Bible Translation Research Articles

THE CONCEPT OF PROPITIATION IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST

The English word “propitiation” (Greek hilastērion) is not in common theological use today. Modern theology has generally become uneasy with it. The aversion to it is because the idea is associated with the sense of appeasing an angry deity brought in from pagan use and practice. This has resulted in the removal of the traditional translation “propitiation” with many modern English Bible translations preferring “expiation,” or “atoning sacrifice,” or some other general phrase. Thus, for example, while the New King James Version of Romans 3:25 is translated, “whom God set forth as a propitiation,” and the English Standard Version, “whom God put forward as a propitiation,” other modern translations are different. The New International Version is rather, “sacrifice of atonement;” Revised Standard Version has “an expiation by his blood;” Common English Bible, “place of sacrifice;” The Bible in Basic English, “the sign of his mercy.” This article insists that we must not just reject the use of the word propitiation simply because it was wrongly understood in pagan quarters. It conveys something vital when we come to consider what God has done for us in Christ. Until recently, many understood by this word that the death of Christ has effected the removal of the wrath of God and made us the recipients of his mercy. The cross brought satisfaction to violated justice.

On the emergence of argument encoding in causatives constructions in Romance

Causative constructions in Romance show complex variation regarding the case of the subject of the non-finite clause (causee) and to its position with respect to the main causative verb and the embedded non-finite verb. It has been argued that the variation reflects the diachronic evolution of the causative construction in Romance and also documents an ongoing process of further development. We present original empirical data from a comparative corpus of Bible translations that provide new insights into diachronic evolution as well as to the synchronic variation. Our comparative approach allows us to generalize over additional semantic and pragmatic parameters for the choice of a particular construction. Our data support the assumption of the extension of ECM from clitic to nominal causee constructions in French, but they do not support this for Italian. For Spanish we see some ECM constructions in the most recent translation only.

Anthropological Terms in Chinese Biblical Translations: The Interplay between Catholic and Protestant Versions in Response to Chinese Traditional Cultures

Notwithstanding the considerable attention that Chinese Bible translations have attracted, some important theological issues have been ignored for a long time, one of which is anthropology. The present article focuses on the Chinese rendering of terms in this category. From the attempts in the first three Catholic versions, the Western theory of soul introduced by Matteo Ricci began to influence the connotation of ling 靈 in Chinese biblical texts, though anima and spiritus had not been distinguished or the translations were still obscure in these renditions. Robert Morrison’s version, though heavily dependent on Jean Basset’s translation, was also indebted to Emmanuel Diaz and Louis A. de Poirot in its dichotomous anthropology, developing a ling–rou 靈–肉 (lit. spirit–flesh) dichotomous discourse with his conceptualization of ling 靈. Initiated by the “second generation” of Protestant Bible translators, the renderings of pneuma/ruach and sarx/basar took the indigenized approach that culminated in the Delegates’ Version of the Bible. With the assistance of some Chinese scholars in completing this version, Medhurst launched a dialogue between Christian anthropology and Chinese traditional outlooks of human beings by emphasizing the concepts of shen 身 and xin 心, which had long-lasting popularity in later versions of the Chinese Bible.

Slavonic Loanwords in the Book of Daniel Preserved in the South-Western Karaim Manuscript no. ADub.III.84

The paper discusses the etymology of Slavonic loanwords found in a previously unpublished South-Western Karaim translation of the Book of Daniel copied into manuscript no. ADub.III.84. South-Western Karaims were surrounded by speakers of Polish, Ukrainian and Russian, with the linguistic contact instigating changes in Karaim over a period of several centuries. The present article focuses only on the Slavonic impact upon Karaim vocabulary and attempts to determine whether the borrowed words can be traced back to Polish, Ukrainian or Russian etymons. The loanwords are additionally compared with their counterparts in ancient Polish Bible translations.

