The first organisation called "The Bible Society" was formed in 1779 to distribute Bibles to soldiers and seamen, which became the Naval and Military Bible Society in 1804. The French Bible Society, instituted in 1792, came to an end in 1803, owing to the Napoleonic Revolution. Leftover funds were given to Bible production in Welsh. The modern Bible society movement dates back to the foundation of the
British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804 when a group of Christians sought to address the problem of a lack of affordable Bibles in Welsh for Welsh-speaking Christians. Although perceived as Protestant, from the early days the British and Foreign Bible Society was officially ecumenical, and allowed inclusion of the
Apocrypha. As a reaction to the occasional inclusion of these books and other issues, the
Trinitarian Bible Society was founded in 1831.
Pope Gregory XVI in his 1844
encyclical letter Inter praecipuas condemned both Bible societies and "the publication, dissemination, reading, and possession of vernacular translations of Sacred Scriptures" which did not abide by the general rules and decrees of the Catholic Church, and subsequently Catholics did not officially participate in the Society. The British and Foreign Bible Society extended its work to England, India, Europe and beyond. Auxiliary branches were set up all over the world which later became Bible societies in their own right. Today the United Bible Societies co-ordinates the work of these separate Bible societies. Each Bible society is a non-denominational Christian network which works to translate, revise, print, and distribute affordable Bibles in their own land, according to the demands of all the churches in that land. Nowadays Bible societies print Bibles according to the canons of the countries they are in e.g.
Protestant,
Catholic or
Orthodox, and inter-confessional versions. Bible societies work with other Christian agencies and Bible translations are done on an ecumenical basis, through the Forum of Bible Agencies International.
United States at 701 Walnut St., Philadelphia PA In the United States, Bible societies flourished in the first half of the 19th century. In addition to the
American Bible Society and the
International Bible Society (now "Biblica"), a number of state and regional Bible societies were established prior to the
American Civil War and to this day, they have remained active; they distribute Bibles and other works of religious literature to prisons, hospitals and shelters. Most of these regional societies are affiliated with the National Association of State and Regional Bible Societies. The oldest Bible society in the United States is the Pennsylvania Bible Society, which was founded in 1808. The Bible society movement spread west as far as
Chicago, where the Chicago Bible Society was founded in 1840, making it only five years younger than the city itself. == Current societies ==