Retranslating the Bible and the Qur'an - (Translation, Interpreting and Transfer) by Pieter Boulogne & Marijke H de Lang & Joseph Verheyden

Book Synopsis

Despite the lively scholarly discourse on retranslation and its manifest value for uncovering dynamics of cultural change, interpretation, and reception, the retranslation of religious texts has received only fragmented attention in recent years. By spanning both historical and current aspects, and by treating the Bible - both Jewish and Christian - and the Qur'an together, this book breaks new ground and paves the way for future research on the myriad discursive and religious aspects of retranslation.

This carefully curated collection of articles compellingly argues that the retranslation of canonical religious texts is a multi-faceted phenomenon. With cases ranging in time from the early Reformation to the present, and traversing linguistic contexts from Russia to Sweden, Slovenia to Saudi Arabia, the essays capture diverse dimensions of retranslation work. The collection demonstrates that retranslations of such texts manifest in different forms, depending on the religious, political and societal circumstances, the targeted audiences, and the status of existing translations. Their reception too may vary highly, depending on circumstances. Authored by specialists in the different fields of retranslation of the Bible and the Qur'an, each contribution outstandingly illustrates this complexity and offers fresh perspectives and innovative insights that help lay the groundwork for future research in this area of study.

Contributors: Naima Afif (University of Copenhagen), Pieter Boulogne (KU Leuven), Helge Daniëls (KU Leuven), Sameh Hanna (United Bible Societies), Yazid Haroun (University of Birmingham), Rim Hassen (independent scholar), Hilla Karas (Bar-Ilan University), Elvira Kulieva (University of Freiburg), Marijke H. de Lang (United Bible Societies), Christian Moe (independent scholar), Johanna Pink (University of Freiburg), Richard Pleijel (Stockholm University), Sohaib Saeed (Ibn 'Ashur Centre for Quranic Studies), Alexey B. Somov (Institute for Bible Translation), Joseph Verheyden (KU Leuven), Andy Warren-Rothlin (United Bible Societies), Marija Zlatnar Moe (University of Ljubljana)

Review Quotes

50-odd years after Eugene Nida, this volume forms a welcome update on the conceptual and practical complexities that arise when sacred texts are interpreted for diverse audiences, in various translations. The volume auspiciously extends its views to Qur'an translations, including in the West, and Bible translations in the Muslim world, combining historical approaches with contemporary issues, while interrogating the traditional dichotomies of translation and untranslatability, verbum e verbo and sensum de sensu, formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence, authority and modernity. Whereas its focus on retranslation brings new approaches to the study of canonicity in Christian, Hebrew and Islamic traditions, sacred texts have remained largely unexplored in retranslation studies. A must-read for anyone interested in the translation and interpretation of religious texts and / or the relationship between retranslation and canonicity. - Kris Peeters, University of Antwerp

This high quality volume offers a fascinating range of perspectives on constructing and challenging authority in the triangle of tensions between sacred source texts, their translations and retranslations, as these tensions play out in Jewish, Christian and Islamic communities in various times and places, from the undermining of the authority of the Holy Vulgate in early Humanism and Reformation to Kader Abdollah's retranslation of the Holy Qur'an as a literary masterpiece. - Lourens de Vries, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

About the Author

Pieter Boulogne holds a PhD in Slavonic Studies from KU Leuven and is Assistant Professor of Russian Studies and Translation Studies at KU Leuven. He is a member of the Board of CETRA, the KU Leuven Centre for Translation Studies.

Marijke H. de Lang completed her PhD at Leiden University. She is a translation consultant with the United Bible Societies, advising and supporting Bible translation projects in Europe, Turkey and the former Soviet Union.

Joseph Verheyden is Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies at KU Leuven, Director of the Leuven Centre for the Study of the Gospels (LCSG), the Louvain Centre for Eastern and Oriental Christianity (LOCEOC), Polemikos - The Centre for Religious Polemics, and a former member of the steering committee of CETRA.