My father, Owen Evans, who has died aged 97, made a significant contribution to the 1988 translation of the Bible into modern Welsh.

In 1963 the Joint Council of Churches in Wales had agreed to sponsor and begin work on a “New Welsh Bible”, and Owen, a Methodist minister and New Testament scholar, was appointed to the New Testament translation panel, later becoming its chair. Following many years of dedicated work by a distinguished group of scholars, the New Testament was published in 1975. The complete Bible followed in 1988. It was dedicated at a service in Cardiff and presented to the Queen at Westminster Abbey later that year at a service to mark the 400th anniversary of the first translation into Welsh.

In recognition of his work on the Beibl Cymraeg Newydd, Owen was awarded an honorary doctorate of divinity by the University of Wales and elected a fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.

My father’s full name was Owen Ellis Evans – he sometimes published as OE Evans and was known by friends as “Owie”. He was born in Barmouth, north Wales, to Welsh-speaking parents. The family briefly moved to London, where his father, also Owen, worked as a pharmacist. While Owen was still an infant, his father fell ill with a type of encephalitis known as sleeping sickness, prompting a return to Barmouth, where he died soon afterwards. Owen’s mother, Elizabeth (nee Jones), ran a guest house to support Owen and his brother, John.

After Barmouth county school, Owen passed the civil service exam and returned to London to start work. Here he first felt a ministerial calling and trained as a local preacher in the Welsh-language Methodist church. A lifelong pacifist, Owen was a conscientious objector during the second world war and served in civil defence during the blitz.

In 1946 he decided to train for full-time ministry and began his studies at Wesley College, Leeds. Ordained in 1951, he worked as a Methodist minister for two years before being appointed New Testament tutor at Hartley Victoria College, a ministerial training establishment in Manchester. In 1953 he married Margaret Williams, sister of a college friend, and they raised four children in Whalley Range.

In 1969 Owen was appointed lecturer in New Testament studies at the University of Wales, Bangor, and the family relocated to Anglesey. He remained at Bangor for the rest of his career. After retirement in 1988, Owen continued his scholarly work, painstakingly completing the concordance for the Bible, while continuing to preach and support the local Wesleyan Methodist Church circuit into his late 80s.

By way of relaxation, Owen loved Welsh literature and culture, choral singing, football (especially Manchester City FC), cryptic crosswords and being with his family.

Margaret died in 2017. Owen is survived by his children, Angharad, Bronwen, Dewi and me, and by four grandchildren and a great-grandson.