Bible Interpretation, Student Workbook, SW05

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B I B L E I N T E R P R E T A T I O N

C. Translation challenges: being faithful both to the message of Scripture and to the language and cultural norms of the receiving culture

1. Translators select different approaches in their translation philosophies.

a. Literal Translation - exact words (as literal as possible), as close as possible to the original grammatical structure

b. Dynamic Equivalence - exact meaning using whatever words can be found to carry that meaning

2. The Translators themselves are very different from one another (i.e., they hold different beliefs about the reliability of Scripture).

a. The editors of the Dartmouth Bible felt free to edit the Scriptures, only preserving what they saw as non-repetitive and most necessary.

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b. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have published their own version of the Bible because parts of it seems to disagree with their doctrine. Therefore, they have changed those parts.

c. The Jerusalem Bible is a very fine Catholic translation but the notes that accompany the Bible interpret the text from a traditional Catholic perspective.

3. Translators work alone or on a committee (i.e., groups of scholars tend to have more total skills and must be more balanced in order for everyone’s viewpoint to be heard).