276°
Posted 20 hours ago

The Word: On the Translation of the Bible

£12.5£25.00Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

Were I a language professor at a seminary (as I hope I might be someday), I would assign this book to my students. Likewise, a text known to us as the Letter of Aristeas purports to tell how the Torah was translated into the cosmopolitan Greek of 3rd century BC Alexandria, at the command of Ptolemy II, further to enrich the collected wisdom of the Egyptian entrepôt’s eponymous Library. Whilst Barton touches on the existence of variant readings and variant source texts behind different Bible versions by way of examples, the particular codices referenced by different versions is not detailed.

The product of a lifetime's study of scripture, The Word offers a rare and original perspective on the central book of our culture, as it was written and as we know it. And it forcefully makes the point that it may be unwise to rely on the same translator(s) for both the Old and New Testaments. The Apostles meeting in a locked room “for fear of the Jews” can certainly send aberrant signals, but Barton also correctly observes that a modern substitution of “the Jewish authorities” instead “is really a bowdlerisation of a text felt to be offensive rather than a translation of it”. Regarding the first pair he concludes that the two ultimately mean the same thing, and I think he greatly exaggerates the gap between the other two pairs.

What is clear from his analysis, is that one ought to read different translations as it brings different aspects of the underlying Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek to the fore. For example, the choice to use the word ‘soul’ instead of ‘life’ or ‘self’ can promote the belief that the soul is an independent entity, instead of a part of our psychosomatic unity. A century and a half earlier another dissident, John Wycliffe, suffered Vatican justice for the same sin, but only once dead. However, I think there are parts of the audio that needs to be re-edited, especially where he reads Hebrew words, placing the accent wrongly and creating non-words such as Yahw' for Yahweh.

The most enlightening thing about 'The Word' was understanding the 'litero-theosophy' of the translation of the Bible. The Word: How We Translate the Bible—and Why It Matters makes for both daunting and rewarding reading. For many Christians today – let alone those with no religious commitment – to find some way of accommodating them into a.The theological identities both of textual authors as well as translators play an enormous role in the shaping of their works; whether it be evangelists looking towards functional (dynamic) equivalence to proselytise their message in mission, or scholars looking towards a formal (literal) equivalence to try and more deeply understand the 'alienation' of the text in a foreign tongue. I would like to have seen many more examples of different translations of the same passage juxtaposed - that would have brought it to life. Greek and Latin literature can reach sublime sophistication; and yet much ancient literary theory has a functional-equivalence, GNB attitude to content (what “facts” you convey) and form (how you “clothe” facts with words). Really liked Barton's history of the early Latin and Greek translations, as well as his thorough review of the 'exuberant follies' of both the Vulgate and the Septuagint. Barton begins with a distinction which is both useful and problematic, that of the difference between functional translation and formal translation.

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment