While methods for tackling many of the issues that Bible translators commonly faced have already been refined over the decades, Bible translators have, by and large, not needed to translate the emotional dynamics of Scripture that could only be captured by voice. All of that is changing now that oral Bible translation has come onto the scene. In the last decade, oral Bible translation has grown from translation projects in a few dozen languages to translations in around a thousand languages. This 2-part paper presents a summary of my thesis findings on the topic of emotion exegesis for Bible translation. In the first part of the paper, I present three theoretical perspectives that Bible translators need to understand emotions in light of recent scientific discoveries.
Watch the related webinar presentation.
Check out further resources about orality in holistic hermeneutics at OralityResources.International.
Joshua Frost serves as a researcher in SIL Global’s oral translation services department, spending most of his time studying the intersection of translation best practices and orality, all to benefit the global oral Bible translation movement. He serves on the Spoken English Bible as a translator, key-term committee member, and leadership team member. He also helps lead SIL Global’s oral Bible translation consultant development track. While not working, he has the opportunity to practice his oral storytelling skills daily as he teaches his toddler the Bible.
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