중·한 성경 역본 대조를 통한 번역 표현 연구

In this study, looking back on the flow and main translations of the Chinese Bible and Korean Bible translators, especially Chinese Character Bible which had an impact on early Korean Bible translations and even the modern chinese and Korean Bibles. Based on this, we selected the contents of some texts from among the modern Bible translations 『Chinese Union version with New Punctuation』 and 『New Korean Revised Version』, which account for the largest proportion of use in denominations in China, overseas, and Korea respectively, as subjects of comparative studies. Various aspects of vocabulary and grammatical translation expressions related to two traditional translation methods and translation expressions were examined here. This aims to help understand and interpret the style and expression content related to the translation methods of the modern Chinese and Korean Bibles by presenting the linguistic difference between the two languages and also the commonalities and differences in the translation method and translation expression according to the nature of the Bible itself.

Clustering algorithms for determining the number of authors in Bible

Ancient literature, exemplified by texts such as the Bible, carries immense cultural and historical significance, serving as a repository of the ancestors' experiences, triumphs, tragedies, and beliefs. Yet, delving into these ancient texts presents formidable challenges due to their limited accessibility. Over time, numerous historical documents have either vanished or undergone alterations, whether due to natural calamities or deliberate human actions. These obstacles have stymied progress in the field of diplomatics, rendering it a sluggish and occasionally unreliable endeavor. Remarkably, within very words and sentences of these texts lies a treasure trove of information. Properly harnessed, they offer a rich source of records for the advancement of diplomatics. For instance, deep learning techniques hold the promise of uncovering the number of authors who contributed to texts like the Bible. This research employs well-established and straightforward deep learning modelsK-means, Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), and Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN)to categorize the diverse writing styles present in the Bible. This methodology can be extended to other ancient English texts with uncertain authorship. The study involves the extraction of text from various versions of the Bible, which is then transformed into strings for analysis using these models. By categorizing different writing styles based on their underlying principles, the analysis facilitates an estimation of the number of authors who contributed to the Bible. Furthermore, the ensuing discussion offers insights into the advantages and limitations of this research project, shedding light on how its methods and findings might impact individuals.

Assessing the Mode of Biblical Interpretation in the Light of African Biblical Hermeneutics: The Case of the Mother-Tongue Biblical Interpretation in Ghana

In establishing the Christian faith on African soil, the first missionaries to Africa came along with the Bible. They were determined to share the word of God with the indigenous Africans. This was undertaken effectively; however, it came at a cost. In an attempt to produce translated versions of the Bible for the natives, they ended up producing translations, some of which did not reflect the thoughts of the indigenous people. This has called for an enterprise whereby these texts need to be retranslated and interpreted to reflect the thoughts of the indigenous people. Mother-tongue biblical hermeneutics in Ghana has been advantageous to this enterprise since it seeks to remedy the situation by examining the mother-tongue translations and making proposals for retranslations and interpretation. This has attracted some scholars to come up with a methodology and approaches that would be appropriate in this direction. This paper seeks to assess and evaluate the use of the mother-tongue interpretation, as well as its methodology and approaches in Ghana in the light of African biblical hermeneutics. Though this enterprise is recommendable to African exegetes, it is a special area of biblical studies in search of a standard methodological approach. The paper calls for much attention to how the mother-tongue interpretation could bring the meaning of the text closer to the culture of the Ghanaian reader—however, not at the expense of neglecting the cultural milieu of the original author in which the text was couched.

Frontal asymmetry and physiological responses in religious and spiritual problems with and without conversion

ABSTRACT Religious conversion is often associated with a negative emotional state accompanied by profound changes in sacred beliefs, values, attitudes, and practices. This negative emotional state is referred to as “Religious or Spiritual Problem” (RSP) in the revised 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR, 2022). The physiological and neuronal correlates of RSP and religious conversion are not known. Therefore, we measured lateralized frontal alpha-asymmetry, saliva cortisol levels, and heart rate in 24 individuals who experienced religious conversion with RSP, 23 individuals with RSP without religious conversion, and 20 problem-free controls with matched religiosity. In the baseline condition, participants read newspapers and listened to non-religious music; in the religious condition, they read Bible verses and listened to sacred music. Relative to the controls, both groups with RSP showed stress responses in the religious condition, including increased frontal alpha-asymmetry (left > right frontal activation), elevated saliva cortisol concentrations, and higher heart rate. Participants experiencing religious conversion displayed higher frontal alpha-asymmetry than those without conversion, but the cortisol levels and heart rate responses were similar in converters and non-converters. These results indicate that religious conversion with RSP demands a higher cognitive load than RSP alone.

