Abstract
This Guide is a veritable encyclopedia of Bible translation. It serves as the capstone for the History of Bible Translation series published by the United Bible Society (UBS) and the Nida Institute, with Philip A. Noss as the general editor. Over a decade in the making, this Guide is comprehensive and should be included in any library or scholarly context associated with the field of translation in general and Bible translation in particular.
This exhaustive resource (all 1,011 pages of it) is unprecedented and serves our discipline as a much-needed, ready source of information that is at once historical and contemporary while anticipating the future of the ongoing global phenomenon of Bible translation. The more than 180 contributors, including the Editorial Committee, Editorial Board, and Advisory Committee, is a who’s who of Bible translation scholarship, practice, and experience from every aspect of the discipline. The book is divided into three categories as reflected in the subtitle: key people, key languages, and general topics pertinent to the field. Organized alphabetically and written by scholars, practitioners, and users of Scripture, the articles in these three categories reflect on the historical concerns that were manifest during the past 2,000 years, ponder the present, and anticipate the future of this worldwide enterprise.
Key people across the ages have influenced Bible translation. They extend from the mythology surrounding the creation of the Septuagint (LXX) in the third century BCE (pp. 751–55) to national translators working on their own languages today (862–66). They all care about ensuring translations are meaningful (582–86) to the people who receive the message of Scripture (591–95). Their objective is to understand and appreciate what God has said and communicate in a manner that makes sense (698–703). Scholars, ancient and contemporary, have influenced the discipline, creating debate, developing theory, and discerning both the exegesis and the hermeneutic of the biblical text in context—people such as Augustine (9–11), Martin Luther (37–40), Lee Su-Jung (36), and twentieth-century scholars Eugene Nida (43–45), Kenneth Pike (50–52), and Julius (Mwalimu) Nyerere (46–47).
Authors writing in the key languages section reflect on the way people through the ages have connected Scripture to their linguistic and cultural contexts. People around the world today speak over 7,000 languages, with translations in less than half of them (see http://www.wycliffe.net/statistics). The 170 languages included in this volume are representative of people groups that have had an influence on or been impacted by the translation process. These include the obvious—biblical languages Hebrew (143–48), Greek (136–37), and Aramaic (80–81)—and extend to indigenous languages scattered around the world (151–54), including key lingua franca on every continent: Bahasa Indonesian, Bislama, Creole, Swahili, Tok Pisin, and even First Nation Sign Language (231–34).
The general topics section is by far the largest category, containing over 400 entries that provide short definitions for translation-related terminology (often called “key terms”), descriptions of translation issues, and more extensive presentations of theoretical, procedural, and practical concerns reflecting the totality of approaches within our discipline. Controversy, especially precipitated by theoretical arguments, peppers the pages and reflects both the individual authors’ views and discussion of those views in light of contrastive principles. These entries cover everything from “accuracy” to “writing”—interestingly, there are no entries for x, y, or z. Moreover, an extensive array of photographs, charts, and graphs throughout the Guide, along with over fifty pages of references, an index of languages, and a thematic guide to topics, make the work user friendly and expand its value as a resource for years to come.
Noss’s introductions to each of the three sections are worth the price of the book. He characteristically reflects on the spirit and color of issues that have dominated the category across the ages. Furthermore, a wonderful tribute to the late Paul Ellingworth characterizes Noss’s depth of experience in UBS, as well as emphasizing the importance of relationship, especially encased in the interaction between translation consultants and those they work with. Paul was a consultant’s consultant, as well as editor of The Bible Translator Technical Papers (the UBS flagship journal) for nearly thirty years. His numerous contributions to the Guide epitomize the heart and soul of a consultant in a tradition that goes back to Nida’s extensive travels in the service of Bible translation (44).
In short, Noss and Hauser have compiled a monumental resource that reflects the history, thought, and practice of Bible translation through the ages. They have done our discipline a major service in coordinating the process with all its politics, controversy, and lore. Thanks to both for their dedication and tenacity in bringing to reality this dream of an extensive “guide”—a one-volume chronicle of Bible translation. May our God, who spoke the words we have so diligently translated, be honored and the entire “community of Bible translators, sponsors, producers, and users” (xxxvii) of translations around the world (past, present, and future) be benefited.