Recently I have been reading a new book by James Davison Hunter entitled To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World. Hunter, a professor at U of Virginia is a professor of religion, culture, and social theory who has written a number of books, including a few on the decline of morals in America. In this book, he traces the history of the way religious groups have shaped culture and how culture has pushed back on these groups to influence them (religious right, religious left, anabaptists). In Essay III of his book, he moves toward answering the question how Christians are to live faithfully amidst a culture that bears its weight upon them/against them in every sphere of life. To do this, he wisely states that we must understand the character of our times to know how to be faithful (197). In doing so, he gets into the discussion that we all come up sooner or later regarding the nature of pluarlism in America. What is pluralism? Pluralism for Hunter is, "nothing more than the simulataneous presence of multiple cultures and those who inhabit those cultures" (200). Hunter can at times be overtly general at the beginning of his chapters while taking us into the waters of pluralism in the next pages. Part of the difficulty for the Christian in a pluralistic setting is the nature of language, religious language.
Hunter goes on to say, "Consider, for example, "God-talk." In a predominatly religious culture it is relatively easy to integrate the language of faith into the discourse of everyday life -commerce, education, civic life, and so forth. But in a culture that is characterized by the simultaneous presence and interaction of different linguistic communities, this kind of speech becomes less probable because it is indecipherable to those outside the community of faith" (203).
Hunter brings to mind the language and action of the Puritans. Religious language was part and parcel of their everday affairs from politics to house cleaning, worship to work. Yet, in our pluralistic culture the language of Christianity has gotten lost in the midst of competing claims (truth claims, worldview claims, cultural claims). So what next? How do faithful Christians expose their faith to various linguistic communities?
The work of translation is the primary way in which faithful Christians can bring hope to myriad of communities in which we live. Translation is not just a sweet idiom for making new translation of the Bible into the languages of other people groups. The process of translation is taking the existing linguistic, cultural, and spiritual capital of a people and wedding the narrative of the biblical story to it in such a way that people understand the message. Whether people fully grasp such terminology as wrath, propitiation, atonement, ascension, resurrection is not in the end our goal. The goal is to faithfully embody the message of the gospel narrative in such a way as to draw people into the story that God has been telling from the beginning. Secondly, if we are truly engaging the story of the Bible in the process of translation, we do not lose the core center of the story (Jesus Christ), but make people aware of the whole narrative. Stories captivate the imagination, bring tears to the eyes, and pull at the emotional centers of our heart. The narrative of the Scriptures should be no different in its intent and application.
Hunter goes on to say, "Consider, for example, "God-talk." In a predominatly religious culture it is relatively easy to integrate the language of faith into the discourse of everyday life -commerce, education, civic life, and so forth. But in a culture that is characterized by the simultaneous presence and interaction of different linguistic communities, this kind of speech becomes less probable because it is indecipherable to those outside the community of faith" (203).
Hunter brings to mind the language and action of the Puritans. Religious language was part and parcel of their everday affairs from politics to house cleaning, worship to work. Yet, in our pluralistic culture the language of Christianity has gotten lost in the midst of competing claims (truth claims, worldview claims, cultural claims). So what next? How do faithful Christians expose their faith to various linguistic communities?
The work of translation is the primary way in which faithful Christians can bring hope to myriad of communities in which we live. Translation is not just a sweet idiom for making new translation of the Bible into the languages of other people groups. The process of translation is taking the existing linguistic, cultural, and spiritual capital of a people and wedding the narrative of the biblical story to it in such a way that people understand the message. Whether people fully grasp such terminology as wrath, propitiation, atonement, ascension, resurrection is not in the end our goal. The goal is to faithfully embody the message of the gospel narrative in such a way as to draw people into the story that God has been telling from the beginning. Secondly, if we are truly engaging the story of the Bible in the process of translation, we do not lose the core center of the story (Jesus Christ), but make people aware of the whole narrative. Stories captivate the imagination, bring tears to the eyes, and pull at the emotional centers of our heart. The narrative of the Scriptures should be no different in its intent and application.
Comments
Post a Comment