Lost in translation

In the childhood game, “telephone” a sentence gets whispered into the ear of each child and gets passed along the line and altered, sounding quite different at the end of the line. I’ve been thinking about that game in connection with the scriptures.

Think about how an oral tradition got recorded in its original language, then translated into Greek or Hebrew and written down by hand, and copied many times, by hand, over the 1,400 years that followed. By 1440, Gutenberg’s movable type printing press revolutionized print technology but, even since then, the English Bible has gone through a myriad of translations, to say nothing of the evolution of language and culture. To say the Bible should not be read literally is an understatement. While filled with truth and insight and wisdom, the stories of the Bible were written in a particular context, in a period of history, intended for a specific audience. Much has been lost in translation. Along with adding numerical chapters and verses is the inclusion of punctuation. Punctuation matters in understanding a sentence.

Consider this example from the Gospel reading for this week; one which has caused a great deal of pain and misfortune to those victimized by a misreading. (John 9 as written in the NRSV.)

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.

Or what about this, changing a period for a comma, which New Testament scholar, Rolf Jacobson says is the more likely closer to the original meaning: Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind. So that God’s works might be revealed in him, we must work the works of him who sent me …

Do you see how the punctuation turns our hope-filled work into sin? How many parents felt they carried the sins of their ancestors, if their child was born with a disability? How archaic a response to a beautiful child, born with all kinds of differing ability to hold this point of view! As we approach Holy Week, let us be mindful of the other ways scripture literalism has put “the other” down. A faith for today needs to be consistent with the spirit of truth that was alive in Jesus, as he teaches what it means to be a people on the way. Following Jesus includes an examination of what we too have translated poorly yet held as gospel.