Original scientific paper

Aporia why Bible Translations Differ

Boris Beck orcid.org/0000-0003-4637-465X ; University North , Koprivnica, Croatia

Abstract

Bible translation is a complex process because the fixed linguistic communication of the ancient Near East is introduced into modern society, where discourses differ greatly from those in which the sacred text originated. Different translations into the same language are the result of intractable aporia within the translation process, the attitude of translators toward the language and meaning, the choice of translation theory, the attitude toward the context in which the Scriptures emerged, and the external circumstances of the translation process. Modern translation tools offer standardized solutions to difficulties of understanding the language, cultural context and communicative situations of biblical world, but there is also a range of dynamic and functional translation theories allowing various versions of translation, which puts into question the supremacy and even the desirability of traditional biblical style. The method of literal translation has become problematic since it may produce the texts hard to understand, and even by that method not everything will be translated, but parts of the original are censored. However, the experiments of dynamic method sometimes come as a pleasant surprise or disappoint by trivial results, but dynamic method is indispensable if you really want to understand what the Bible says. The result is a paradoxical situation where of one sacred text many others arise, and they also have the status of the sacred.

Keywords

Bible; translation theories; biblical style; communication; context; message

Hrčak ID:

120763

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/120763

Publication date:

8.5.2014.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 1.976 *