"The Bible is to be our main prayer book."Reading the Bible can be difficult, but getting the translation right and accurate is even more so. Because "if the Bible is a book that we have to bring to life and through which we hear God speak to us, then every detail of the translation is important," as James Prothro, professor of Theology and Sacred Scripture at the Augustine Institute.
Prothro explains in this interview some of the challenges faced by translators and provides tips on how to get the most out of the reading of the Bible.
Is there any idea or concept that Catholics should always keep in mind when reading or translating the Bible?
- Not one thing, but many. In the U.S., many Catholics do not care about the translation of the Bible and, if they care, all they ask is that it be theologically correct. This is good, but in the end they end up choosing the one they are most familiar with.
But I think it is good to keep two things in mind, which are very well explained in two encyclicals. One is "Providentissimus Deus"(1893) and the other, "Divino Afflante Spiritu" (1943).
In the first, Pope Leo XIII calls for a renewal of biblical studies. One of the things he says is that people should go back to the original languages and the ancient manuscripts. He says that the Vulgate is the official Bible of the Church and that it is substantially correct, but that doesn't mean that every single verse translated gives the best translation of what the author meant. But if you read the whole Vulgate, there are no deviations in Doctrine or morals. In 1943, Pius XII says the same thing. The Vulgate remains the official Bible of the Church, it is free of errors in faith and morals.
So why should we try to go back to the original languages? This is because if we believe that God inspired the authors as such, so that God makes statements and points us to the truth through what they teach, even if the translation is secure and doctrinally correct, it may not be giving us all that God originally intended to inspire.
Now, if you read the whole Vulgate you will not go astray in terms of Doctrine or morals, you will be on the right path.
Sometimes, with translations, I like to ask people to test them: what do you think reading the Bible is good for? We might think that's an easy answer, but no. If someone says that the reason we have the Bible is so we can read it and acquire the Bible. If someone says that the reason we have the Bible is so that we can read it and acquire doctrine, and then we can go and look for other sources, then they think that the Bible is not a book to live by, so as long as the translation is orthodox it will be fine.
On the contrary, if the Bible is a book that we have to bring to life and through which we hear God speak to us, then every detail of the translation is important. It is true that there will always be imperfections, but trying to interpret the mind of the human author in order to hear well the voice of the divine Author is really important. The Bible is a book that we must make alive and to which we must return again and again.
Language is alive and changes with society. Do you think Bible translations will have to change with languages and our society?
- I think so. If we think about the differences between Spanish in the fifteenth century and Spanish today, we can see that there are certain things that at the time were correct expressions but today have a different meaning.
For example, in English the word "silly" used to mean "clean" or "innocent". That is why there were songs and hymns about the "silly Virgin Mary", which would be translated as the "clean Virgin Mary", but today it means "the silly Virgin Mary".
The same goes for the language we translate into: because of changes in our languages we have to adjust things so that people hear the right thing. The same goes for ancient languages. I have spent a lot of time working with ancient Greek and if I use a dictionary that translates Greek from the time of Homer and then use it to translate the New Testament, I am going to get it wrong because the language changed over time.
Translating the Bible is very difficult, especially because of the different social situations of the people for whom it is written. If you want to make a translation that is really good to study, then it has to be accurate word for word. But that may not communicate the message well to those people who are not studying the Scriptures in depth, who are just listening or can't read.
So what kind of translation should we do? It depends on the audience you are writing for, because not only do languages change, there are also differences in people according to social groups.
One of my favorite examples of this is an indigenous tribe that had no sheep. The missionaries realized that they didn't even know what a sheep was nor could they associate the idea of a shepherd who cares, but they did have pigs. So they translated Jesus saying "I am the good shepherd who gives his life for the pigs". On the one hand, this helps them understand the affection of Christ and you speak to them in terms they understand. But on the other hand, in the Old Testament God singles out pigs as unclean and forbids the Jews to touch them. Therefore, you win and lose at the same time by making such a translation.
In short, when people ask me which translation of the Bible they should buy, I recommend that they buy two different ones, something that St. Augustine already said.
The Bible is originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Knowing this, it is very easy to lose the essence of the words used through translations. How can we know what God really intended?
I am going to go back to St. Augustine for this, which has to do with what we have said about seeking an orthodox translation of the Bible. St. Augustine says that if you read with faith, love God and love your neighbor, you can interpret even the most confusing passages in the best possible way. If reading the Bible does not lead you to pray or to love, you are not reading it well. For Augustine this is essential.
In any case, the definitive word of God is the Word, Jesus Christ. He shows us who God is, his salvation and his love. So if we know this Word, we can come to know the rest.
However, the next step for those who want to deepen their study of the Bible is to get a study edition or a commentary with notes that refer to the context and contain explanations.
Reading and understanding the Bible is sometimes difficult and confusing, so where is the best place to start?
There are many good answers to that question. I do not recommend starting at the beginning and reading all the way to the end, because it is easy to get lost in Leviticus. What I recommend, especially if the reader is a Christian with knowledge of the basics, is to start with the Gospels, especially Luke.
First of all, if we want to read the whole Bible in the light of Christ, the Gospels help us to begin well because they focus precisely on Him. On the other hand, since they are narratives, it is easy for them to resonate for us.
The Gospels are simpler than the letters of St. Paul, where it is assumed that the reader knows the story and discussions are opened about concrete ideas.
Exodus and Genesis are also good places to start, but they have certain things that may shock some readers. That's why I think starting with Jesus and the Gospels is best before reading the rest.
You have written about penance and reconciliation, could you explain how the idea of penance changes from the Old Testament to the New Testament? What meaning does it have for Catholics today?
To be brief, I will look at 2 Corinthians 3, where St. Paul contrasts the two Testaments. He does so in different ways, but he places special emphasis on the gift of the Holy Spirit sent by Christ.
If the Holy Spirit unites us to Christ and to the life of divine grace, then every act of penance unites us more closely to the death and resurrection of Christ. In the following passage, St. Paul speaks about the way to carry the death of Christ in us in order to put it at the service of life. All our sufferings can bring us closer to the glory of Heaven.
There are many things about penance that do not change from one Testament to another. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are very important, they are still essential. Both corporal and spiritual works of mercy are also found in both Testaments. The idea that rejecting oneself, whether through fasting or other penance, sanctifies us and teaches us to love is inscribed throughout Scripture.
And yet, by being united to the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins can be complete, we do not count only on an anticipation. Moreover, penance is not only a way of learning to love, it is a way of uniting ourselves to the love of Christ.
Do you think that in the future people will not understand certain references in the Bible because of social changes and advances? For example, by losing contact with nature, it is possible that in the future people will not know the figure of the shepherd.
-I think there are some things we will miss, but I insist on the idea of a good study Bible to explain the concepts to us. So we may not always be able to translate everything in the exact context. But we can explain it and people who want to know more will be able to do so thanks to history.
I also believe that ideas related to nature, even if we live in such a digital world, we will be able to preserve them thanks to good literature. But other concepts like love will become more complicated. The more we hold on to certain details of the Bible the more we tarnish them with our own interpretations. This is something we will have to work on, to redefine the concepts.
Do you think we would have to go back to studying Greek and Latin to read the Bible?
Let's see, I am a Greek teacher. I tell my students that studying ancient Greek is not for everyone. It requires a lot of memory work, you can't learn it by watching series with subtitles. But I will also tell you that I haven't met anyone who has told me that it wasn't worth it. They all say that learning Greek has helped them deepen their understanding of the Bible, increased their interest, or even changed the way they read it, even when it's translated.