Orality in Translating Biblical Hebrew Proverbs in Sesotho

This paper evaluates how Sesotho translators have translated Biblical Hebrew proverbs in the 1989 Sesotho translation of the Bible. Because this 1989 translation is undergoing revision by the Bible Society of South Africa, it is important to determine the success of the translation. The orality of proverbs relates to their origin as orally transmitted sapiential sayings. In evaluating how some of the Biblical Hebrew proverbs are translated in Sesotho, the literal translation of 1909/61 will be compared to the 1989 dynamic equivalent translation. Using complexity thinking as a theoretical framework, the paper argues that the Hebrew proverbs are better translated in the 1989 version than they are in the 1909/61 version of the Bible in Sesotho in terms of numerous features of orality. In the 1989 version and its revision, proverbs are translated in a poetic format. This means that the translated proverbs in this version of the Bible, informed by the principles of orality, exhibit Sesotho poetic features or structures. The article is divided into the following components: proverbs in Hebrew and Sesotho, theoretical frameworks, how the theoretical frameworks are used to translate certain Hebrew proverbs in the 1989 version, and conclusions.

Венецыянская Біблія – „Бивлия руска” Францыска Скарыны: механічнае прытрымліванне ці творчая перапрацоўка?

The article is devoted to some features of the translation technique used by the famous forerunner of Belarusian printing Francysk Skaryna when translating the Holy Scriptures. Francysk Skaryna is one of the greatest figures of Belarusian Renaissance. Numerous scientific investigations have been devoted to his work, but his legacy still remains terra incognita. One of the questions concerns the original he used when translating the Holy Scriptures – the ancient Hebrew Masoretic text, the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the Czech translation of the Bible, or the Bible in the Church Slavonic language? The article presents the results of the textual analysis of the Book of Job, the Book of the prophet Daniel, and the Book of Ecclesiastes, as well as numerous examples of Skaryna’s use of the Czech translation of the Bible. It should be noted that in some cases when translating well known passages, he used the Church Slavonic translation of the Holy Scriptures. Frequent lexical elements and collocations from the Old Church Slavonic canon entered Skaryna’s translation of the Bible. The article concludes that it was the archaic of Church Slavonic text of the Bible that prompted Skaryna to reach for another, more modern version – the Czech translation. As a result, a hybrid text was created, in which both Church Slavonic and Czech elements were presented at the lexical level.

A Word Spoken at the Right Time: A Hermeneutic Analysis of Proverbs 25:11

One of the critical points in communication is choosing appropriate diction and words that suit the situation. If it is inappropriate and conveyed out of context, miscommunication can trigger arguments or misunderstandings. The root of the problem is using inappropriate sentences when verbal communication occurs. Among several Bible verses that provide advice about good words, this research will formulate the meaning in the Book of Proverbs 25:11 regarding the concept of timely words in communication. With this study, it is hoped that conceptual indicators will emerge as to what the Bible means by these good words. The approach used in extracting the text is the exegesis of the verse Proverbs 25:11. Based on research, it can be concluded that good speech, apart from being a communication skill, is also formed by the presence of wisdom in the communicant and communicator. This is a sign that someone has spiritual maturity, visible credibility, and integrity in relationships with fellow humans. It was also concluded that to suppress bad habits in speaking, good education and correct understanding of the truth of God's word is needed on the one hand, and awareness that every word that comes out of the mouth cannot be revoked and has consequences, on the other hand.

