Translation Of Sacred Texts Research Articles

Translating Inspired Language, Transforming Sacred Texts: An Introduction

Abstract In late medieval-early modern Iberia, translations of sacred texts often involved changes beyond those concerning linguistic and cultural frameworks. The sacred nature of the source text turned it into a potentially powerful tool for a variety of purposes. Translations were used to advance didactic and cultural policies and to disseminate political and religious propaganda. They became building blocks for communal identities under fatal threat. When need be, they could be manipulated both as weapons of self-defense or of belligerent attack against rival religiosities and institutions that harbored them. The power generated by the divine authority that spoke through sacred texts also made their translations and their translators, targets of suspicion and victims of strict control, and at times, destruction. The five articles that I introduce represent a wide spectrum of these possibilities as they examine translation projects of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim sacred texts and the transformations they catalyzed.

“That Hart May Sing in Corde:” Defense of Church Music in the Psalm Paraphrases of Matthew Parker

Translation of sacred texts is always a dangerous act. In the sixteenth century, translators of the Bible into vernacular languages faced persecution and even execution for their perceived heresy. Nevertheless, when Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker (1504-1575) published his poetic paraphrases of the biblical psalms, for which Thomas Tallis wrote the corresponding psalm tunes, Parker joined a growing number of scholars and clerics risking the translation of scripture under the aegis of the Protestant Reformation. In his paraphrases Parker carefully negotiated between strict translation and poetic interpretation of the text, particularly in regards to musical themes. I argue that in his psalm paraphrases, Parker advanced a musico-theological justification for the inclusion of music in liturgy during an era when vocal polyphony and instrumental music in sacred settings fomented the suspicion of many proto-Puritan Protestant reformers. Comparison of the printed 1567 text with Parker’s original manuscript held at the Inner Temple Library in London reveals that Parker often chose explicitly musical terms in his paraphrases of the psalms. In doing so, he provided foundational justification for establishing a central role for music in Anglican liturgy, harnessing all the tools of his humanist training and the power of his position to advance his conviction that music, far from distracting congregants, enriched and uplifted them spiritually. Drawing on recent scholarship on the genre of metrical psalmody, I demonstrate how Parker’s art of paraphrase facilitated his multifaceted defense of church music in the face of increasingly hostile factions within the English Protestant Church.

Translations of Sacred Texts and the Shaping, Reshaping and Circulation of Religious Knowledge in Monotheistic Religions with Written Traditions: A South African Perspective

Translation is centrally important for religion in two ways. First, most religious communities encounter their sacred texts entirely through translations; and, second, religious texts as an object of study are usually read in translation by scholars of religion. The translation of sacred texts is problematic in terms of its nature (translation method/strategy, process, readership) and the status of the product (as authoritative sacred text). When the translation of sacred texts is institutionalised, translations are regulated with strict controls on translators, source texts, translation methods, and readership. On the one hand, regulation may entail forbidding all translation; on the other, regulation may focus on the source text resulting in a literal translation, which keeps the sacred text largely incomprehensible to the masses. When intercultural and interlinguistic comprehension of the text matters more than its linguistic form, more openness towards translation method results to the detriment of the principle that sacred texts should be heard, read, and understood as religious artefacts derived from their ancient cultural context. Furthermore, the future of a religion as a living historical tradition depends on the translation of its sacred texts for new contexts. Where a sacred text is well-known, the continual impulse for re-translation is driven by expanded readership, improvements of earlier translations, and remediation of misinterpretations and outdated language. Focusing on the South African context, examples are presented from the history of religious translation within the Jewish religious tradition, Christianity, and Isl?m, to illustrate the spreading, circulation, shaping and reshaping of religious knowledge by translation.

A tradução de textos sagrados em Libras:

Este estudo visa a investigar a tradução de textos sagrados para Língua Brasileira de Sinais (Libras), tendo em vista a utilização desses materiais na formação de tradutores e intérpretes de Libras dentro e fora das instituições religiosas. Para tanto, valer-se-á das contribuições teóricas de Bakhtin (1992; 2003) e Sobral (2008), Gohn (2001), Jonings (2003) entre outros, a fim de conhecer os modos como o discurso divino é produzido e os elementos contextuais que interferem na produção desses objetos culturais. No desenvolvimento deste trabalho, foi realizada uma pesquisa bibliográfico-documental, recortando como objeto de análise dois vídeos traduzidos para Libras por duas instituições religiosas distintas, baseados no texto bíblico descrito em Êxodo 20:1-17, que trata dos “Dez mandamentos”. Os resultados revelam que a atuação dos tradutores e suas escolhas tradutórias são diretamente influenciadas pelas instituições religiosas e seus discursos, pelos dispositivos de controle e pelos lugares sociais que esses sujeitos ocupam no interior dessas instituições.

