Ancient Hebrew Poetry

The difference between faithful and unfaithful translation of biblical literature

    Faithful translation of biblical literature will seek to avoid the pitfalls of translationese. Typical examples of translationese - often referred to as “translation universals”: normalization, simplification, and explicitation. Unfaithful translation on the contrary accomplishes those very things. More often than one might imagine, with malice aforethought.

Introducing the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion

    If Baylor University is fast becoming a research institution of the first order, it's because of its commitment to interdisciplinary research and, in the case of research on religion, of a commitment to “treat religion with the respect that sacred matters require and deserve” (from the mission statement of its Institute for Studies of Religion). The best and most enduring research in any field of study is the consequence of loving attention to a particular subject matter and a particular set of questions. This is the kind of research the ISR and ISR fellows excel in.

If you are a scientist, is not being omniscient a chargeable offense?

    It is in Italy. Jacqueline Windh has the scoop. Essential background provided by Nicola Nosengo here. The lessons Windh draws are worth thinking about critically.

Q & A about Bible Translations

    Here is the question:

Robert Kawashima one-ups Seth Sanders

    Robert Kawashima’s review of Seth Sanders “The Invention of Hebrew” concisely captures a central thesis of the monograph:

Jerusalem was called Salem

    A first class blogger on his abnormal interests, Duane Smith, asks: “Was Jerusalem ever called Salem? I don’t know.” He does know, I would claim. He just forgot. There is a clear case in which Jerusalem is called Salem in the Bible. Here it is (Ps 76:2-4):

Dissatisfaction with the new NIV among Biblical Bloggers

    The following Old Testament scholars who blog have expressed dissatisfaction with the new NIV:

The Importance of Reading the Bible in a Vernacular

    David Curzon has marvelous praise for a bilingual edition of Anglo-Saxon Old Testament Narratives published by Harvard University Press. We owe the volume to the skilled hand of Daniel Anlezark. The edition is a must-read for biblical scholars for two reasons:

Update on global warming: are we headed for a second Maunder Minimum?

    Given the facts that emerge from observation and analysis, it’s right to raise the question. The world’s most qualified solar physicists are posing the question. Go here and here. It is now possible to read this 1998 paper with renewed interest.

Why biblical literature resists translation

    My friend Wayne Leman over at Better Bibles encouraged me not long ago to describe the theoretical foundations that undergird my take on Bible translation, since I often find myself at loggerheads with the Better Bibles board of directors, to a man well-trained in linguistics, to a man enamored with translations committed to clarity and naturalness of expression, whereas I prefer translations committed above all to reproducing the wording and register of the original, translating metaphors with metaphors, and sounding strange wherever the thought and language of the source text is strange relative to our cultural matrix.