Gender in Bible translation
Gender in Bible translation concerns various issues, such as the gender of God and generic antecedents in reference to people. Bruce Metzger states that the English language is so biased towards the male gender that it restricts and obscures the meaning of the original language, which was more gender-inclusive than a literal translation would convey.{{cite news | author = Bruce Metzger | url = http://www.ncccusa.org/newbtu/reader.html | title = Preface to the NRSV | access-date = 2015-07-29 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100206062332/http://www.ncccusa.org/newbtu/reader.html | archive-date = 2010-02-06 }} Wayne Grudem disagrees, believing that a translation should try to match the words of the original language rather than introduce the translator's opinion as to whether the original words meant to include both sexes or not, and that trying to be gender-neutral results in vague and contorted writing style.{{cite web |url=http://helpmewithbiblestudy.org/5Bible/TransWhatsWrongGenderNeutralBible_Grudem.aspx#sthash.GfI5Acwk.dpbs
|title=What's Wrong with Gender-Neutral Bible Translations? |last=Grudem |first=Wayne |date= 1997 |publisher= CBMW |access-date= December 12, 2020}} Michael Marlowe argues from a third standpoint, that the cultures in the Bible were patriarchal.{{cite web |url=http://www.bible-researcher.com/inclusive.html#note1
|title=The Gender-Neutral Language Controversy |last=Marlowe |first=Michael D. |date= 2005 |website= Bible Research |access-date= December 12, 2020}} The topic has theological and political undercurrents. Paul Mankowski says that inclusive-language translators are bowing to feminist political taboos rather than trying to translate accurately, while Marmy Clason says that their opponents are motivated by hostility to feminism rather than fidelity to the original meaning.{{cite web |url=http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles7/MankowskiLanguage.php
|title=Jesus, Son of Humankind? The Necessary Failure of Inclusive-Language Translations |last=Mankowski |first=Paul |date= 2007 |website=Orthodoxytoday.org |access-date= December 12, 2020}} {{cite journal |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/17405900600589333
|title=Feminism, Generic 'he', and the TNIV Bible Translation Debate |last=Clason |first=Marmy A. |date= 2006 |journal=Critical Discourse Studies |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages= 23–35|doi=10.1080/17405900600589333 |s2cid=145563736 |access-date=December 12, 2020}}
The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) was one of the first major translations to adopt gender-neutral language. The King James Version translated at least one passage using a technique that many now reject in other translations, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God" (Matt. 5:9). The Greek word υἱοὶ that appears in the original is usually translated as "sons", but in this passage the translators chose to use the term "children" that included both genders.{{cite web |url=http://www.equip.org/article/the-inclusive-language-debate/ |title=The Inclusive Language Debate |last1=Strauss |first1=Mark |last2=Wegener |first2=David |date=2009 |website=Christian Research Institute |access-date=2015-07-29 }} Opponents of gender neutral language believe that readers who are not familiar with the original languages can be influenced by a compromised meaning they believe is feminist.{{cite book|title=The Gender-Neutral Bible Controversy: Muting the Masculinity of God's Words|last=Poythress|first=Vern and Wayne Grudem|date=2000|publisher=Broadman and Holman Publishers|isbn=0-8054-2441-5|page=149}}
Translation of the names of God
{{See also|Names of God in Islam|Names of God in Christianity|Names of God in Judaism}}
There are a number of ways to translate the names of God into English from Hebrew. Hebrew uses only four consonants for the name—Yod-Heh-Waw-Heh ({{lang|rtl=yes|hbo|יהוה}}, {{transliteration|hbo|YHWH}})—hence it is called the Tetragrammaton.The word "tetragrammaton" originates from tetra "four" + γράμμα gramma (gen. grammatos) "letter" {{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=tetragrammaton |title=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=23 December 2007 |archive-date=12 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012141410/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=tetragrammaton |url-status=live }} Some modern English bibles render this as LORD—L capital, and ord in small capital case. Others use Yahweh, and the old King James Version used Jehovah. In English, outside Bible translations, the tetragrammaton is often written as YHWH or YHVH.International Standard Bible Encyclopedia(E-J) by Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Mar 1982) {{ISBN|0802837824}} pages 504–507
The original meaning of this form is connected with the "I AM" of Exodus 3:14 (and it probably contains a Hebrew masculine verb prefix—the {{transliteration|hbo|Y}} or yod).{{Cite book |title=The Origin and Character of God |last=Lewis |first=Theodore J. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-19-007254-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-erqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA214 |access-date=30 September 2023}} Sometimes this word is rendered into English by using Hebrew {{transliteration|hbo|Adonai}}, instead of attempting to directly translate {{transliteration|hbo|YHWH}}, following an ancient Jewish custom of respect.{{citation |last=Byrne |first=Máire |title=The Names of God in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: A Basis for Interfaith Dialogue |publisher=A&C Black |date=2011 |page=24}}