The Translation of the Septuagint by Rev. Prof. Remigiusz Popowski. History, Editions, Significance and an Analysis of Translation Strategy and Techniques

Newer and newer Bible translations from original languages tend to appear regularly. Their authors pursue a plethora of strategies, from interlinear to philological to dynamic ones, taking as the source text not only the Hebrew, but also the Greek canon. Since the 1980s, the books of the Greek Bible have been translated into German, English, Italian, Spanish and French; ten years ago, this group was comple­mented by the Polish rendering made by Rev. Prof. Remigiusz Popowski. Though enthusiastically received, the text was not much researched. This article is intended to make up for this paucity and present the Polish text of the Septuagint from the perspective of its bibliological process and that of descriptive translation studies: a brief account of its historical background, the author of the translation, a record of editions and the significance for the Polish biblical milieu is followed by a closer analysis and exemplification of strate­gies and techniques adopted by the author.

Nutrition and Mental Health

We have put the year 2023 behind us. Honestly, I do not know how to characterize the year. For me, I just started " running" right from the word go. I am sure I am not the only one who feels the world right now is so different from what it was in the past. But then, clearly, for my generation it can be scary. We come from a past that appeared so basic, but was it? It appeared so simple, but was it? I can say for sure that our mental health is critical. It is a health perspective that we did not think about before. First, there is information overload. In my elementary school, I could memorize things and even Bible verses. I could remember dates in history, for example, dates for specific events such as who was the first person to land on the moon? and what year was it? We believe that good nutrition can improve our cognitive function, but to what extent? We always liked to be in control of our undertakings. But how can we make that claim when all the time we are looking up things online to get the spelling right or to confirm the information we have? These days no one must remember everything. You just Google. Are our memories now too lazy? Are they underutilized? I do not think so. If anything, I feel my brain is overworked. We have crucial to dates and other things to remember: birthdays, national days, identification documents, and on top of all that, we must check our social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and so on to keep up with social trends. All this puts too much pressure on our brains. There is just too much to manage! And then I started wondering: what are the changing nutritional needs of our brains in this context? We are working our brains more than ever before. Are we thinking of better nourishment for them? When we think of better nutrition for our bodies, do we remember to single out our brain? It is the one part of our body that has been overworked lately. Yet we rarely single it out for special nutritional attention.

Formulaic language in Old English prose

Abstract Although there has been a plethora of research on formulaic language in contemporary English, conducted with various purposes in mind (descriptive, applied and otherwise), studies of formulaic phrasings in Old English texts are rare. In this paper, we employ selected corpus linguistic methods to identify and explore the use and discoursal functions of recurrent multi-word items that contribute the most to the formulaicity of homilies, chronicles and biblical translations, which are the Old English text types under scrutiny. The findings of this primarily descriptive and exploratory research provide new insights into the pragmatic functions of Old English recurrent phraseological units as well as into the structure and communicative functions of the analysed text varieties. Finally, the results of the study cast some new light on the role those formulaic phrasings play in Old English prose.

Judita v Biblii a staroanglickej básni

The article deals with the deuterocanonical Book of Judith which was famously rendered from Aramaic into Latin by the patron of all translators, Saint Jerome (c. 345 – 420) virtually overnight and included in his translation of the Bible known as the Vulgate. More specifically, the article focuses on the text’s rendition into Anglo-Saxon by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet whose text is often anthologized and poses part of university curricula. The only extant original manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Judith is found on the famous Beowulf manuscript, partially damaged during the infamous fire of 1731 which decimated Robert Bruce Cotton’s (1571 – 1631) private collection of historical manuscripts, charters, rolls and seals. (1) Using the comparative method, the author of the paper takes an observant look at the Modern-English translation of Judith by the contemporary British literary scholar Elaine Treharne, and compares it with the deuterocanonical Book of Judith as found in the Slovak Catholic version of the Bible (Sväté písmo Starého i Nového zákona). The main objective of the proposed paper is to find out how the Book of Judith was altered to accommodate to the Anglo-Saxon readership. In the text, the author coins new terminology – primary and secondary elements of inculturation and lists examples of them as found in the Anglo-Saxon version of Judith. Thus, the Anglo-Saxon version of the Book of Judith cannot be considered a translation proper, but an inculturational adaptation. As part of his research, the author of the article produces his own second-hand translation of the Anglo-Saxon Judith from (modern) English into Slovak for the sake of Slovak readership.

