Ecuador (MNN) — A new Spanish study Bible promises to broaden Joselito Orellana's reach beyond Ecuador.
Orellana, now a pastor and seminary rector, once served as a chaplain at HCJB Global Hospital Vozandes-Quito (HVQ). He would lead Bible studies for the staff, he would conduct chapel services in the waiting areas, and pray with patients and their relatives.
During the last five years, he authored commentaries on the gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke. They were both part of the Biblia do Estudio Mundo Hispano, which is now available in bookstores. He was one of 57 Latin American theologians who contributed to the study Bible.
Orellana says that the greatest value of the study Bible is its basis in a Latino perspective. He said, "It was published in the U.S. but with a Latin American mindset, with learned authors from Latin America."
David Sills, a former missionary to Ecuador with the Southern Baptist denomination, said, "The best commendation I could give to Joselito's writing in the commentary and in the notes he provided for the study Bible is that his work is purely Latino, not a translation of other scholars."
"I'd like to see the study Bible used as a core resource for pastors throughout Latin America who are highly literate but have never had the opportunity for theological education," Sills added.
When Orellana was being interviewed by Duval Rueda on Radio Station HCJB in Quito, he said that there were three different categories of Bibles. There is the paraphrased version, the dynamic translation using a dynamic equivalence of translated words, and the literal translation from the original languages.
The new study Bible is between dynamic and literal, according to Orellana. In the study Bible, he offers readers study helps such as color coding to indicate whether comments and notes come from translation, cultural context investigations, or other study areas.
Orellana stays busy with a range of things such as preaching at Iglesia Bautista Universitaria, to seminary work where he presently is the rector.
