Poor translation of last Sunday's epistle

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cactus
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Cactus

Guest
In last Sunday’s epistle reading from 1 Corinthians 6, a phrase “avoid immorality” is used repeatedly. It is from the NAB translation. All other translations I’ve seen render this expression as “Flee fornication” or “Flee sexual immorality”. In my parish, the pastor used this term and the subsequent reference to our bodies being the “temple of the Holy Spirit” as an occasion to speak against overweight people. While few would contend that obesity is a good thing, his interpretation flagrantly contravened the clear intent of the Scripture. It’s no wonder our values and priorities are all out of whack when such a vague message is delivered from the pulpit.

Here’s a post I ran across that pointed out this watering down very effectively:

blog.adw.org/2012/01/a-thoroughly-watered-down-text-signifying-almost-nothing-a-brief-rant-on-the-translation-of-the-epistle-from-last-sunday/
 
Gluttony is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Dante’s “Inferno” depicts people suffering in Hell for no reason other than they were intemperate in their eating habits.

Still, it seems like really bad judgment to give a homily about the sin of being fat.

Bible translating is a tricky matter. There is no perfect translation. No one today knows exactly and perfectly what the Bible texts are meant to mean in every word and verse. If you lived 500 more years, and if you really knew studied the Bible in the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek you would never see a completely satisfying translation of the Bible, and neither would this bother you.
 
YoungTradCath said:
I don’t know. After being engrossed in wonderful Russian literature for six hours straight, you can’t really formulate sentences anymore.
Click to expand...
Now that deserves an ulybayushchee litso 🙂

Back on topic: Sometimes I think that the translation that is read in Church is the skimmed milk of Bible translations.
 
DaveBj said:
Now that deserves an ulybayushchee litso 🙂

Back on topic: Sometimes I think that the translation that is read in Church is the skimmed milk of Bible translations.
Click to expand...
What a beautiful sentence. 👍
 
Bartolome_Casas said:
Bible translating is a tricky matter. There is no perfect translation. No one today knows exactly and perfectly what the Bible texts are meant to mean in every word and verse. If you lived 500 more years, and if you really knew studied the Bible in the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek you would never see a completely satisfying translation of the Bible, and neither would this bother you.
Click to expand...
Fair points but even the Greek is becoming more and more suspect as they’re finding gross inaccuracies in those translations from the (newly discovered?) Aramaic.

[edited]
 
Cactus said:
In last Sunday’s epistle reading from 1 Corinthians 6, a phrase “avoid immorality” is used repeatedly. It is from the NAB translation. All other translations I’ve seen render this expression as “Flee fornication” or “Flee sexual immorality”. In my parish, the pastor used this term and the subsequent reference to our bodies being the “temple of the Holy Spirit” as an occasion to speak against overweight people. While few would contend that obesity is a good thing, his interpretation flagrantly contravened the clear intent of the Scripture. It’s no wonder our values and priorities are all out of whack when such a vague message is delivered from the pulpit.

Here’s a post I ran across that pointed out this watering down very effectively:

blog.adw.org/2012/01/a-thoroughly-watered-down-text-signifying-almost-nothing-a-brief-rant-on-the-translation-of-the-epistle-from-last-sunday/
Click to expand...
One could certainly argue that “avoid immorality” in an inferior translation than “avoid fornication” or “flee sexual immorality” or the like. However, it is abundantly clear from the context that the immorality being referred to in the NAB translation is sexual immorality. There is no other interpretation based on the context of the statement.

However, that being said, the basic theology of the body as a temple of Holy Spirit does reach out and touch areas beyond sexuality.
 
YoungTradCath said:
I don’t know. After being engrossed in wonderful Russian literature for six hours straight, you can’t really formulate sentences anymore.
Click to expand...
You might want to elongate your post-Russian-literature cleanse before inflicting yourself on a theology forum… 👍
 
Tridentinum said:
One question: Why don’t they just use the Douay Rheims?
Click to expand...
It would keep royalties from being paid to the NACB for their NAB translation used in the missalettes. I know, it’s hard to believe that we pay (month after month) for their inadequate, inferior translation work. Even though we’re allowed to use the RSV or the Jerusalem Bible for the Mass in English, I’ve never seen anything but the NAB for use in the United States.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top