Description
Olaf Morgan Norlie (January 11, 1876 – June 22, 1962), also referred to as O. M. Norlie, was a Lutheran minister, educator and scholar. He was additionally a Lutheran church historian, librarian, editor and statistician. He was also a prolific author who is most remembered as the translator of the Simplified New Testament
In addition to the books he wrote by himself, he was also editor and/or translator for a number of other volumes. Norlie wrote dozens of articles, both religious and secular. For example, a list of his writings for 1935 alone includes over 30 articles and scholarly book reviews, many in the Norwegian language. For Norske lutherske menigheter i Amerika, Norlie and his staff collected information concerning thousands of Lutheran congregations and ministries throughout the United States and Canada, includes sections on each synod.
Today Norlie’s best known work ishis translation of the New Testament titled Simplified New Testament. He originally had John’s Gospel published in 1943 as The Gospel of St. John: translated into modern English (published in Texas). Though he completed the entire New Testament in 1951, he could not initially find a publisher to print it. Finally in 1961, Zondervan published it. It was so positively received that there was a second printing in that same year. It was bound together with The Psalms For Today A New Translation in Current English, translated by R. K. Harrison.