Original scientific paper
Translation of the Holy Scriptures: pastoral or theological?
Mato Zovkić
; University of Sarajevo - Catholic Theological Faculty in Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Abstract
This is a paper that was presented at the Conference entitled Ignorantia Scripturae ignorantia Christi est organized by the Catholic faculty of Theology within Sarajevo University on 5 and 6 November 2020. In researching how modern Bible translators stay faithful to the original language and understandable to the readers of their respective language groups, the author offers a brief depiction of four Bible translations into German, two into English, two into Italian and two into French. The Croatian translation, „Zagreb Bible 1968.“, was the fruit of a constructive collaboration between secular Zagreb writers in the time of the socialist regime and Croatian Catholic Bible scholars headed by Professor Bonaventura Duda, OFM. The author points out that Croatian students of theology and pastoral activists received great help when in 1994. B. Duda organized the translation and publication of an introduction to individual books of the Bible and commentary in the form of footnotes, taken from La Bible de Jérusalem. In 2011. Duda organized the translation of the introduction and footnotes from the Traduction oecuménique de la Bible. Next, the author presents a survey of Scripturae sacrae affectus by Pope Francis on 30 September 2020. on the sixteen hundredth anniversary of the death of Saint Jerome. This Pope evaluates the Vulgata as a great inculturation of the Bible’s message into the culture of European nations. Therefore, Bible translators are bridge builders. In 2001., at the initiative of the Croatian Bible Society in Zagreb (HBD – Hrvatsko biblijsko društvo) 23 Bible scholars and two experts in standard Croatian language began translating the whole Bible into standard Croatian. They completed this endeavor in October 2020. This new
translation is waiting for the imprimatur of the Croatian Catholic bishops before publication. The author responds to the dilemma in the title of his presentation: any new Bible translation should address progress in studies of language, culture and the history of biblical sources and at the same time make the translation of the inspired books understandable to new
generations of a particular language group or target group.
Keywords
original Bible languages; culture of biblical authors and their historical addressees; progress in understanding the holy texts; changes in the language of intended audience; inclusive language embracing the presence and needs of women in God’s plan of salvation; a faithful and understandable translation.
Hrčak ID:
272116
URI
Publication date:
8.2.2022.
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