Faye Edgerton

Faye Elva Edgerton (Navajo: translated as:"The One Who Understands.") (26 March, 1889- 4 March 1968) was a Bible translator with Wycliffe Bible Translators. She translated the New Testament into the Navajo and Apache languages.

Early life and Education

Edgerton was born in Nebraska, she accepted Jesus into her life when she was 10 years old. After graduating from highschool she went to Chicago to study music. She became very sick there with Scarlet fever, and went deaf. God healed her however, and gave her back her hearing. After that incident she went to Moody Bible Institute.

Korea

In 1918 Edgerton set out for Korea, with the American Presbyterian Mission. During her voyage across the Pacific she studied Korean, and by the time she arrived she could read it well. She worked in Chungju, Korea [Reports of the Boards, by Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. General Assembly, pg. 158 (Online at: http://books.google.com/books?id=1MIQAAAAIAAJ) --Is this the same, just a newer name as Syen Chun, where Wallis says that in 1920 she finally could settle?] . During the first winter she got severe sinusitis, in the spring of 1919 the terror and violence of the Samil Movement had a toll on her nerves. Edgerton received a lot of encouragement from fellow workers, especially Gerda Bergman, and kept on going. In 1920 she was assigned to her permanent station. By the end of 1922, however, she had to return to America for treatment of a worsening sinus problem. Health would never permit her to return to Korea.

Navajo New Testament

After she arrived back in the United States she spent some time with her father, who was dying. Her father died in December 1923. The Presbyterian board in early 1924 assigned Edgerton to work at a school in Ganado, Arizona, on a Navajo reservation. It was believed that the climate would help her sinus problem, because of her frail health she also wasn't permitted to go far from medical aid, and so Korea wasn't an option.

At the school she noticed that kids weren't allowed to speak Navajo, except for a short time after supper. She learned Navajo however, and increasingly became aware that the Navajo people needed the Bible in their own language. After taking a course at the Summer Institute of Linguistics, she became convinced she could do the work and that God wanted her to.

In 1944 she decided to leave the Presbyterian mission and joined Wycliffe Bible Translators. She and Geronimo Martin revised older translations of Luke, Romans, First Corinthians, Revelation, and Mark and completed the New Testament. It was published in 1956 by the American Bible Society.

It is the largest piece of Navajo literature, and became an instant bestseller among the tribe.

Apache New Testament

After translating the Navajo Bible, Edgerton learned Apache, and together with Faith Hill translated the New Testament into the Apache language. The Apache New Testament was presented to President Johnson in 1966. [ [http://www.wycliffe.org/Explore/WhoWeAre/History/CameronTownsend/BibleTranslationDay.aspx Bible Translation Day ] ]

Manuscripts and translation notes are held at Northern Arizona University. [NAU manuscript collection #157]

Bibliography

*Ethel Emily Wallis, God Speaks Navajo: The Moving Story of Faye Edgerton, New York: Harper & Row Publishers (1968)
*Faye Edgerton, "Relative frequency of direct discourse and indirect discourse in Sierra Chontal and Navajo Mark." (1964)
*Faye Edgerton, "The tagmemic analysis of sentence structure in Western Apache." (1963)
*Faye Edgerton, "Some translation problems in Navaho." (1962)

External links

* [http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2001/03/daily-03-26-2001.shtml Christian History Institute Short Biography]

References