How Did Goodell Contribute To Turkey

One of Goodell’s major motivations during his work as a missionary in the Turkish empire were his endeavours in translating the Bible into Armeno-Turkish. The Bible had already been translated into Turkish previously. A Turkish translation existed by 1657, however, it was incomplete. A more complete translation was made in 1665 by Wojciech Bobowski. Moreover, a Turkish Bible was printed for the first time in Paris in 1827, and this was the basis for further translation of the Bible by minority groups such as the Armenian and Greek Christians. However, despite already existing translations, many Turkish-speaking Christian minorities in the Turkish Empire could not understand them as the script was in the Arabic alphabet. Since there was no common
The Old Testament of the Bible had already been translated into Armeno-Turkish from earlier Arabic and Ancient Armenian translations by an Armenian Bishop named Dionysius; however, half of his work was lost in a fire that took place in Pera in 1831. Dionysius translated the burned manuscripts once again with the help of Goodell and Panayotes. However, Goodell’s major contribution to the Bible translation into Armeno-Turkish was his translation of the New Testament, which he began in 1823. Throughout his work, he was assisted by Dionysius. In his journals, Goodell mentioned that the task of translating the Bible had been arduous as there were no previous New Testament translations in Armeno-Turkish and Armeno-Turkish had no history as a written language. Additionally, he had to dedicate a vast majority of his time to this task because he chose to translate the Bible manuscripts from the original Hebrew text into Armeno-Turkish. Others had merely written new translations from already translated texts, which would have been less time-consuming. Goodell stated in his journals that “This translation, as small portions of it were from time to time completed, I took and examined every word with the Hebrew in the most careful and conscientious manner.” The amount of time Goodell took to translate the Bible into a language and script that
When Goodell moved to Constantinople in 1831, he brought along his Armeno-Turkish version of the New Testament which he had almost completed. He improved this version with the help of Armenian bishops in Constantinople. Finally, in 1841, Goodell sent a letter to his brother stating, “Through the kindness and blessing of God, the translation into Armeno-Turkish is at its length complete.” Goodell’s hard work during the translation process paid off and finally, he completed his mission with success upon his publication of the revised edition of the translation in