As we continue to make our way through Roger Ferlo’s book, Opening the Bible, our third gathering took up the topics of two chapters: (Ch. 4) “Comparing Translations,” and (Ch. 5) “Interpreting the Explanatory Notes.” Again, perhaps a bit “technical” in its subject matter, but understanding the process of translation from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek to our native languages, with some of the complexity and the “loss of translation” involved in the process, will help the reader to appreciate the original text and be open-minded to a few different meanings of the original author’s “hearing” from their prayerful inspiration.

“Comparing Translations” opens with a thoughtful warning: “Among the pitfalls of reading the Bible in English is forgetting that you are reading a translation…an informed respect for the variety of ancient languages and cultural presuppositions in the Bible is indispensable for understanding the meaning of the texts.” They say you cannot really know a language and fully appreciate the culture, society, and people of that language until you begin to dream in that language. I don’t think many of us will be dreaming in Hebrew or Greek anytime soon, so a translation is our path to holy Scripture! As long as we take Ferlo’s words of caution to heart, we remain on safe ground for our studies. The chapter discusses the benefits of comparing several translations, as biblical scholars may have opted to use subtly different meanings for their translations, and the comparison method can give the reader some important insights to the breadth and depth of the original meaning. Also, be on the lookout for notes in your Bible, or annotations of small letters with notes that call out alternative meanings or differences discovered in ancient transcripts. These notes can also give depth of meaning to words and phrases. Ferlo spends some time discussing different methods of translations…perhaps the most important being the decision to focus on “literal word meaning” or the “spirit of the meaning.” In either approach, translators must make decisions. We experience this every day, often without giving it any thought. For example, if you found yourself translating for a foreign friend who asked you what on earth, “Oh yea, I’m having a great time!!” could possibly mean when said by a person covered in mud?..you may immediately think to yourself: was the person involved in a joyful game of making mud-pies at a park with their kids; or was there an extreme sport of “mudding” going on; or perhaps someone was doused with dirty water from a passing car and sarcasm was being used? All of these are possibilities, and a deeper understanding of context and linguistic use/grammar may give clues; but these are the challenges of the translators. A final thought for this section involves the more modern desire to create “gender neutral” language for God, for heavenly realms, and other divine things that are far more complex and mysterious than our human brains and language can capture. Our desire to correct a seeming error in the masculine pronouns of the ancient text do help some folks to break free of the masculine images that often dominate, but the neutral replacements can foster a distance to the subjects of the story and make them feel less intimate and slowly become objects of our imagination rather than living and loving beings of our lives. Ferlo writes, “it may well be that the makers of the inclusive version attempt to do in translation what should really be done through teaching, preaching, and living example.” I think Ferlo is on to something here, for God is a God of relationship and love, so we know God best through relationship and living life with other children of God.

The chapter discussing, “Interpreting the Explanatory Notes,” takes up the task of reviewing the notes found in the Bible and reviewing the many parts of scholarly work that are behind those notes, and the variety of scholarly work. Ferlo begins his discussion by explaining the Jewish tradition of Talmud – a process of Oral Law that was recorded in writing. Talmudic studies is the thoughtful and prayerful process of studying these documents and their meaning. These studies are most often done in group settings, “the task of Jewish study is to create community among Jews through time via language. And that community found its model in the structure of the Talmud page itself, with its many voices.” (p. 71) The Christian process that follows similar studies may be found in ancient documents from the Middle Ages, attached to the Latin translation of the Bible and known as Glossa ordinaria. These documents may serve biblical scholars today, but most Christians do not study these ancient Middle Aged notes any longer. The process of following these notes brought the reader into a four-fold study of the Bible: (1) literal meaning, (2) allegorical meanings, (3) moral meanings, (4) mystical meanings. The four-fold process created heavy layers of meaning that often seemed to build up walls around the Bible’s approachability to anyone other than scholars. The Reformation was a time to break down these walls, and a strong counter reaction began where the Bible was thought to be read by its own words, plain and simple. The strict simple reading of the Bible seemed to strip the ancient Scriptures of some of its context and complexity…the typical Anglican view found meaning in a center point of these extremes, which is used to this day. The Anglican view of reading and understanding the Bible believes in the simple words of the Bible itself, but also looks toward the Christian tradition for generations of understanding, and finally, uses the gift of human reason to seek deeper truths in our human experience or in the works of God’s creation that may help us to better understand the lessons of the Bible: this three-fold method is often simply noted as, “Scripture, Tradition, and Reason.”