We are happy to be able to present a particularly diverse range of contributions in this issue of The Bible Translator, by practitioners and researchers from various organisations and institutions, addressing practical, procedural, narrowly technical, and historical issues from various contexts, often with an eye to implications for church life.
Practical Papers relate to the use of oral methodologies, and to Bible translation problems in Vietnamese, Igbo, and Yoruba. Bronwen Cleaver describes Oral Bible Translation methods, highlighting the special importance of internalisation, emotion, and voice. Erwin R. Komen and Roman Kim suggest guidelines for consulting on Oral Bible Stories, focussing on more or less advisable omissions and additions with respect to biblical source texts, illustrated by one case study in the Caucasus. Steven Ross Coxhead shows how the traditional Vietnamese translation of 1 Cor 11.26 as “you should proclaim” has impacted Vietnamese practice of the Eucharist, even contributing to Christians feeling guilty about not having evangelised enough; in fact, the text may be better rendered “you thereby proclaim.” Kenneth Ekezie Obiorah reviews the various transliteration strategies employed in the traditional renderings of Bible book names in Igbo and Yoruba from Nigeria, and proposes alternatives that correspond better to these languages’ phonology and orthography.
The Bible Translator publishes such practical contributions in the hope that they will helpfully shape the practice of the Bible translation profession, improving the quality of products and hence their usefulness to the church and others.
Technical Papers address specific translation issues in Luke, John, Ephesians, and Revelation. Christopher B. Zeichmann argues that the term in Luke 7.2 traditionally rendered as referring to the centurion’s love for his slave in fact relates to the slave’s honoured status; this text has played a distinct role in the history of British-American attitudes towards slavery, and a correct understanding of this term contributes to our understanding of Luke’s special emphases in the synoptic tradition. Rhoneil Mendoza Arevalo considers the “Peace with you” greeting in John 20.19-29 in terms of both its Semitic background and its rendering into modern Tagalog, and proposes that in context it is best understood not as a greeting, but as an expression of reassurance now that Jesus, their peace, has come. Julie Walsh and Jeffrey D. Miller argue that a wife’s respect for her husband in Eph 5.33b should be rendered not as an imperative, but as a result of the husband’s love; this rendering accords best with the Greek conjunction ἵνα here, and with parallel New Testament household codes. Thomas R. Shepherd argues that καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς μετ’ αὐτῶν ἔσται αὐτῶν θεός (Rev 21.3b), though a contested reading, is in fact original, alluding to Isa 7.14 עמנו אל, and is to be rendered “and ‘God-with-them’ himself will be their God.”
Historical perspectives are offered on translation in Polish and Portuguese. Dorota Rojszczak-Robińska looks at the earliest examples of Bible translation into Polish, which can be found in citations within mediaeval Old Polish apocryphal writings; translations of Psalms are more formal than others, reflecting the Psalms’ distinctive status in mediaeval cathedral schools and monasteries—the translators had likely first encountered the Psalms when they were beginners in Latin, and other texts only when they had gained greater proficiency. Modern practitioners may find similar differences between their translations done when they were beginners in Hebrew and Greek and those done later! Timóteo Cavaco reviews the history of the seventeenth-century Almeida Portuguese translation and its subsequent revisions; unlike other early Protestant translations, it was done outside the language area, for non-native speakers, and with a particularly questionable relationship to the Hebrew and Greek source texts. A revision is proposed with a range of both traditional and modern parameters.
Book Reviews are offered by Andrew Maust of John Barton’s The Word: On the Translation of the Bible, and by Andy Warren-Rothlin of Hart Wiens’s autobiography Anna’s Son: Joyfully Following Hært to Hært.
Our annual List of UBS Publications concludes this issue.
Andy Warren-Rothlin
Marijke de Lang
