Rev. Dr. Manuel M. Jinbachian

Rev. Dr. Manuel M. Jinbachian was born in Beirut, Lebanon on October 29, 1939 to Missag and Manoushag Jinbachian. He graduated in June 1956 from the Armenian Evangelical Central High School of Ashrafieh and later continued his studies at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the Near East School of Theology (NEST) graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from AUB and a Bachelor of Divinity degree from NEST. Soon after graduation, he went to Damascus, Syria to be pastor of two small churches where he served until July 1965.

In August 1965, he went to Egypt to be pastor of the two Armenian Evangelical Churches in Cairo and Alexandria, at the same time continuing his studies for a Master of Arts degree in history.

Rev. Jinbachian returned to Beirut after four years to teach at Haigazian College. Upon his return to Beirut, he married Hasmig Terzian who was secretary to the President of NEST, and they had two daughters Nania and Lori.

After serving at Haigazian College, Rev. Jinbachian went to Oxford University – Pembroke College, to specialize in Armenian studies. Within three years, he graduated with B.Litt. degree in Armenian studies and returned to Beirut in 1975 to continue teaching at Haigazian College where he taught for six more years. While at Haigazian College, he met Dr. William Reyburn, who was a United Bible Societies (UBS) officer in charge of Bible translations in the Middle East and South Asia. When Dr. Reyburn learned that Rev. Jinbachian knew Hebrew and ancient Greek, Armenian, Arabic and Turkish, he asked him to join the United Bible Societies to become a translation advisor. Rev. Jinbachian accepted the offer to be a translation advisor for the Middle East.

Being a translation advisor at this time was both very challenging and interesting. The civil war in Lebanon that started in 1975 made it difficult for Rev. Jinbachian to travel because the airport would often close, so he could not visit the countries where he was appointed as translation advisor. Due to this situation in Beirut, he was asked to go to France for one year to study until the civil war in Lebanon was over. Later he was asked to go to Strasbourg where the Regional Translation Coordinator, Dr. Jan de Waard, lived.

During this year he was able to complete all the courses that were necessary to qualify to write a doctoral thesis while continuing his work with the Bible Society. His position with the Bible Society took him all over Europe and the former Soviet Union.

He served in this position until 2002, when he was sent to Montreal by the UBS Europe Middle East office in London to teach Bible translation in the two universities of Montreal. He and his family moved to Montreal and he began to teach in the two universities: McGill in English and Université de Montreal in French. He taught for nine years, until 2011, when he turned 72 years old. He then became a retired UBS officer living in Montreal with his wife and close to both of his daughters and their families.

Rev. Jinbachian continues in the same position and continues to be the translation advisor for the western Armenian Bible translation with the two translators who are Archbishops. The New Testament and the Psalms are already translated and printed. Rev. Jinbachian and the Archbishops will continue to work until they finish the Old Testament. May God give him and the translators the energy and mind power to finish this important task.

Rev. Jinbachian recently published his third book entitled The Classic Armenian Bible, its Sources and Translation Technique.