Journal: Bulletin for Biblical Research
Volume: BBR 15:2 (NA 2005)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

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BBR 15:2 (2005) p. 307

Book Reviews

Bible Translation on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century: Authority, Reception, Culture and Religion. Edited by A. Brenner and J. W. van Henten. JSOTSup 353. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002. Pp. 207. ISBN 0-82646-029-1. $115.00.

This edited volume serves as the culmination of efforts by participants in the May 2000 colloquium entitled Bible Translations on the Threshold of the Twenty- First Century: Issues of Translation Authority in Religious Beliefs and Cultural Reception, sponsored by the Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in cooperation with The Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA). This pleasantly eclectic collection of essays and responses dealing with Bible translation covers a diversity of topics ranging from theoretical concerns to translational practice, from linguistic matters to theological considerations, from traditional approaches to more innovative offerings, and from translation in the academic world to translation in the public realm. The volume provides a depth of perspectives—and at times competing perspectives—on numerous issues central to the discipline, because contributors to the dialogue fall into three general categories, including Bible translators themselves, producers and disseminators of these translations (such as those involved with the numerous Bible societies), and the so-called “professional consumers” or scholars who often serve as the critics of translations.

The list of essays include S. Noorda’s “New and Familiar: The Dynamics of Bible Translation”; J. Rogerson’s “Can a Translation of the Bible Be Authoritative?” (responded to by J. Frishman); S. Crisp’s “Icon of the Ineffable?: An Orthodox View of Language and Its Implications for Bible Translation” (with the respondent L. J. De Regt); R. P. Carroll’s “Between Lying and Blasphemy or On Translating a Four-Letter Word in the Hebrew Bible: Critical Reflections on Bible Translation” (responded to by A. Brenner); L. Sanneh’s “Domesticating the Transcendent. The African Transformation of Christianity: Comparative Reflections on Ethnicity and Religious Mobilization in Africa” (with respondent T. Witvliet); J. Punt’s “Translating the Bible in South Africa: Challenges to Responsibility and Contextuality” (responded to by W. J. C. Weren); M. P. Korsak’s “Translating the Bible: Bible Translation and Gender Issues” (with a response by C. Vander Stichele); E. Fox’s “The Translation of Elijah: Issues and Challenges” (with the respondent being A. J. C. Verheij); and lastly, A. Berlin’s “On Bible Translations and Commentaries.”

In general, the essays tend to be of a more practical rather than theoretical nature. However, while the expressed context of the colloq...

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