Translating Religion: What is Lost and Gained?

192 Pages·2015·18.026 MB·English

by  Michael DeJonge, Christiane Tietz

Translating Religion
“A timely and relevant contribution to the debate concerning translation
and the study of religion. It combines ‘grounded’ studies of the ‘nitty gritty’
of translation activity with broader theoretical reflection. It is thus inclusive
and yet satisfyingly specialized.”
—James Hegarty, Cardiff University, UK
Translating Religion advances thinking about translation as a critical cat-
egory in religious studies, combining theoretical reflection about processes
of translation in religion with focused case studies that are international,
interdisciplinary, and interreligious. By operating with broad conceptions
of both religion and translation, this volume makes clear that processes of
translation, broadly construed, are everywhere in both religious life and the
study of religion; at the same time, the theory and practice of translation
and the advancement of translation studies as a field has developed in the
context of concerns about the possibility and propriety of translating reli-
gious texts. The nature of religions as living historical traditions depends on
the translation of religion from the past into the present. Interreligious dia-
logue and the comparative study of religion require the translation of reli-
gion from one tradition to another. Understanding the historical diffusion of
the world’s religions requires coming to terms with the success and failure of
translating a religion from one cultural context into another. Contributors
ask what it means to translate religion, both textually and conceptually, and
how the translation of religious content might differ from the translation of
other aspects of human culture. This volume proposes that questions on the
nature of translation find particularly acute expression in the domains of
religion and argues that theoretical approaches from translation studies can
be fruitfully brought to bear on contemporary religious studies.
Michael P. DeJonge is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the Uni-
versity of South Florida, USA. He teaches in the areas of Christian thought,
modern religious thought, and theories of religion. Previous publications
include Bonhoeffer’s Theological Formation and The Bonhoeffer Reader
(coedited with Clifford Green).
Christiane Tietz studied Theology and Mathematics and did her PhD and
Habilitation in Tübingen. She is Professor for Systematic Theology at the
University of Zurich, Switzerland, and is the editor of numerous books,
such as Die politische Aufgabe von Religion (coeditor).
Routledge Studies in Religion
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
15 The Entangled God 22 Abrogation in the Qur’an and
Divine Relationality and Quantum Islamic Law
Physics By Louay Fatoohi
By Kirk Wegter-McNelly
23 A New Science of Religion
16 Aquinas and Radical Edited by Gregory W. Dawes and
Orthodoxy James Maclaurin
A Critical Inquiry
Paul J. DeHart 24 Making Sense of the Secular
Critical Perspectives from Europe
17 Animal Ethics and Theology to Asia
The Lens of the Good Samaritan Edited by Ranjan Ghosh
Daniel K. Miller
25 The Rise of Modern Jewish
18 The Origin of Heresy Politics
A History of Discourse in Second Extraordinary Movement
Temple Judaism and Early C.S. Monaco
Christianity
Robert M. Royalty, Jr. 26 Gender and Power in
Contemporary Spirituality
19 Buddhism and Violence Ethnographic Approaches
Militarism and Buddhism in Anna Fedele and Kim E. Knibbe
Modern Asia
Edited by Vladimir Tikhonov and 27 Religions in Movement
Torkel Brekke The Local and the Global in
Contemporary Faith Traditions
20 Popular Music in Evangelical Robert W. Hefner, John
Youth Culture Hutchinson, Sara Mels and
Stella Sai-Chun Lau Christiane Timmerman
21 Theology and the Science of 28 William James’s Hidden
Moral Action Religious Imagination
Virtue Ethics, Exemplarity, and A Universe of Relations
Cognitive Neuroscience Jeremy Carrette
Edited by James A. Van Slyke,
Gregory R. Peterson, Kevin 29 Theology and the Arts
S. Reimer, Michael L. Spezio and Engaging Faith
Warren S. Brown Ruth Illman and W. Alan Smith
30 Religion, Gender, and 39 Sainthood and Race
the Public Sphere Marked Flesh, Holy Flesh
Edited by Niamh Reilly and Stacey Edited by Molly
Scriver H. Bassett and
Vincent W. Lloyd
31 An Introduction to Jacob Boehme
Four Centuries of Thought and 40 Making European
Reception Muslims
Edited by Ariel Hessayon and Religious Socialization
Sarah Apetrei among Young Muslims in
Scandinavia and Western
32 Globalization and Orthodox Europe