The South American Mission of the Shinshu Otani-ha and Its Contribution to Buddhism in Brazil

This article summarizes 130 years of Brazilian history since 1888, when slavery was abolished, to set the socioeconomic and cultural grounds which made possible the arrival of the first immigrants, particularly the Japanese, in 1908, who brought Buddhism as their religion. After the war, the Japanese colony in Brazil split up with violence and that opened up the door for the arrival of the first Buddhist missions. In 1952, the Shinshu Otani-ha Order, founded in 1321 in Japan, begins to build up its 64-year history in Brazil, with the construction of the first temples, up to the foundation of the Institute of Missionary Studies, which now makes public translations of sacred texts and other literature in Portuguese.

Synonyms Reflecting Objects and Phenomena of the Metaphysical World in the Translations of Sacred Texts from Arabic into English and Tatar

<p>This paper analyzes the phenomenon of synonymy in translated texts in Russian and Tatar, with various existing and published translations of the Quran used as the main source. The primary goal of the study is to reveal the main regularities of the way synonyms function in the diachronic translations of the Quran into Russian and Tatar, as well as to follow the alterations in the vocabulary and stylistic norms of Russian and Tatar. Comparison between various translations allows shedding light on many of the peculiarities of the target language at the time the translation was completed and establishing the chronologic sequence of certain changes in the languages. The primary methods used in the study are the analysis of academic literature on the problem, consolidation of the prior research of synonyms in Russian and Tatar, studying text sources and dictionaries and comparison between the lexical units. The study shows that synonymic units found in the diachronic translations can be of varying degrees of equivalence. The most frequent in the diachronic translations of the Quran are the so-called partial synonyms, and this reflects the translators’ attempts to single out one specific lexical-semantic variant or a certain seme.</p>

RELIGIOUS TRANSLATION AS A PARTIAL TRANSLATION THEORY

The origins of religious translation go back to ancient times, though the theoretical consideration of its phenomena is much younger. Translation theorists have suggested a number of terms for naming this translation type among which the preferred term is ‘religious translation’. Religioustranslation incorporates three genres of religious writings: sacred texts, churchly texts and theological texts. A number of concepts and principles, such astranslatability, cultural values in the text, the reconstruction and interpretation of the historical context, lexical and grammatical problems of communication,etc., do not differ from those adopted in the general theory of translation. However, the concept of “equivalence” is subject to change.This is due to the need of adeeper analysis of the communicative goals and cultural values in the target language.Scholars have worked to establisha set of standard tools and techniques to help overcome some diffi culties of translation, especially in a specifi c language pair. Despite Ukrainian religious translation having a millennium-old tradition, Ivan Ohiyenko was the fi rst to offer a well-structured theory for translating religious writings in the history of Ukrainian translation studies. The most recent studies in religious translation have testifi ed to the high level of his theorizing. This allows us to consider religioustranslation a fully-fl edged partial translation theory. Keywords: religioustranslation, translation of sacred texts, translation of churchly texts, translation of theological texts, equivalence, translation in Ukraine.

5. RELIGION AS A SITE OF LANGUAGE CONTACT

Until recently, the interaction between language and religion as topics relevant to bilingualism or multilingualism has been relatively little explored, although there is an extensive body of research on religious language. This chapter first provides an overview of earlier work, much of it on the translation of sacred texts into various languages. Past research has also identified the linguistic consequences of the spread of various religions, particularly with respect to choice of ritual language and orthographic systems. The language use patterns and practices historically characteristic of different religious traditions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Quakerism, are reviewed. The chapter then describes the linguistic effects of missionary activity in several postcolonial settings, concentrating mainly on those pertaining to Christian groups. Other recent research has examined the linguistic consequences of linkages between regionally prominent languages and dialects and religious practice in diverse international locations. Relationships between immigration and language maintenance and shift in religious domains are also discussed. The chapter concludes by noting that recent political events, interest in conversion efforts of religions other than Christianity, and growing recognition of the academic legitimacy of the field of language and religion predict a likely increase in applied linguistic research in this area.

Yisrael Ḥaim of Belgrade and the history of judezmo linguistics

ABSTRACT : Yisrael Haim from Belgrade can be considered as one of the pioneers of Judezmo linguistics in the XlXth century. He wrote, among others books, translations of sacred texts, handbooks for learning Hebrew and German, and a grammar. These books form a precious documentation about the state of the modern language, particularly about dialect features. They also include many orthographical and grammatical innovations which mark a significant stage in the history of Judezmo linguistics.