As we’ve discussed multiple times in this podcast, the world of Bible translation is severely hindered by the status quo of locking up biblical resources under a "Copyright, All Rights Reserved" system. The global Church suffers tremendously because of this as well, and they only receive the crumbs that fall off the table of the rich Western Christian publishing industry. There is no longer a distinction between the world and the Church in the practice of monetizing everything–even gospel ministry and the resources needed to make Bible translation truly succeed and be sustainable. So I’m deeply thankful that someone has finally published a book that directly addresses the problem of the commercialization of Christianity. We’re going to talk to him over the next two episodes and see what we can learn.

Read or listen to The Dorean Principle for free in multiple formats here.

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How do you keep track of the status of over 7,000 languages in the world? Our guest today, Dr. Dave Eberhard, is going to help us with that question, which is an important one for the world of Bible translation. Because you don’t want to end up investing hundreds of thousands of dollars and twenty years of work on a language that will die before you finish, while neglecting other languages that are in full health. This is a serious issue that many fail to consider, so let’s talk about it.

Learn more about Dr. Eberhard

Visit the Ethnologue

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Some of you may be wondering what happened to me, so here’s a brief update with a few potentially interesting tidbits.

Deep Work by Cal Newport

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As we wrap up this series on the Bible in Arabic, I want delve a little deeper into the issue of how BT orgs are handling the issue of Muslim Idiom Translations today. That way hopefully we can have more informed conversations about a healthy way forward and know how to pray for Bible translation in Arabic and other Muslim-dominant languages. We also want to look at how these orgs are communicating or not communicating openly about these things with financial partners, and see what we can learn.

For this episode I’m going to be quoting at length from a forthcoming publication by linguist, Bible translator, and former Mormon Seth Vitrano-Wilson (listen to a previous episode with him here).

The Arlington Statement on Bible Translation

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What are the underlying assumptions that might influence our choice of how to translate the Bible into Arabic, and also in other Muslim contexts? We’re going to step back in this episode and try to understand what presuppositions might be driving certain ideas in this debate. In order to do that, Dr. Aaron Shryock has kindly agreed to contribute his perspective. This will be interesting, because I’m sure there are a lot of people who would disagree strongly with his view, but I hope that we can all learn together by listening and trying to empathize with different convictions and positions in the world of translation.

Books Aaron recommends:

Translating the Bible in Plain Language by de Jong

Muslim Conversions to Christ

Aaron’s website

Aaron’s email: [email protected]

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We’ve heard from some significant voices on translation issues in Arabic and other Muslim contexts, but so far we haven’t been able to sit down with a native speaker of Arabic and hear their perspective. As D.A. Carson said, it’s important to listen to people from the Middle East, rather than focus our attention only on Western opinions. So that’s what we’re going to do in this episode. Georges Houssney is our guest, and he grew up in Lebanon and he’s an author. He has vast experience in missions, Bible translation, linguistics, and engaging Islam. He is also the president of Horizons International mission.

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In the spring of 2012, the World Evangelical Alliance leadership agreed to facilitate an independent external review of Wycliffe and SIL International’s practice of the translation of the words for “God the Father” and “Son of God.” The review was intended to focus on SIL’s Statement of Best Practices for Bible Translation of Divine Familial Terms, to set boundaries for theologically acceptable translation methodology particularly in Muslim contexts, and to suggest how to implement the recommendations practically. We're going to work through this 30-page document together and see what we can learn.

Read the whole document from the WEA here.

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Last episode we saw how the controversy unfolded over translating "Son of God" and "Father" in reference to God in the Arabic-speaking world and among other large Muslim groups. Now we want to focus on what biblical theology is at stake in the translation of divine familial terms. For this we get the privilege of listening to D.A. Carson talk about some of the content in his book titled Jesus the Son of God: A Christological Title Often Overlooked, Sometimes Misunderstood, and Currently Disputed published in 2012 mainly to address the controversy. 

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In the last episode we saw that contemporary Bible translators in Muslim contexts face some unique challenges. We also saw how the particular challenges in evangelizing the Islamic world can lead to creative ways of contextualization that may end up being harmful, deceptive, or simply unbiblical in different ways. Now we want to set the stage for understanding the broader history of the brouhaha that erupted out of the issue of making Islamized Bible translations that are more conducive to Insider Movements missiology. We’re going to trace more of the academic debate, as well as the events surrounding the biggest recent controversy in BT.

Read Donald Lowe's full article in Muslim Conversions to Christ: A Critique of Insider Movements in Islamic Contexts.

The report on Divine Familial Terms from the WEA.

The Divine Familial Terms Procedures Guide from the WEA.

The Executive Summary of the Divine Familial Terms Translation Procedures from the WEA.

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As we continue to learn about the story of the Bible in Arabic, we need to look at what the particular contemporary challenges are to translating the Bible in Muslim contexts, as well as understand missiological trends that affect the way people might translate. These are not always easy things to grasp with nuance and wisdom, which perhaps is why some organizations have banned their members from any public discussion of the issues. So we’re going to do our best to patiently explore these things and see what we can learn–and hopefully proceed with humility and fairness by God’s grace.

Article referenced: Challenges Facing Bible Translation in the Islamic Context of the Middle East by Issa Diab published in "The Bible Translator" journal.

Article by Rebecca Lewis

Video from Biblical Missiology 

John Piper interview 

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