Abstract
This article discusses the ambiguous issues that translators of religious, spiritual, and mystical texts may have to face. This is illustrated by means of two Middle English mystical texts that have been translated into Modern English and several other languages. In the translation of these (and similar texts), the role of translators often goes beyond that of interlingual mediators of messages and assumes unexpected functions. Firstly, I discuss the translators' unusual role as perpetuators of torture and purgatorial assistants in the earliest confessional autobiography in English literature, The Book of Margery Kempe. Secondly, I turn to the question of translator loyalty in the process of translating a 14th-century mystical text, The Cloud of Unknowing. The issues discussed may not be unique to religious writing, but they are highlighted in religious texts.
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