No culture shock? Addressing the Achilles heel of modern Bible translations
Modern Bible translations are often more sensitive to the needs of their intended readers than to the right of biblical texts to be heard on their own terms as religious artefacts from the ancient Mediterranean world. Since all biblical documents linguistically embody socio-religious meanings deriv...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of the Free State
2002-06-01
|
| Series: | Acta Theologica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/1593 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1823858300132786176 |
|---|---|
| author | S. J. Joubert |
| author_facet | S. J. Joubert |
| author_sort | S. J. Joubert |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Modern Bible translations are often more sensitive to the needs of their intended readers than to the right of biblical texts to be heard on their own terms as religious artefacts from the ancient Mediterranean world. Since all biblical documents linguistically embody socio-religious meanings derived from ancient Mediterranean societies, they also need to be experienced as different, even alien, by modern readers. Without an initial culture shock in encountering a Bible translation modern people are held prisoners by Western translations of the Bible. Therefore, translations should instil a new sensitivity among modern readers to the socio-cultural distance between them and the original contexts of the Bible. In order to help facilitate this historical awareness, a new generation of “value added” translations must, in creative and responsible ways, begin to provide a minimum amount of cultural information to assist modern readers in assigning legitimate meanings to the linguistic signs encapsulated on the pages of the Bible.
|
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d306cad800484c94abbbff9f38646a5d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1015-8758 2309-9089 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2002-06-01 |
| publisher | University of the Free State |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Theologica |
| spelling | doaj-art-d306cad800484c94abbbff9f38646a5d2025-02-11T12:35:35ZengUniversity of the Free StateActa Theologica1015-87582309-90892002-06-01210.38140/at.v0i2.1593No culture shock? Addressing the Achilles heel of modern Bible translationsS. J. Joubert0University of Pretoria Modern Bible translations are often more sensitive to the needs of their intended readers than to the right of biblical texts to be heard on their own terms as religious artefacts from the ancient Mediterranean world. Since all biblical documents linguistically embody socio-religious meanings derived from ancient Mediterranean societies, they also need to be experienced as different, even alien, by modern readers. Without an initial culture shock in encountering a Bible translation modern people are held prisoners by Western translations of the Bible. Therefore, translations should instil a new sensitivity among modern readers to the socio-cultural distance between them and the original contexts of the Bible. In order to help facilitate this historical awareness, a new generation of “value added” translations must, in creative and responsible ways, begin to provide a minimum amount of cultural information to assist modern readers in assigning legitimate meanings to the linguistic signs encapsulated on the pages of the Bible. https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/1593Bible translationAncient cultureSocio-cultural setting |
| spellingShingle | S. J. Joubert No culture shock? Addressing the Achilles heel of modern Bible translations Acta Theologica Bible translation Ancient culture Socio-cultural setting |
| title | No culture shock? Addressing the Achilles heel of modern Bible translations |
| title_full | No culture shock? Addressing the Achilles heel of modern Bible translations |
| title_fullStr | No culture shock? Addressing the Achilles heel of modern Bible translations |
| title_full_unstemmed | No culture shock? Addressing the Achilles heel of modern Bible translations |
| title_short | No culture shock? Addressing the Achilles heel of modern Bible translations |
| title_sort | no culture shock addressing the achilles heel of modern bible translations |
| topic | Bible translation Ancient culture Socio-cultural setting |
| url | https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/1593 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sjjoubert nocultureshockaddressingtheachillesheelofmodernbibletranslations |