The author is associate professor of Abrahamic Studies at Dallas International University. With extensive field-work in the Middle East and research in comparative religions as pertaining to Bible translation theory and reception, the current topic reflects current relevant projects.
Bible Translation and Literary Quality for Scripture-based Cultures
Abstract
Target audiences in Bible translation will always require solid linguistic and anthropological resources, but more than ever, literary quality in the target cultures is becoming a core value for those shaped by scripture-based religions and rich literary histories (even where a non-literate minority community embodies a folk-religious form of a religion). This paper will focus on key features of biblical text demanding attention to literary quality to properly transmit its message: poetry and narrative, both rich in literary devices and metaphor generation. With so much narrative art in the Bible, translations require quotability for rhetorically demanding situations as well as use in hymnody through indigenous art forms. This paper will present a number of contemporary translation project philosophies that include significant reference to literary quality.