Key Terms: Meaning Making and Embodiment through Visual Interpretation

In Bible translation there is a shift from a purely linguistic understanding of meaning making to more of an intersemiotic understanding of how people make meaning and how that meaning becomes embodied knowledge. Much has been written on orality and oral performance as well as the interface between orality and literacy (Maxey 2007, Wendland 2008, De Vries 2015). However, in Bible translation circles, less has been said about visual cultures and image interpretation. Key terms are often abstract concepts that are difficult to visualize through a written description or even through an oral discussion. Images can effectively illustrate or challenge teaching concepts (Wetzel, 1993). However, even when trainers select images to assist in communicating concepts, it may not help if it isn’t the right kind of image. The meaning of the image needs to connect with the culture they are associated with (Whitley, 2013). Visual sociology helps us understand the ways in which imagery aids meaning making in terms of non-verbal representations (Burri, 2012). This paper will provide some insights from visual sociology and suggest how the use of images, signs, and gestures can help produce meanings that are more coherent to local cultures, thus more likely to produce embodied understanding rather than alterity.