The Hebrew word {{transliteration|hbo|Adonai}} literally means my lord (with pseudo-plural), and is usually translated as Lord.Joshua Bloch, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/528619 The Authorship of the Peshitta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116055510/http://www.jstor.org/stable/528619 |date=16 January 2017 }} The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures Vol. 35, No. 4, July 1919
= Third person pronouns for God =
Many prayers use one or more of the names for God many times within the same paragraph. The first time it appears a proper name is used, while further instances use a third person pronoun (he, she or it). English speakers usually use masculine or feminine third person pronouns to refer to people and animals, and the third person pronoun—"it"—to refer to (inanimate) objects. Traditionally, in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim writing, the third-person pronoun "He" has been used to refer to God in English translations.Pagels, Elaine H. 1976. "[http://www.womenpriests.org/body/pagels.asp What Became of God the Mother? Conflicting Images of God in Early Christianity]." Signs 2(2):293–303. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704065520/http://www.womenpriests.org/body/pagels.asp|date=4 July 2015}}.{{Cite news |title=If Allah Has No Gender, Why Not Refer To God As 'She?' |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/06/05/1180226512/if-allah-has-no-gender-why-not-refer-to-god-as-she |publisher=NPR |date=6 June 2023 |access-date=27 September 2023 |language=en}} In non-religious contexts, English speakers have generally used the word "he" as a substitute for a gender-neutral third person pronoun.{{cite book |title=Threshold Concepts in Women's and Gender Studies: Ways of Seeing, Thinking, and Knowing |publisher=Taylor & Francis |last1=Launius |first1=Christie |last2=Hassel |first2=Holly |date=30 March 2022 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ACBiEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT81 |page=163 |isbn=9781000554854 |access-date=29 September 2023}}
The idea of God being an "It" rather than a "he" or "she" does have some support in Jewish, Christian and Islamic rationalist medieval thought, much of which was based on Neo-Aristotelian philosophy. Some medieval philosophers of all three of these religions took great pains to make clear that God was in no way like a person, and that all apparently physical descriptions of God were only poetic metaphors.{{cite book |title=How We Got The Bible |publisher=Amazon Digital Services LLC |last=Andrews |first=Edward D. |date=6 February 2023 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SP2rEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA247 |page=247 |isbn=9798376330357 |access-date=29 September 2023}}
In the Chinese language, translators of the Christian Bible used a special Chinese character to act as a divine pronoun: {{lang|zh|祂}} (Pinyin: {{transliteration|zh|pinyin|tā}}). {{transliteration|zh|pinyin|Tā}}, in essence, is the universal third person pronoun for all objects and persons. However, personhood (as well as gender) can be distinguished in writing. The normal pronoun for he, {{lang|zh|他}}, is also used in generic cases. The radical {{lang|zh|亻}} ({{transliteration|zh|rén}}) marks personhood (distinct from non-human referents), not simply gender alone. The radical in {{lang|zh|祂}}, {{lang|zh|礻}} ({{transliteration|zh|shì}}), marks the "elevated personhood" of divinity, without implying anything about the gender of the divinity referred to.{{cite book |title=The Translation of the Bible Into Chinese: The Origin and Unique Authority of the Union Version |publisher=Pickwick Publications |last=Peng |first=Ann Cui'an |date=2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LBUtEAAAQBAJ&dq=christian+standard+bible+translators+chinese+gender+pronoun&pg=PA163 |page=81 |isbn=9781532675669 |access-date=27 September 2023}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
- Kimbrough, ST Jr.. [http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jul1989/v46-2-tabletalk.htm 'Bible Translation and the Gender of God'.] Theology Today (1989): 195–202.
- Piper, John and Wayne A Grudem (eds). Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: [https://web.archive.org/web/20070731055737/http://www.cbmw.org/rbmw/rbmw.pdf A Response to Evangelical Feminism.] Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1991.
- Poythress, Vern Sheriden and Wayne A Grudem. The Gender-Neutral Bible Controversy: Muting the Masculinity of God's Words. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000.
- Poythress, Vern Sheriden. 'Gender in Bible Translation: Exploring a Connection with Male Representatives'. Westminster Theological Journal (1998): 225–53.
- Reimers, Paula. 'Feminism, Judaism, and God the Mother'. Conservative Judaism (1993).
{{ course assignment | course = Education Program:Louisiana State University/ENGL 2000: English Composition (Spring 2015) | term = 2015 Q1 }}
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