Christianity Edited by Mark Sedgwick
The Transformations of a
Religious Tradition 41 Just War and the Ethics of
Victor Roudometof Espionage
Darrell Cole
33 Contemporary Jewish Writing
Austria after Waldheim 42 Teaching the Historical
Andrea Reiter Jesus
Issues and Exegesis
34 Religious Ethics and Migration Edited by Zev Garber
Doing Justice to Undocumented
Workers 43 Eschatology and the
Ilsup Ahn Technological Future
Michael S. Burdett
35 A Theology of Community
Organizing 44 Resurrection and Reception in
Power to the People Early Christianity
Chris Shannahan Richard C. Miller
36 God and Natural Order 45 David’s Jerusalem
Physics, Philosophy, and Theology Between Memory
Shaun C. Henson and History
Daniel D. Pioske
37 Science and Religion
One Planet, Many Possibilities 46 Scripturalizing the Human
Edited by Lucas F. Johnston and The Written as the Political
Whitney A. Bauman Edited by Vincent L. Wimbush
38 Queering Religion, Religious 47 Translating Religion
Queers What is Lost and Gained?
Edited by Yvette Taylor and Ria Edited by Michael P. DeJonge
Snowdon and Christiane Tietz
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Translating Religion
What is Lost and Gained?
Edited by Michael P. DeJonge and
Christiane Tietz
First published 2015
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Translating religion : what is lost and gained? / edited by Michael P. DeJonge
and Christiane Tietz.
pages cm. — (Routledge studies in religion ; 47)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Religious thought—Translating. 2. Translating and
interpreting. I. DeJonge, Michael P., editor. II. Tietz, Christiane,
1967– editor.
BL51.T626 2015
202—dc23
2015007805
ISBN: 978-1-138-85145-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-72410-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by ApexCoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of Figures ix
Preface xi
Introduction: Translating Religion 1
MICHAEL P. DEJONGE AND CHRISTIANE TIETZ
1 Translating Dao: Cross-Cultural Translation as a Hermeneutic
of Edification 13
WEI ZHANG
2 Historical Translation: Pseudo-Dionysius, Thomas Aquinas,
and the Unknown God 29
MICHAEL P. DEJONGE
3 Philological Limits of Translating Religion: S´raddha¯ and
Dharma in Hindu Texts 45
CARLOS A. LOPEZ
4 Translating Religion between Parents and Children 70
ANDREA SCHULTE
5 Thick Translation of Religion between Cultures: The Basel
Mission in Ghana 85
ULRIKE SILL
6 Habermas’s Call for Translating Religion into
Secular Language 104
CHRISTIANE TIETZ
viii Contents
7 Does Allah Translate ‘God’? Translating Concepts
between Religions 123
KLAUS VON STOSCH
8 Translating Religious Symbol Systems: Some Preliminary
Remarks on Christian Art in China 137
VOLKER KÜSTER
Conclusion: What is Lost and Gained? 169
MICHAEL P. DEJONGE AND CHRISTIANE TIETZ
Contributors 175
Index 177
Figures
8.1 Nestorian Stele, detail (781; excavated 1625), photographed
by Prof. Dr. Em. Klaus Koschorke (Munich) (2006):
http://www.aecg.evtheol.lmu.de/cms/index.php?id=
33&tx_gooffotoboek_pi1[srcdir]=Reise%20Seidenstrasse
&tx_gooffotoboek_pi1[fid]=8&cHash=e3c5301d4d
(Accessed 16.02.2015). 139
8.2 Tombstone Andrew of Perugia (d. ca. 1332; Quanzhou),
open access on Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.
wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AndreasPerusinus.jpg?uselang=de
(Accessed 16.02.2015). 141
8.3 Tombstone Katerina Ilioni (d. 1342; Yangzhou), in Josef
Franz Thiel, Die christliche Kunst in China, in: Die
Begegnung Chinas mit dem Christentum. Christliches
Kunstschaffen in China, Exhibition Catalogue
(St. Augustin, 1980). 142
8.4 Chinese Madonna (17th c.), in Mostra D’Arte
Missionaria, Exhibition Catalogue (Rome, 1950). 144
8.5 Annunciation in: Jao da Rocha, How to Pray the Rosary
(in Chinese, 1619), in Jeremy Clarke, The Virgin Mary and
Catholic Identities in Chinese History (Hong Kong: Hong
Kong University Press, 2013). 145
8.6 Annunciation in: Jeronimo Nadal, Adnotationes in
Euangelio (Rome, 1594), in Jeremy Clarke, The Virgin Mary
and Catholic Identities in Chinese History (Hong Kong:
Hong Kong University Press, 2013). 146
8.7 Embarking on the Christian Boat (mural; Chapel in Hwen
Giang, West China, ca. 1916), in Daniel Johnson Fleming,
Each with His Own Brush. Contemporary Christian Art in
Asia and Africa (New York: Friendship Press, 1938). 148
8.8 Liu Bizhen, Our Lady of Donglu (Shanghai, 1908), in Josef
Franz Thiel, Die christliche Kunst in China, in: Die Begegnung
Chinas mit dem Christentum. Christliches Kunstschaffen in
China, Exhibition Catalogue (St. Augustin, 1980). 149