Sometimes the things I\u2019m learning in My Language lead to good theological questions as I try to think about whether a certain term could be used in Bible translation or teaching. Let me give you a few examples. I\u2019d love to hear your thoughts\/insights on these theological questions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Shepherds<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I learned two different words for \u201cfarmer\u201d recently. One is a farmer who has fields and grows things, and the other is a farmer who raises animals. (But the farmer with fields can also have a few animals, and the farmer with animals can also grow some crops.) Thinking about this, I wondered if the word for \u201cfarmer who raises animals\u201d could be somehow changed to express exactly what kind of animal they were raising. Specifically, I was wondering if there was a word for someone who raises sheep, a shepherd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best I\u2019ve gotten so far is a \u201csheep-owner.\u201d There is a suffix that can be added to many different words that means \u201cowner.\u201d For example, if you see someone walking down the street selling bananas, and you want to get her attention and buy some, you shout, \u201cbanana-owner!\u201d She\u2019ll (hopefully) hear you, come over, and sell you bananas. And that\u2019s the same word that you could use for a \u201csheep-owner\u201d or a \u201ccow-owner.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now here is the theological question: would this word, \u201csheep-owner,\u201d be a good term to use for \u201cshepherd\u201d in the Bible? What do we know of the shepherds in the Bible, and especially of the Good Shepherd, that could help us answer that question?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Teacher<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus is also called the Good Teacher. So the other day, as we were talking about students and learning and such, I sought the word for \u201cteacher.\u201d And I found two different words:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. The French-speaking teacher of children in western-style education. This is a word borrowed from French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. The Arabic-speaking teacher of children in the religious practices of the majority religion here.\u00a0 He also teaches at their place of worship.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if this word is borrowed from another language or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I wonder which word I should use to describe Jesus. Is He like a school teacher, or like a majority religion religious teacher? Or neither? I think I\u2019ll have to learn more about the culture and the connotations associated with both of these words, as well as a teacher at the time of Jesus, before I can choose a word. Lots of learning to do!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Save\/Salvation<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another day I was telling the story of a man who heard a noise outside, saw a snake wrapping itself around a small antelope, took the snake and put it in a bag, and let the small antelope run away (it\u2019s a true story, by the way \u2013 it was about a 9 foot python!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, I tried to find a new word: \u201cWhat did the man do to the small antelope? The man took the snake. The snake did not eat the small antelope. The small antelope ran away. The small antelope was very happy. What did the man do to the small antelope?\u201d In my simple language ability, I was trying to see if there was a word for \u201csave\u201d that would be used in that circumstance. I bet you can understand why I\u2019d want that word!<\/p>\n\n\n\n My language helper ended up giving me an expression: \u201cd\u025bs\u025b tr\u025b.\u201d (Sorry, I don\u2019t know how to spell it yet. They don\u2019t have an alphabet yet. It\u2019s on the to-do list.) Then he explained the two pieces:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTr\u025b\u201d is a word I had heard the day before when a child who couldn\u2019t quite walk on her own took a few steps, holding onto both of my hands. My language helper wanted her to come to him, so wanted her to let go of my hands and grab his hands. \u201cTr\u025b.\u201d \u201cLet go.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cD\u025bs\u025b\u201d was a new word for me, so my language helper acted it out for me. He had me hold onto a pen hard, then he tried to wrench it out of my hand. When I could no longer hold onto it, and I had to let him have it, he had \u201cd\u025bs\u025b\u201dd it. So it seems to have some idea of using force to take something\/get something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So when we put \u201cd\u025bs\u025b\u201d together with \u201ctr\u025b,\u201d it seems to give the idea of using force to get someone to give something up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you think about the theological implications of using such an expression for \u201csalvation\u201d in the New Testament? Honestly, I haven\u2019t thought about it a lot yet, but my first impressions are that it could actually work quite well and be a great picture of the effort Jesus went through to save us. But then I wonder who would be doing the \u201ctr\u025b\u201ding, the letting go, here. Would Jesus be pulling us out of the grips of Satan? Of the sin nature? Or out of God\u2019s own condemnation? Not only do I need to understand the expression better in My Language, but I need to study the depths of Scripture so that I don\u2019t accidently teach false doctrine. What do you think about this expression and whether it could be used in translation\/teaching?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4.<\/strong><\/em> Demons<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Today my language helper was telling me a story that his religious teacher (the second type of teacher mentioned above) told while giving a sermon. In it, Satan was active, and at one point Satan called all of his children and asked them to come up with a way to make a godly man pray to him, Satan. It was ultimately one of his youngest children who came up with the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What, Satan has kids? When I heard what the \u201cchildren of Satan\u201d were doing in the story, it sounded like the work of demons \u2013 angels who chose to follow Satan instead of God. So on first glance, though it seems weird, maybe I could translate \u201cdemon\u201d as \u201cchild of Satan.\u201d But I think that that gets into some very wrong theology, don\u2019t you? Unless, of course, the expression \u201cchild of ___\u201d actually has a wider connotation. I\u2019ll have to keep my ears pealed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n (By the way, this is a good reminder to myself why it\u2019s actually really good for me to learn the language, and not just rely on translators.\u00a0 If I asked for a word for \u201csave,\u201d for example, they could give me a word that had connotations that wouldn\u2019t match with those of the Biblical word.\u00a0 By understanding both the language and culture better, I can make sure that the teaching and translation is as clear and accurate as possible.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes the things I\u2019m learning in My Language lead to good theological questions as I try to think about whether a certain term could be used in Bible translation or teaching. Let me give you a few examples. I\u2019d love to hear your thoughts\/insights on these theological questions! 1. Shepherds I learned two different words […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":945,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/susie-l\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/susie-l\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/susie-l\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/susie-l\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/945"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/susie-l\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/susie-l\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/susie-l\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/susie-l\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/susie-l\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}