Cover not available

In:Key Cultural Texts in Translation
Edited by Kirsten Malmkjær, Adriana Şerban and Fransiska Louwagie
[Benjamins Translation Library 140] 2018
► pp. 299–313

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 17
Alterity, orality and performance in Bible translation

Published online: 16 May 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.140.17nau
Abstract
The Bible contains numerous features of alterity (aspects which reflect its “otherness” to modern readers) which are compounded by its cultural and generic diversity. Here, we examine alterity in Bible translation through the lens of Emmanuel Levinas’s concept of the Other, which he viewed as an equal rather than an inferior, and his insistence that oral, face-to-face encounters with the other are primary. Performance translation recreates the oral nature of the biblical text, providing a means both to encounter the alterity of the Bible in a meaningful way and to convey it to contemporary audiences. We use a liturgical psalm and a proverbial saying to illustrate the potential of performance translation in conveying the alterity of the Bible in translation.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Alterity, performance and Bible translation
    • 1.2Levinas on alterity and oral performance
  • 2.Psalm 24 as the performance of alterity
  • 3.Proverbs and the performance of wisdom
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
References (52)
References
Arduini, Stefano. 2004. “Similarity and difference in translation.” In Similarity and Difference in Translation, Stefano Arduini and Robert Hodgson, Jr., (Eds.), 7–14. New York: American Bible Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Benjamin, Mara H. 2009. Rosenzweig’s Bible: Reinventing Scripture for Jewish Modernity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Botha, Phil J. 1994 “Psalm 24: Unity in Diversity.” Old Testament Essays 7: 360–369Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. 1991. A Handbook on Psalms. [UBS Handbook Series: Helps for Translators.] New York: United Bible Societies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bühler, Karl. 1934. Sprachtheorie. Jena: Fischer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clines, David J. A. (Ed.) 2001. The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew. Vol. V. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Craigie, Peter C.. 1983. Psalms 1–50. [Word Biblical Commentary 19]. Waco, TX: Word Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crenshaw, James L. 2001. The Psalms: An Introduction. Grand Rapids : Eerdimans.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fox, Everett. 1995. The Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy [The Schocken Bible 1]. New York: Schocken Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. The Early Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. [The Schocken Bible 2]. New York: Schocken Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fox, Michael V. 2009. Proverbs 10–31: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries 18B. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gunkel, H Hermann. 1930/1967. The Psalms: A Form-Critical Introduction. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holladay, William L. 1993. The Psalms Through Three Thousand Years: Prayer book of a Cloud of Witnesses.Minneapolis: Fortress.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jakobson, Roman. 1960. “Closing Statement: Linguistics and Poetics.” In Style in Language, Thomas A. Sebeok (Ed.), 350–377. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kidner, Derek. 2009 Psalms 1–72 : An Introduction and Commentary. (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries). Downers Gover, IL: Intervarsity Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levinas, Emmanuel. 1970/1999. Alterity and Transcendence. [European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism.] New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1972/2006. Humanism of the Other. Nidra Poller (trans.). Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1974/1981. Otherwise than Being or Beyond Essence. Alphonso Lingis (trans.). The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Makutoane, Tshokolo J.; Cynthia L. Miller-Naudé and Jacobus A. Naudé. 2015. “Similarity and Alterity in Translating the Orality of the Old Testament in Oral Cultures.” Translation Studies, 8/2, 156–174. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maxey, James A. 2012. “Biblical Performance Criticism and Bible Translation: An Expanding Dialogue.” In Translating Scripture for Sound and Performance: New Directions in Biblical Studies. [Biblical Performance Criticism 6], James A. Maxey and Ernst R. Wendland (Eds.), 1–21. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miller, Cynthia L. 2005. “Translating biblical proverbs in African cultures: Between form and meaning.” The Bible Translator: Technical Papers, 56, 129–144.