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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] NWT's approach of consistent translation

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>
  • To: "b-hebrew-lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] NWT's approach of consistent translation
  • Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 23:01:17 +0000

On 18/11/2005 18:42, Schmuel wrote:

Hi b-hebrew,

Wow. Even I am a bit surprised by the combination of confusion and venom.
Read, James C wrote:

This happens to be the single most hypocritical piece of reasoning I have
ever heard.
In the one breath you would insist tha nephesh be translated according to
context where
it fits your dogma but in the other you would accuse the NWT for interpreting
where kurios
means yhwh and where it means lord.


Schmuel
Actually James, I never even discussed nephesh. Perhaps you are confusing me
with someone else. You should at least have your facts accurate when you write things like "the single most hypocritical piece of reasoning".


Perhaps James was confusing you with me. Well, for the record, I do hold that nephesh should be translated according to context, and I also hold that kurios should be translated according to context. At some points in the NT it is clearly some kind of divine title. At other places like John 20:15, where Mary thinks she is addressing a gardener (but is in fact addressing Jesus), that would be absurd. But the way to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong is that translation according to context avoids, or at least tries to avoid, incorporating theological presuppositions and frameworks, whereas translation according to theological presuppositions of course does not. It should be obvious that there is a difference between looking at the context within a book, to see e.g. whether the person being addresses as kurios is presented in the text as divine, and looking at theological presuppositions e.g. whether according to one's theology that person is divine.

For this reason I object to most English translations using "Lord" as an address when people address Jesus in the gospels, whereas exactly the same Greek word is usually translated "Sir" when others are addressed. For the characters in the gospels did not understand Jesus as divine (at least before his death), and so addressed him as an ordinary respected man. The use here of what is understood as a divine title, "Lord", is justified only by the theological understanding of Jesus' divinity. Although I personally have this understanding, I do not think it should be written back into Bible translations. On the other hand, there are places in the NT where the risen Jesus is addressed as kurios and the context suggests that he was understood as divine or at least far more than a regular human, e.g. John 20:28, Acts 9:5, and so the translation "Lord" is justified.

As for whether NWT has similarly objectionable practices, I will leave for others to judge, as I have said enough against that translation.

James, I hope this clarifies that my position is not hypocrtical but consistent. Sorry that I have to use NT examples, but the principles apply also to translation of the Hebrew Bible.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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