Working for the Word - a Bible translation podcast

A lot has been going on lately with Bible translation in my neck of the woods. In this episode I want to talk about my experience being a test pilot for some of the resources CDBR has been developing for the Psalms, and walk through a draft that I’ve been working on that's designed to guide translators step by step through the process of translating Hebrew poetry. My step by step doc (sorry for the mix of English and Spanish). My step by step doc in Spanish workingfortheword.com | my books | twitter | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook | contact | download all episodes for offline

As part of my growth as a Bible translation worker, I want to listen to a wide variety of people and different strategies, and not just to those who are within the echo chamber of people who think like me and agree with me.  This interview with Jane Schoen of SRG raises some big questions that have been debated for years about whether BT should be done by believers or unbelievers. The method she’ll describe for us is still essentially in a proof of concept phase, and it will be interesting to see how everything plays out ten to twenty years down the road.  There’s no doubt it’s a bit controversial, but it’s worth listening to and considering. Jane has a broad range of experience, and currently serves as the director of the unreached people groups fund for an organization called SRG, the Strategic Resource Group, which funds projects to reach unreached people groups in the Middle East and North Africa. workingfortheword.com | my books | twitter | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook | contact | download all episodes for offline

Does the Bible translation movement need a Dorean reformation? Do our organizations reflect a sense of urgency to eradicate Bible poverty to the point of casting off anything that hinders so that we can all run the race towards helping the Bibleless without friction or obstacles? Do they reflect the radical generosity of the heart of Jesus shown in the very Bible they are trying to get into the hands of every tribe and every nation? Or do they reflect the petty spirit of the world, grasping at pennies when they have already been generously provided for by the sacrificial offerings of God’s people? Donors give, expecting nothing in return. Shouldn’t those receiving the donations do the same at a minimum?  As I’ve said many times before, the goal of this podcast is to become more like the man of Psalm 1. The more you immerse yourself in the scriptures, the more you want to bear fruit like a tree planted by streams of water. Part of the fruit of what I want to see come from this podcast is that of greater movement towards God's word in all of our practices within Bible translation. To see more and more people take a stand with conviction on certain issues within the Bible translation movement, and not compromise just because a lot of people are doing it or there's a lot of money involved. The more you immerse yourself in Scripture like the man of Psalm 1, the more you realize how much it has to say about money. Jesus had more to say about money than heaven and hell and love combined. So I hope you'll forgive me for doing just one more podcast along these lines, to make a call for deeper thinking in this area, greater conviction, repentance, and ethical consistency. If you haven’t listened to the previous two episodes with Conley Owens, this episode won’t have enough context to make sense, so go ahead and make sure to listen to those episodes before you continue with this one. Read The Dorean Principle for free. Some of the websites mentioned: freegreek.online progress.bible ethnologue.org iblt.ac btconference.org open.bible A big thanks to Sarah Owens for lending her voice to the beginning of this episode. workingfortheword.com | my books | twitter | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook | contact | download all episodes for offline

Last episode we introduced the idea of "the dorean principle," which is explained in Conley Owens’ free book. We left the interview wondering how this applies to Bible translations and manuscripts, so we’re back to finish the conversation and apply Jesus’ principle of freely giving to those issues. We’ll also discuss how the concept of intellectual property is unbiblical, goes against natural law, and more. Visit https://thedoreanprinciple.org/ Join the facebook group to show your support. Against Intellectual Property Read Frame's and Poythress's blog posts along these lines here and here. David Clines' paper on the brokenness of current biblical academic publishing infrastructure. workingfortheword.com | my books | twitter | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook | contact | download all episodes for offline

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. workingfortheword.com | my books | twitter | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook | contact | download all episodes for offline

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 workingfortheword.com | my books | twitter | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook | contact | download all episodes for offline

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 workingfortheword.com | my books | twitter | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook | contact | download all episodes for offline

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 workingfortheword.com | my books | twitter | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook | contact | download all episodes for offline

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: aaron@horizonsinternational.org my books | twitter | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook | contact | download all episodes for offline

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. my books | twitter | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook | contact | download all episodes for offline