As the December 2018 issue was going to press we heard of the death of Paul Ellingworth in time only to add a brief notice. Paul was a long-serving UBS Translation Consultant, biblical scholar, author of commentaries and of handbooks for translators, one of the most prolific contributors to this journal (59 articles and reviews), and for twenty-nine years (1972–2000) the Editor of the Technical Paper series. His work has been celebrated some time back in a special issue of the journal (55[3], July 2004). We are pleased this time to be able to include a fuller tribute to him, written by his long-time colleague (and guest editor of the celebratory issue), David Clark.
Following this is an example of what has become an endangered species—the practical paper for the Bible translator. Matthew Malcolm examines the contribution of contextual clues to the translation of two New Testament terms.
Six technical papers make up the main body of this issue. Bill Richardson looks at real language use data from Turkey to discuss the often controversial topic of Christian and Muslim religious terminology. Andrew Maust suggests that minority language translations can do more than communicate information to their intended audience; they can enhance the status of the minority language in significant ways. Kowoon Kim delves into details of a textual crux in 1 Samuel, suggesting an alternative translation base which, he argues, makes greater sense of the story. June Dickie takes us into the realm of poetry and oral performance, examining the contribution of prosody in the translation of Psalms and songs in Zulu. Jeff Miller argues that the lectio brevior potior rule in NT text criticism is scarcely used by textual critics and should be dropped as a criterion. Zoe Hollinger suggests that athletic imagery in Hebrew 12.1 is not widely supported by contemporary Greco-Roman literature and that the theme is really that of struggle in the face of adversity.
Gregory Paulson provides a nuanced review of the Tyndale Greek New Testament from the point of view of a textual critic. This is the second review we have published of this edition (see 69[2]: 315–25.)
Once a year we publish a list of available publications, from UBS or member Bible Societies, relating to Bible translation. And this time we are pleased to include an announcement of the publication of the long-awaited Guide to Bible Translation, edited by Phil Noss and Charles Houser.
Stephen Pattemore
