Incarnate Word and Incarnational Mission

PLENARY AND BANQUET SPEAKERS:

Beekman Lecture 1

Bible Translation and Embodiment: Incarnation as a Metaphor for Translation.

This presentation will review important metaphors for translation including “metaphor” as a metaphor for translation and “equivalence” as a metaphor. It will then focus on exploring “incarnation” as a productive metaphor for Bible translation in light of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ and in light of much recent discussion of the embodied nature of human thought and language. Special attention will be given to examples of various ways metaphors relate to embodied existence in different contexts (including biblical contexts and receptor contexts) and to the importance of respecting various roles metaphors play not only in source texts but also within the linguistic and literary systems of the receptor community in which the word of God is being newly “incarnated.” Practical examples will be discussed.

Beekman Lecture 2

Bible Translation and Embodiment: Incarnational Mission vs. Docetic Conceptions of the Work of Bible Translation.

This presentation will discuss in further detail ways in which the metaphor of incarnation (or incarnational mission) might helpfully inform the work of Bible translators. It will consider how different modes of Bible translation (whether print, audio, visual/dramatic, sign language or others) represent particular instantiations of the embodied communication of divine revelation by and for people in particular contexts as well as the relationship between the incarnational mission of the translated text and the incarnational mission of translators as texts “written on the heart.” The implications of a contrast between incarnational and docetic metaphors for translation (with the latter assuming translators produce disembodied words untainted by human culture or characteristics of the individual(s) producing them) will be explored in light of particular examples.

Banquet Speaker

Nydia Garcia-Schmidt, MA, Americas Area Director, Wycliffe Global Alliance

Special Plenary

Who needs Scripture?

Michel Kenmogne, SIL Executive Director

The drastic changes that we continue to observe in the global tapestry of the Church, minority languages and other sociological factors are significantly affecting the understanding of what Bible translation is or should be. Consequently, the training, resourcing, and implementing systems of Bible translation need a deep reappraisal in the light of these shifts. I would like to submit that our exploration of the question “who needs Scripture” should assume that language communities around the world would be located on the continuum of at least three broad contexts in terms of the function that translation might serve. Therefore, the attempt to address the question of “who needs Scripture?” should begin with a re-evaluation of the assumptions that we hold about the function of Bible translation. While Bible translation is a task for all generations of the Church, the role that it plays differs from one context to another. Therefore, BT will be most effective when it is pursued through strategies and approaches that adapt- sooner rather than later- to the changes occurring within the community.

Among the drastic changes, the growing reality of multilingualism also mandates a reconsideration of how to make decisions concerning translation needs assessment, translation strategies, translation products and media in response to the context and realities and needs of each language community. Ultimately, no single stakeholder can determine these factors in isolation. It will take new collaborative mechanisms to provide appropriate responses to the new assumptions raised by multilingualism. In the process, it is understood that translation does not serve the same functions across the board, which requires that we all pay attention to the planning processes that involve double loop learning.