Theme
Bible Translation and Humanity: The Image of God in Context
Our theme underscores the human-centeredness of Bible Translation, whether as agents of translation or through the focus on human transformation.
The Bible affirms that humans are made in God’s image. As thoughtful, creative, moral, and relational beings, we bear a divine imprint that is the source of our shared dignity. The very act of translation itself is an expression of who we are as image-bearers. At the same time, we each live in different environments, with lives shaped by particular histories, geographies, and cultures.
This conference theme invites us to explore how our God-derived characteristics intersect with the challenges of translating the Bible in our diverse - and often broken - contexts.
This theme engages with each of the conference tracks. Here are some suggestive questions for each track:
Technology and Resources: What is the place of human creativity, intelligence, and morality alongside technology in the day-to-day tasks of translation?
Training and Mentoring: How does thinking of the whole person (mind, soul, body) shape our pedagogies and learning strategies?
Theology, Hermeneutics, and Exegesis: How do relationships and community shape our views of translation through various approaches to exegesis, hermeneutics, and contextual theologies?
Methodologies, Media, and Multimodality: As products and processes of translation are reshaped in today’s communication settings and increasingly mediated through devices, how do we retain our humanity while integrating technologically-mediated processes?
Church and Community: How might Bible translation affirm and strengthen dignity through its interplay of texts, technologies, and stakeholders — and how must it reckon with the power relations among them?
Communication and Context: How does the rich diversity already present within Scripture itself illuminate the task of contextualising the Bible into the many worlds within which we live?
Sub-themes
- Technology and Resources
- Training and Mentoring
- Theology, Hermeneutics, and Exegesis
- Methodologies, Media, and Multimodality
- Church and Community
- Communication and Context