Decolonising Translated Bibles: The Tragic Erasure of the Vhavenḓa’s Concepts of God through the 1936 and 1998 Tshivenḓa Bible Translations

The Bible translated into South Africa’s indigenous languages has a colonial history. For the Vhavenḓa people, the 1936 and 1998 Bible translations are revered as icons that hold a privileged position. However, this paper argues that these two translations should be seen as colonial language tools that do not serve the culture of the Vhavenḓa people. Instead, they can be viewed as weapons against them. These translations distorted the Tshivenḓa language by imposing distorted and foreign concepts of God, thereby rendering the Vhavenḓa people to have been without knowledge of God.

A Hebrew Fragment in the Municipal Archive in Münster as a Witness to a Little-Known Ritual Practice

AbstractThe Stadtarchiv in Münster, Germany holds a medieval Hebrew fragment with portions of the daily Shema Yisrael prayer. Measuring 510 mm in height, this fragment is but a quarter of a large-sized parchment sheet, which was designed to be hung on a wall. This study introduces the fragment and describes its material features and then suggests its possible function against the backdrop of talmudic discussions on biblical texts that are incorporated in prayer. In light of the halakhic position that biblical verses should not be recited from memory but only from a written text, the original sheet was intended to provide worshippers with an accessible copy of the Shema text, since many did not have personal prayerbooks.

Translating missio Dei: Indispensable Bible translation in God’s mission

Missio Dei, particularly from the 1952 International Missionary Council perspective, highlights God’s unmerited grace, which invites broad human participation in the realisation of salvation (Σωτηρία) and the kingdom of God (Βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ). The achievement of these goals depends on divine providence and the involvement of churches, including but not limited to the vital ministry of Bible translation. The crucial role that Bible translation plays in mission is to overcome barriers that distinguish the nations of the world and to reconcile them towards the fulfilment of the purposes of missio Dei. Although Bible translation remains an indispensable component of mission, its critical importance has received little to no scholarly attention. Once Bible translation is no longer viewed through the lens of mission, it is likely to dissolve into mere translation activities that are incompatible with the missio Dei. There is, therefore, a need for research that uncovers this indispensable function in the overall work of the missio Dei and in the realisation of its goals. Based on available literature, this article highlights the importance of Bible translation in the context of the missio Dei. Complexity theory is used to accentuate the interactive nature of Bible translations in mission context. Further research is needed to develop a holistic framework that fully integrates Bible translation into the context of the missio Dei.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article expands the interdisciplinary discourse between translation studies and theology by addressing the central importance of Bible translation work within missiology.

The Battle of Two Bibles: When and How Did the King James Bible Gain Its Popularity over the Geneva Bible?

This article addresses two questions: “When did the King James Bible gain a foothold of popularity among the English people?” and “How did the Geneva Bible lose its popularity to the King James Bible?” By reviewing the post-1611 printing of these two versions of the Bible and examining the texts of the Paul’s Cross sermons and the parliamentary sermons between 1612 and 1643, I find that the King James Bible was already more popular than the Geneva Bible by 1620, and that the rising trend of the popularity of the King James Bible had become irreversible by 1630. By 1640, the battle of the two Bibles was long over. I also refute the assumption that the political authorities’ suppression of the Geneva Bible caused its defeat. Rather, I argue that the decrease in consumer demand for exegetical notes led to the demise of the Geneva Bible.

Bible Translation as Justice

The translation of the Bible into minority languages has the potential to affirm the dignity and worth of translating communities as people created in the image of God (imago dei). For my own people—the Ghomala’ of Cameroon—the use of the mother tongue was crucial for local acceptance of Christianity and identification as children of God. This article shows how biblical concepts of justice as both primary and restorative relate to the mission of God and the imago dei of all human beings. BIBLE TRANSLATION AS JUSTICE regards Bible translation as not just a pragmatic tool, but a fundamental issue of justice that enables people to have a right relationship with God and others. Minority language communities around the world bear witness to the potential for Bible translation to empower, transform, and contribute to a sense of value and confidence. As a result, Bible translation is not only a key to human flourishing but for Christians a way of following Jesus in his incarnation.