BOWMAN, Joseph

Joseph was born and raised in the Niagara Region of Ontario. He has been a lover of words and languages all his life. Though a native English speaker, French was his favourite subject in school. He has undergraduate degrees in French-English translation and linguistics (and studied Spanish and German as well), bilingual professional writing (technical writing and journalism), and much later on, a Bachelor of Education degree in Adult Education.

Joseph spent 14 years working for the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) while simultaneously completing a Master of Theological Studies. While still at WSIB, he began serving as a licensed lay minister in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), providing pulpit supply at many CRC congregations. He continues to serve CRC in this capacity to this day.

With his theological and linguistic studies, work in both Greek and Hebrew, and being an English grammarian of the top degree (he will sometimes correct other people’s grammar in conversation!), he felt called to join The Bible Translator’s Assistant (TBTA) team at Wycliffe. Working with TBTA will allow Joseph to use his language and grammar skills to help develop software that allows minority language groups to more rapidly complete first drafts of translated Scriptures. By hastening that process, translators can focus their efforts on ensuring the accuracy of translation and equipping people for deeper Scripture engagement.

In his spare time, Joseph is an avid Scrabble player. He has been playing Scrabble competitively in clubs and tournaments (yes, there is such a thing) for more than 20 years. See how much he loves words?