Abstract
In the ‘Ethnical Scriptures’ column in the American Transcendentalist periodical The Dial, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau published modified translations (by colonial magistrates and missionaries) of mainly Hindu, Buddhist, and Confucian texts, accompanied by prefaces explaining the significance of each work. The suggestion is put forward that the translations and prefaces were structured in such a way as to support Emerson’s and Thoreau’s theological liberalism, religious universalism, and Western conceptions of the Orient. The question of literal translation and postcolonial theories on Orientalism are also addressed. The prefaces are closely read and the translations are compared with other English ones that are considered by religious studies scholars to be more accurate to the original text. These translations ‘westernize’ the diction of the works, present the texts in incomprehensible segments, and create an exoticized, unholistic picture of Eastern religions.
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