성서 퍼포먼스 비평과 성경 번역 - 제임스 맥시(James A. Maxey)의 연구를 중심으로 -

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new paradigm of Bible Translation to the Korean church community. James A. Maxey who was a Lutheran Bible Translators missionary for more than twenty years in Cameroon suggests that Bible Translation may be performed better through oral performance and contextualization. This paper summarizes his idea and two crucial points, and evaluates them for Korean Bible translation in the future.BR First of all, this paper discusses assumptions and problems in previous Bible Translations that ignore orality in the original text and target language context, especially in uncivilized countries and communities. Then it introduces a brief history of biblical performance criticism as this emerging new discipline may still be unfamiliar to many in Korean scholarly societies. After that, two critical points of James A. Maxey’s argument are discussed and appreciated.BR The first important point in Maxey’s work is that the community in the New and Old Testament had an oral culture. More than 90% of the population were illiterate. Nevertheless, previous scholarship has often ignored the orality but focused on the literary understanding of the Bible. Maxey points out the importance of orality for New Testament studies and for an African context of Bible Translation based on common arguments and contributions from Biblical Performance Criticism scholarly group. The second important point is the importance of contextualization. Although there is some opposition to contextualization and syncretism, recent missiologists including Robert J. Schreiter and Steve Bevans argue that contextualization and inculturation are significantly necessary parts for Bible Translation and mission.BR Maxey’s two points may provide the Korean church community with many potential contributions and challenges together. His understanding of oral (including paralinguistic and extralinguistic) performance and Bible Translation may provide Bible translators with some fresh insights, improve Bible Translation in the mission field, and also make younger Korean generation who prefer modern media over traditional written media have greater access to the Bible and its message. However, his points of contextualization and inculturation may still need some additional time to be accepted by the Korean church community, but are still worth trial for the marginalized communities such as the deaf and people with other disabilities.