Translating the English Bible : from relevance to deconstruction / Philip W. Goodwin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goodwin, Philip.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible--Translating.

Bible.

Bible--English--Versions.

Equivalence (Linguistics).

Physical Description:

244 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : James Clarke, 2013.

Summary:

In his detailed and thought-provoking work, Philip Goodwin conducts a thorough analysis of the challenges facing the Biblical translator, with particular focus on the problematic dominance of the King James Version of the Bible in our imaginations - a dominance which has had a deleterious effect upon the accuracy and originality of the translator's work. Goodwin considers the first two chapters of the Lukan narratives in depth, comparing and contrasting a breadth of widely disparate translations and drawing on a rich body of Biblical scholarship to support his thesis. A wide-ranging discussion of other linguistic issues is also conducted, touching on such vital matters as incorporating the contextual implications of the original text, and the attempt to challenge the reader's pre-existing knowledge. Goodwin evolves a fresh and comprehensive answer to the difficulties of the translator's task, and concludes by providing his own original and charming translation of the first two chapters of Luke's Gospel. Translating the English Bible provides a fascinating insight into the processes of translation and will interest anyone seeking accuracy and fidelity to the Scriptural message. It will also enlighten readers seeking a challenging translation of Luke that casts off the shackles of the 'Holy Marriage' tradition of Biblical translation. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter 1 The Holy Marriage 15

David Daniell and the lost art of translation 15

The rules of the art 17

The problem of fidelity 21

The curse of the Holy Marriage 24

The need for theory 35

What kind of theory? 38

Chapter 2 Challenging the Holy Marriage: Relevance Theory and translation 42

What is Relevance Theory? 42

Interpretive resemblance 51

Relevance Theory of Translation (RTT) 52

Why Relevance Theory? 54

How RTT is used in the present work 64

Chapter 3 Start as you mean to go on? Syntax in Luke 1.1-4 75

The Source text: relevance in context? 75

Contextual implications from Luke's preface 86

Translating Luke's preface 90

Some other translations 110

Towards a relevant translation 113

Chapter 4 When is a priest not a priest? The semantics of ιερευς in Luke 1 121

The case of a certain priest: ιερευς τις 122

Achieving relevance in context 123

ιερευς in translation 127

Challenging the consensus 128

The persistence of the ιερος γαμος tradition 131

Alternative translations for ιερευς 136

Chapter 5 Still looking for clues 150

Clues arising from semantic representations 151

Clues arising from syntactic properties 152

Clues arising from phonetic properties 154

Clues arising from semantic constraints on relevance 160

Clues arising from formulaic expressions 161

Clues arising from onomatopoeia 165

Clues arising from stylistic value of words 167

Clues arising from sound-based poetic qualities 170

Are there other clues? 171

Uses and abuses of communicative clues 183

Chapter 6 Repetitive texture and four kinds of literalism 186

Repetitive texture 186

Repetitive texture in translation 189

Concordance: a non-topic? 190

Concordance and literalism 192

Four motivations for literalism 193

The perfect translation 209

Final remarks: The experimental translation 214.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [226]-236) and index.

ISBN:

0227173910

9780227173916

OCLC:

805050894

Publisher Number:

99954659023