Translations of Sacred Texts and the Shaping, Reshaping and Circulation of Religious Knowledge in Monotheistic Religions with Written Traditions: A South African Perspective

Van Selms Memorial Lecture

Abstract

Translation is centrally important for religion in two ways. First, most religious communities encounter their sacred texts entirely through translations; and, second, religious texts as an object of study are usually read in translation by scholars of religion. The translation of sacred texts is problematic in terms of its nature (translation method/strategy, process, readership) and the status of the product (as authoritative sacred text). When the translation of sacred texts is institutionalised, translations are regulated with strict controls on translators, source texts, translation methods, and readership. On the one hand, regulation may entail forbidding all translation; on the other, regulation may focus on the source text resulting in a literal translation, which keeps the sacred text largely incomprehensible to the masses. When intercultural and interlinguistic comprehension of the text matters more than its linguistic form, more openness towards translation method results to the detriment of the principle that sacred texts should be heard, read, and understood as religious artefacts derived from their ancient cultural context. Furthermore, the future of a religion as a living historical tradition depends on the translation of its sacred texts for new contexts. Where a sacred text is well-known, the continual impulse for re-translation is driven by expanded readership, improvements of earlier translations, and remediation of misinterpretations and outdated language. Focusing on the South African context, examples are presented from the history of religious translation within the Jewish religious tradition, Christianity, and Isl?m, to illustrate the spreading, circulation, shaping and reshaping of religious knowledge by translation.