Translating Christianity: Some keywords, events and sites in Western Arrernte conversion

Abstract

This article considers a range of Western Arrernte terms employed by missionaries at Hermannsburg to translate the Bible and the Lutheran liturgy and hymns. My argument is that initially words were employed as metaphors in order to convey a Christian transcendental and ritual order quite different from the Arrernte one the terms had named previously. I examine the events and the Western Arrernte response that, over time, redefined some terms and shaped an Arrernte Christian vernacular.