This week in Christian history: Bible Society founded, ‘Apostle of the North’ dies
British and Foreign Bible Society created – March 7, 1804
This week marks the anniversary of when the British and Foreign Bible Society was founded with the intention to sell Bibles in multiple languages and at cheaper prices.
An interdenominational Protestant organization, its founders included famed British politician and anti-slavery activist William Wilberforce and Welsh clergyman Thomas Charles.
Wilberforce and Charles were among the approximately 300 attendees who met at the London Tavern in Bishopsgate to launch the society.
In 1807, the Society published 7,000 copies of the New Testament in French for approximately 100,000 soldiers taken prisoner during the Napoleonic Wars.
“Why they decided to publish and donate 7000 copies, rather than more or less, is unknown, but presumably they took into account the limited percentage of prisoners who would have been literate, and the expectation that copies would be shared,” noted historyofinformation.com.
The British and Foreign Bible Society later shortened its name to just Bible Society, and still operates in the twenty-first century.
