For Christians from New Testament times on, the Bible has almost everywhere been a translated Bible. For eighteen centuries it was normally translated into new languages by native speakers, but with the beginning of the nineteenth century and the modern missionary movement came a burst of missionary translation around the world. As missionary churches were established and as societies worldwide were affected by the gospel, people studied the translations, preached from them, and recounted stories to their children. In many societies these translations were the foundation for Christian communities, for theology (including indigenous theologies), and a powerful stimulus to modernization and even secularization reaching beyond the Christian community.Smalley contends that the theological presuppositions of these missionary translators varied widely. He argues that some missionary translators were insightful scholars who probed deeply into the languages and cultures in which they were working; others were unable to transcend the perspective their own culture prescribed for them. Earlier missionaries did not always have a clearly formulated theory of translation or an understanding of what they were doing and why. Eventually, however, a theoretical model was developed, a model that the majority of translators (both missionary and nonmissionary) now use. Smalley maintains that the task of Bible translation is now passing out of the hands of missionaries and back into the hands of native speakers, casting the missionary translator into significantly changed roles in the translation process.

Offering an original historical perspective on literacy work in Africa, this book examines the role of the Norwegian Lutheran mission in Madagascar and sheds light on the motivations that drove colonizing powers’ literacy work. Focusing on both colonial and independent Madagascar, Rosnes examines how literacy practices were facilitated through mission schools and the impact on the reading and writing skills to Malagasy children and youth. Analysing how literacy work influenced identity formation and power relations in the Malagasy society, the author offers new insights into the field of language and education in Africa.

Edited by Philip A. Noss. Sixteen biblical scholars, linguists, theorericians, and translation professionals have collaborated to present an overview of the Bible translation from the time of the Septuagint, the Targums, and the Latin Vulgate through the Reformation and Counter Reformation, and into the present day when mother-tongue speakers have replaced the missionary translators of the colonial era. This is the inaugural volume in a series of monographs. Paper Back, 542 pages.

Biography of Jozef De Veuster, a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium known as Father Damien, the Leper Priest of Molokai in the Hawaiian Islands.

This collection of fifteen sermons by one of the leading pentecostal theologians today provides insight into the form, style, and content of preaching in the pentecostal tradition while also being suggestive of normative homiletical theory and practice. The Kergymatic Spirit argues that Spirit-empowered preaching is apostolic not only with regard to being rooted in the scriptural traditions but also with regard to connecting the that of the early Christian message with the this of contemporary experience and discipleship. Hence, rather than only reflecting pentecostal preaching of the sort that happens in the pulpits of churches connected to the modern movement by that name, these sermons are presented as the participating in the form of gospel proclamation inspired and empowered by the divine Spirit poured out on all flesh on the Day of Pentecost by the risen Christ from the right hand of the Father. Whether read or heard (there are links to video and audio archives throughout), these homilies are illustrative of exegetical and expositional practice that connects the biblical text with Spirit-filled faithfulness in the twenty-first-century ecumenical church and world at large.

Arguing that the translation of scientific and technical learning materials, and the publication of these translations in a timely and affordable manner, is crucially important in promoting access to scientific and technical knowledge in the developing world, this book examines the relationship between copyright law, translation and access to knowledge. Taking Sri Lanka as a case study in comparison with India and Bangladesh, it identifies factors that have contributed to the unfavourable relationship between copyright law and the timely and affordable translation of scientific and technical learning materials, such as colonisation, international copyright law, the trade interests of the developing economies and a lack of expertise and general lack of awareness surrounding copyright law in the developing world. Highlighting the need to reform international copyright law to promote the needs and interests of developing countries such as Sri Lanka, the book points to a possible way forward for developing countries to achieve this and to address the problem of striking a proper and delicate balance in their copyright laws between the protection of translation rights and the ability of people to access translations of copyright protected scientific and technical learning materials.

The title of this book originates from the self-description of Namibian Evangelists in their own words. African evangelists of the Rhenish Mission Society (RMS) played a crucial but mostly overlooked role in shaping the spiritual and social networks that transformed indigenous communities from the early nineteenth century. The author draws from a wide range of German, Namibian and South African archival sources that have been supplemented with a large number of interviews, to explore the history of the indigenous evangelists of the RMS. African supporters were often the first heralds of the new religion at remote villages and cattle posts before the white strangers made an appearance. The Namibian evangelists’ familiarity with the traditional culture and the local vernacular endowed them with a credibility that many of the European newcomers found difficult to acquire. By interweaving mission and church history between 1820 and 1990 with a biographical approach, the author brings a hidden chapter in Namibian history to life.

Translation as Reparation showcases postcolonial Africa by offering African European-language literature as a case study for postcolonial translation theory, and proposes a new perspective for postcolonial literary criticism informed by theories of translation. The book focuses on translingualism and interculturality in African Europhone literature, highlighting the role of oral culture and artistry in the writing of fiction. The fictionalizing of African orature in postcolonial literature is viewed in terms of translation and an intercultural writing practice which challenge the canons of colonial linguistic propriety through the subversion of social and linguistic conventions. The study opens up pathways for developing new insights into the ethics of translation, as it raises issues related to the politics of language, ideology, identity, accented writing and translation. It confirms the place of translation theory in literary criticism and affirms the importance of translation in the circulation of texts, particularly those from minority cultures, in the global marketplace. Grounded in a multidisciplinary approach, the book will be of interest to students and scholars in a variety of fields, including translation studies, African literature and culture, sociolinguistics and multilingualism, postcolonial and intercultural studies.