Basil Rebera

Basil A. Rebera (1935–2021) was an Old Testament Scholar and a Translation Consultant and The Bible Translator.

In 1975, Rebera took part in the second All-India Biblical Meeting writes that

Further, Robert B. Chisholm of the Dallas Theological Seminary in Interpreting the Historical Books: An Exegetical Handbook writes that

Joy Sisley of the Staffordshire University in her work, Power and Interpretive Authority in Multimedia Translation writes,

Studies

Graduate Rebera pursued graduate studies in theology from 1967 to 1971 the Senate of Serampore College (University) where he obtained a Bachelor of Divinity (B. D.) during the Principalship of Joshua Russell Chandran. Incidentally, when the Old Testament Scholar and an alma mater of the college, Victor Premasagar happened to proceed to St. Andrew's University for research studies, he happened to stop over at the college and taught introductory Biblical Hebrew to the graduate students. As a student of Victor Premasagar, Rebera took interest in learning the ancient Biblical languages and went on to enroll for postgraduate studies in Biblical Studies specializing in Old Testament.

During his collegiate studies, Rebera took an active part in literary pursuits and was made Assistant Editor of the UTC College Magazine during 1969–1970.

Post-graduate Soon after Rebera completed his graduate studies, the Bible Society of India led by the clergy consisting of A. E. Inbanathan and C. Arangaden, then General Secretary Rebera was part the pioneer group of postgraduate students who specialised in Old Testament comprising A. P. Chacko, G. Babu Rao, Nitoy Achümi, S. J. Theodore and Timotheas Hembrom. The university awarded graduate and postgraduate degrees in the ensuing convocations during the Registrarship of C. Devasahayam.

Study Companions Rebera and his erstwhile companions at the United Theological College, Bangalore comprising G. Babu Rao, S. J. Theodore, N. K. Achumi, A. P. Chacko, and Timotheas Hembrom were notable for their contribution to the Bible Society in translation and revision of the scriptures into other languages. While Timotheas Hembrom was involved in Santali language translation, N. K. Achumi was involved in translation/revision of the Bible in Naga language. Similarly, G. Babu Rao joined the Bible Society of India in 1973 as Translator of the Telugu Old Testament and a decade later, in 1984, became Coordinator of the Telugu Old Testament Common Language Translation (Telugu OT-CL) Project of the Bible Society of India which also took along S. J. Theodore on the panel of the Telugu OT-CL Project Team.

E. C. John, the Professor of Rebera and his study companions was instrumental in infusing scholarly enthusiasm among his students. Known for his scholarship and administration, E. C. John was also involved in Malayalam translation of the Bible.

Research For research studies, Rebera studied at the Macquarie University and at the Australian National University and was awarded a doctorate by the Macquarie University in 1981 in Biblical Studies based on his dissertation entitled, The Book of Ruth: Dialogue and Narrative, the Function and Integration of the Two Modes in an Ancient Hebrew Story.

Translation career The confidence reposed in Rebera by the clergy consisting of the rural Pastor, A. E. Inbanathan and C. Arangaden remained for posterity as Rebera metamorphosed himself into a Translation scholar.

Bible Society of India Rebera began his career as a Translator with the Bible Society of India and oversaw translations of the Bible into many languages and also the revision of the existing versions. Rebera worked closely with the Asia-Pacific Regional Translations Coordinator, Graham S. Ogden. 1982, Identifying participants in Old Testament dialogue, 1983, Book titles (2): the prophetic books, 1985, Yahweh or Boaz: Ruth 2:20 reconsidered, 1987, Translating Ruth 3:16, 1989, He got up’--or did he: (1 Samuel 20:25) 1987, Lexical cohesion in Ruth : a sample 1994, Current Trends in Scripture Translation 2004, Rev. Euan McG. Fry,