Biblical Hebrew Forum

[peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG]

Dear Rolf,

You wrote:

(1) You as a logical thinker do not see that to translate a proper name 
with another word with a huge load of connotations do not meet my 
definition of bias based on linguistics. I am simply breathless.

Just because a word was once a proper name does not mean that it is 
always used only as a proper name. Take for example "sandwich". This 
word is derived from the name of the Earl of Sandwich, a man whose 
name came from a town in England. Would you be "simply breathless" if 
I translated "sandwich" into Russian (Norwegian is similar, if I 
remember rightly) as "buterbrod"? Arguably, in just the same way 
"gehenna" was used as a common noun in its New Testament occurrences 
and should be translated with an equivalent common noun. I accept that 
there is a problem here with possibly misleading connotations, but 
unfortunately every word may have that unless it is a completely 
meaningless transliteration. I think the translation "soul" for NEPE$ 
which you approved of is at least as serious in terms of misleading 
connotations like "soulful" and "soul music".

(2) You as a responsible Bible translator feel it is correct to force upon 
the unaware reader a particular theological viewpoint therough translation, 
something that he or she has no possibility to know.

I "feel it is correct" to represent faithfully to readers, as far as 
possible, the thinking, the theology if you like, of the author of the 
Bible passage in question, or in this case of Jesus whose spoken words 
concerning "gehenna" are quoted. The reader is not forced to read the 
Bible, but the one who chooses to do so should expect to learn the 
theology of its authors. I accept that this particular theological 
point is debatable, but the translators had to make a decision and 
made a responsible one. Many of the translations you quoted mark the 
debatable occurrences of "gehenna" with a footnote indicating an 
alternative understanding as a place name.

Peter Kirk