in Cockney takes the Bible out of the formal church setting, and puts it back into the marketplace, into the streets, where it originally took place.
"This version puts energy and passion back into the stories. If it manages to get people reading the Bible who would not normally do so, then it has achieved an invaluable work."
The archbishop's backing has amazed the author, religious education teacher Mike Coles, as has extensive national and international media interest sparked by the publication announcement.
"I can't believe all of it, but particularly the archbishop's support," Coles told ENI. The book is to be published in the U.K. by the Bible Reading Fellowship and launched at the Christian Resources Exhibition.
It comprises St Mark's Gospel and nine Old Testament stories. A glossary of Cockney rhyming slang will be included.
Coles told ENI that so far no one had accused him of committing sacrilege by putting the Gospel into street language. "I'm not touching the [Gospel] message," he said in defense of his version. "And the Greek and Hebrew originals are very down to earth." He worked from the King James's Bible, the Revised Standard Version, the Good News Bible and St Jerome's Bible commentaries.
A Cockney is a Londoner who was born within the sound of the bells of Bow Church, in the heart of the city's East End. The Cockney community, formerly self-contained and overwhelmingly working class, developed a distinctive culture marked by its quick-wittedness and idiosyncratic use of language, much of it referring to places in London. This was expressed in famous rhyming slang, some of whose words have passed into the general British vocabulary. These include "butcher's" (for butcher's hook = look), "Barnet" (for Barnet fair = hair) and "porkies" (for pork pies = lies). Coles, aged 38, is anything but a Cockney by origin—he was born in Germany, where his father was in the British army—but has worked in London's East End for 15 years. He is the head of religious education at a Church of England secondary school in Stepney.
The Bible in Cockney, which is Coles's first book, grew out of work he has done with his pupils over a period of many years. Coles has found that telling Bible stories in current street language holds the interest of his pupils of all ages, from 12 to 18. He has also found that the vernacular vigor of the stories reaches adult non-believers "who wouldn't dream of touching a standard Bible."
Coles admits that with today's more cosmopolitan and outward-looking population in the East End, much rhyming slang has fallen out of common use. "When I talk of Jesus healing the Tom and Dick [sick] and raising the brown bread [dead], the pupils may not know what it means, but they take an interest. It's fun and it's learning."
Coles said his pupils' comments had helped him with the book. "I realized that every other sentence seemed to end with 'innit?' [isn't it?] So I went back to the book and added more 'innits'?"
The Lord's Prayer
Hello, Dad, up there in good ol' heaven, Your name is well great and holy, and we respect you, Guv. We hope we can all 'ave a butcher's [butcher's hook = look] at heaven and be there as soon as possible; and we want to make you happy, Guv, and do what you want 'ere on earth, just like what you do in heaven. Guv, please give us some Uncle Fred [= bread], and enough grub [food] and stuff to keep us going today, and we hope you'll forgive us when we cock things up, just like we're supposed to forgive all them who annoy us and do dodgy [bad] stuff to us. There's a lot of dodgy people around, Guv; please don't let us get tempted to do bad things. Help keep us away from all that nasty, evil stuff, and keep that dodgy Satan away from us, 'cos you're much stronger than 'im. You're the Boss, God, and will be for ever, innit? Cheers, Amen.
Other Christianity Today articles on Bible translation include:
Not Your Grandfather's Mission Field | From lighter radios to lightning-fast computers, technology is speeding up ministry and easing the load at Wycliffe Bible Translators. (Feb. 19, 2001)
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'Your Sins Shall Be White as Yucca' | Wycliffe missionaries Gene and Marie Scott gave nearly 40 years of their lives translating the New Testament for a small tribe in the jungles of Peru. Was it worth it? (Oct. 27, 1997)
Thank God for Our Bibles | While Scripture comes in many flavors today, we can still trust these translations to give us God's Word. (Oct. 27, 1997)
On the Shoulders of King James | "What can be more [important] than to deliver God's book unto God's people in a tongue which they understand?" An Interview with Barclay Newman (Oct. 27, 1997)
The Women in Paul's Life | Two competing Bibles for women highlight the human component of Bible translation and interpretation. (Oct. 27, 1997)
Confessions of a Bible Translator | It is said that people should not see how either their sausage or their laws are made. Perhaps the same could be said of their Bible translations. (Oct. 27, 1997)
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