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miller-Naudé, Cynthia L. and Naudé, Jacobus A. 2010. “The translator as an agent of change and transformation: The case of translating biblical proverbs.” Old Testament Essays, 23, 306–321.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mowinckel, Sigmund. 1962/1992. The Psalms in Israel’s Worship. D.R. Ap-Thomas (trans.). Sheffield: JSOT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Naudé, Jacobus A. 1999. “A descriptive translation analysis of the Schocken Bible.” Old Testament Essays, 12, 73–93.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2005. “On the threshold of the next generation of Bible translations: Issues and trends.” Meta, 50(4), [URL] Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2010. “Iconicity and developments in translation studies.” Signergy [Iconicity in Language and Literature 9], C. Jac Conradie, et al. (Eds.), 387–411. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Naudé, Jacobus A., Miller-Naudé, Cynthia L. and Makutoane, Tshokolo J. 2017. Bible Translation in Postcolony Africa: Reclaiming Humanness through Bible Translation Performance. In Kobus Marais and Ilse Feinauer. Translation Studies Beyond the Postcolony. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press,154–209.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nida, Eugene A. and Taber, Charles R. 1969. The Theory and Practice of Translation. [Helps for Translators 8.] Leiden: Brill.
Nord, Christiane. 2001. “Bridging the cultural gap: Bible translation as a case in point.” Acta Theologica, 22, 98–116.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paloposki, Outi. 2011. “Domestication and foreignisation.” In Handbook of Translation Studies, vol. 2, Yves Gambier and Luc van Doorslaer (Eds.), 40–42. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peirce, Charles S. 1931–1958. Collected Papers, vols. 1–8. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Perry, Michael. 1989. The Dramatised Bible. London: Marshall Pickering and Harper Collins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pym, Anthony. 1996. “Venuti’s visibility” [review]. Target, 8, 165–177. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sabourin, Leopold. 1974. The Psalms: Their Origin and Meaning. New York: Alba House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schleiermacher, Friedrich. 1813/2012. “On the different methods of translation.” Translated by Susan Bernofsky. In The Translation Studies Reader, Lawrence Venuti (ed.), 43–63. 3rd edition. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Strauss, Mark. 2012. The relative merits of foreignisation and domestication in contemporary Bible translation. Presentation at the Society of Biblical Literature, Chicago, Illinois, 18 November 2012.
Sturge, Kate. 2007. Representing Others: Translation, Ethnography and the Museum. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sumner-Paulin, Catherine. 1995. “Traduction et culture: Quelques proverbes africains traduits.” Meta, 40(4), 548–555. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thompson, John Mark. 1974. The Form and Function of Proverbs in Ancient Israel. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence. 1995/2008. The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London and New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Walton, John H. 2011. Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weiser, Artur. 1962. The Psalms. [Old Testament Library]. London: SCM Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biblical versions cited
dē Keŋ, Buŋ. 2006. [Dinka Cam trial edition of translation of Proverbs]. 2006. Entebbe, Uganda: SIL Sudan-Entebbe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
The Common English Bible (CEB). Edited by Joel B. Green. 2013. Nashville: Abingdon.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Contemporary English Version (CEV). 1995. New York: American Bible Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dinka Rek Translation of the Book of Proverbs. 2000. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jam de Nhialic. [Dinka Rek Bible Translation]. 2011. Khartoum: Bible Society of Sudan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Good News Bible (GNB). 1994. 2nd edition. United Bible Societies.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
The Message. 2004. Translated by Eugene H. Peterson. Colorado Springs: NavPress.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moffat, James. 1935. A New Translation of the Bible. New York and London: Harper.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
New Living Translation (NLT). 2007. Tyndale House Foundation.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Today’s New International Version (TNIV). 2005. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

West, Gerald
2023. Textual Criticism, Literary Criticism, and State Capture: Returning 3 Reigns 12:24p–t to the Canon of Local African Communities. Journal for Semitics 32:2 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue