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Making the Bible Accessible to Everyone

Dr. Joel D. Ruark is a biblical scholar and freelance author, specializing in Biblical Hebrew linguistics and pedagogy. He takes a strong secondary interest in Christian theology and spirituality of the medieval period, especially the life and work of the Cistercian monk William of St Thierry.

Threads
Mattie E. G.
Reading the NYTimes Book Review this past Sunday and came across a book by Emily Wilson, The Wine Dark Sea, about translating ancient texts.  (She herself has translated The Iliad and The Odyssey.)  She (and the reviewer, Jennifer Szalai, when referring to or quoting Wilson) says some really interesting things:
1.  A literal translation may not be the best.  It is important to attend to how a text feels as well. Trying to be neutral and literal can be accurate, but "off."
2. "Translating archaic texts is a formidable task.  How does one recreate an experience using an entirely different language in an entirely different era and context?"
3. Especially when "every word and phrase carries with it a tangle of cultural assumptions and connotations."

She says this challenge should not lead us to give up, but to engage further with the text - "open ourselves to the surprise of the past, and allow it to change us."  

I jus thought much of what she is talking about is so applicable to our work on Genesis.  

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