On Varied Strategies of Biblical Translation in the Middle Age and the Renaissance Period
Everyone knows what translation theory is like, but no one can definitely say what it is. Translation theory is mainly compod of the studies of translation, including the studies of translating and translations. And in different times there were different translation theories in popular. In the article “On Varied Strategies of Biblical Translation in the Middle Age and the Renaissance Period” I will explain it from two ages------the Middle Age and the Renaissance Period.
I. Background information
i. Bible
The Bible is a collection of texts sacred in Judaism and Christianity. There is no single canonical "Bible": many Bibles have evolved, with overlapping and diverging contents. V arious religious traditions have produced different recessions with different lections of texts. The do largely overlap however, creating a common core.
With estimated total sales of over 5 billion copies, the Bible is widely considered to be the best lling book of all time, has estimated annual sales of 100 million copies, and has been a major influence on li
terature and history, especially in the West where the Gutenberg Bible was the first mass-printed book. It was the first book ever printed using movable type.
John Riches, professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow, provides the following view of the diver historical influences of the Bible: It has inspired some of the great monuments of human thought, literature, and art; it has equally fuelled some of the worst excess of human savagery, lf-interest, and
narrow-mindedness. It has inspired men and women to acts of great rvice and courage, to fight for liberation and human development; and it has provided the ideological fuel for societies which have enslaved their fellow human beings and reduced them to abject poverty. ... It has, perhaps above all, provided a source of religious and moral norms which have enabled communities to hold together, to care for, and to protect one another.
In Islam, the Bible is held to reflect true unfolding revelation from God; but revelation which had been corrupted or distorted Members of other religions may also ek inspiration from the Bible. For example, Rastafaris view the Bible as esntial to their religion and Unitarian Universalists view it as "one of many important religious texts".
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ii. the Middle Age
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The Middle Age, the Period of divinity, was in the 5th-14th century. At that time Europe was patched into small feudal kingdoms, all of which were drowned in the as of endless wars. God was regarded as the supreme authority of human life and the church became the actual dominator of the continent. In the Late Middle Ages, almost everyone in western Europe was a Christian and a member of Christian church. Christianity took the lead in politics, law, art, and learning for hundreds of years.
The Holy Bible, revealing the truth of God, was the most important book in the period.
iii. the Renaissance Period
The Renaissance is a Period in Europe, from the 14th to the mid-17th century, considered the bridge between the Middle Ages and the modern history. It started as a cultural movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe, marking the beginning of the Early Modern Age with the flowering of painting, sculpture and literature. The Renaissance's intellectual basis was humanism, derived from the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy, such as that of Protagoras, who said, that "Man is the measure of all things." This new thinking became manifest in
art, architecture, politics, science and literature. Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of metal movable type sped the dismination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the Renaissance were not uniformly experienced across Europe.
硬件设施II. Varied Strategies of Biblical Translation in the Middle Age Septuagint: The Old Testament translated from Hebrew to Greek in 285 B.C.-249 B.C. by 72 Jewish scholars, who came from 12 Israelite tribes, each tribe 6 persons, and who gathered in Alexander library, Egypt, to translate in 36 groups, 2 persons in each group. 36 similar versions were translated.
Vulgate: The Latin version of the Holy Bible translated from Hebrew (the Old Testament) and Greek (the New Testament) by St. Jerome and his men. The first standard version, and the sole version accepted by the church.
Biblical translation in different times has different characteristics and we can find varied strategies of biblical translation through many translation scholars.
i. rigid word-for-word translation
Philo Judaeus who combined study of the Bible and Greek philosophy was regarded as the true father of Christianity and he was the earliest influential figure in Bible translation. In his opinions, the Bible is holy and the translation of the Bible is holy, too. So the translator of the Bible is not only bilingually talented but also God-inspired in translation. He deemed dictation rather than translation, which is rigid word-for word translation. Becau of his viewpoint the rigidly literal translation was rampant for a certain period and the Biblical translations were unreadable in context and inferior to the literary ones in quality.
ii. combining literal translation with free translation
St. Jerome was one of the four authoritative theologians in the early period of the west Christian church and famous for his Latin version of the Bible: Vulgate. In his opinion the translator should translate the original style according to the target language and we should treat “religious translation” and “literary translation” differently. In religious translation, one should not translate word for word all the way, but translate it freely when necessary according to the exact comprehension of the original. He was against the version of Septuagint and Philo’s rigidly literal translation, but he didn’t deny the inspiration of Gad in the religious translation. Therefore in religious translation, literal translation for the most part, and free translation when necessary.
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iii. depending on the inspiration of God in translation
St. Augustine a famous reprentative of the theologians and philosophers in the late period of Roman Empire is the earliest one to study translation in the viewpoint of ancient linguistics. He demanded that attention must be paid to the three styles in translation: the plain style, to enlighten the ordinary Christians; the elegant style, to the educated Christians; the solemn style, to direct all. About Biblical translation he thought only the godfather translate Bible and insisted the n that it must depend on the inspiration of God. It is also the No.1 theologian.
III. Varied Strategies of Biblical Translation in the Renaissance Period
i. relying on the truth in the original in translation
Desiderius Erasmus was the most important figure of the Renaissance in the Northern Europe and he was for humanism, and against scholastic theology. About biblical translation in his opinion the top priority is the original. That is a translator must rely on the truth in the original rather than the interpretation of the priests. Therefore he didn’t believe in the inspiration of God in translation.
ii. popular and conci language in translation
Martin Luther the leader of Germany religious reform was a translator of the Bible. he translated the New Testament from Greek into German, and the Old Testament from Hebrew into German. In his opinions: fist, t he Bible must be translated in the people’s language and it should be easily accepted by the mass. Second, attentions must be paid to the relationship between grammar and meaning rather than the inspiration of God. Third, the biblical translation must depends on the cooperative work of the translators all rather tha n the illumination of God only. What’s more languages cannot be exactly translated word for word and only by means of free translation, can the true spirit of the Bible be reprented in a certain degree.九年级语文古诗
William Fulke was the greatest achiever in the studies of the biblical translation and a
humanist as well as the biblical rearcher. He deemed that Translation has nothing to do with religious belief and the biblical translation must depend on the respect to the habitual expression of the target language. During translation translators should pay attention to the feelings and knowledge of the version readers.
iii. a combination of academicality, conciness and literariness in translation
William Tyndale was a learned English humanist and Protestant reformer and he was also a special
感恩老师的名言名句contributor to the biblical translation in 16th century. His biblical translation convert the English people to the Protestants. In his biblical translation he propod a combination of academicality, conciness and literariness and native-styled expression with certain Hebrew feature.
IV. Summary
Though different translators had different opinions and varied strategies of biblical translation in different times, there were some common characteristics. Above all there were 5 strategies:
1)rigid word-for-word translation
2)combining literal translation with free translation
3)depending on the inspiration of God in translation
4) a tendency of free translation;
社会实践表格5)the target language and version reader prior
