The Puritans and Massachusetts 1630 P6

Rev. Eliot, known as the “Apostle to the Indians” believed that for the natives to fully enjoy the benefits of the Bible, they needed it in their own language.  He therefore learned the Algonquin, or Massachusetts language and then created a written language for them since none existed at that time.

Eliot worked 12 years translating the Bible into their language, while, simultaneously continuing his pastoral duties in his church. In 1658, he completed the new Indian-language Bible and published it in 1661-1663. This was the first Bible ever printed in America.

At that time, no natives in America had written languages. Most received their written languages from missionaries, who lived among them and used phonetic linguistics to transfer their tribes spoken languages to writing. Translating the Bible not only enabled their language to be preserved but also opened to them a wealth of knowledge, giving them access to other writings from across the Millenniums of history. Without the selfless efforts of these Christian missionaries, vast numbers of these native languages would never had been written down and thus forever lost. Today, over 3.000 languages still have no written materials of any type.

Content Sourced From The American Story, The Beginnings.  By: David Barton and Tim Barton