The Power of Words

I read an article by Peter Chopelas on the Biblical interpetation of "Heaven" and "Hell." It is a rather lengthy and detailed analysis of the Greek and English translations which, he concludes, misrepresent the original concept and understanding of what we now refer to as heaven and hell. I found it very powerful and provocative in the sense that, if his analysis is true, it can really change our view of life after death and whether or not heaven is something we can experience on Earth or is a place somewhere out there with a big gate and pearly streets reserved for the righteous, after they die. Likewise, is hell a place where bad people go after death or is it a state of being, a consequence of our choosing to not follow God's light? Anyway, the article goes on and on. I am neither a theologian nor an expert on Greek/Hebrew language or culture, so I admit I am not the best person to join in the analysis. But it reminded me of the years I sat listening to church leaders in Cambodia debate and argue over the Khmer translations of the Bible.

The first Khmer Bible was translated from the KJV. The second translation was a combination of the Greek, Hebrew and English versions. Both Khmer and English/Khmer speakers from the Protestant and Roman Catholic communities who had lived in Cambodia for decades helped in the translations. There were debates over the correct words to use for the community of faith, spirits, ghosts, demons, Satan, heaven, hell, etc. In the beginning, my attention and patience waned as I wondered, for example, what difference does it make if we use the word for ghost or spirit? Aren't they basically the same? But after I lived in the culture longer, I realized that Cambodians, like Chopelas says the Hebrews thought, view the soul and the spirit as living and moving in two distinctly different realities. I could better understand their arguments. In the end, I decided that my limited knowledge of the Hebrew/Greek manuscripts and that of the subtle distinctions in the Khmer language warrented my silence in the discussions. Instead I set out to discover how culture does impact how we interpret and translate what we hear into the words of another language.

Language carries with it the concepts of a culture. I have heard translators argue whether it is best to use concepts available in the second language to make the translation fluent and fit what its own culture would understand. Or should you maintain the integrity of the original cultural/world views by adding explanations, if needed, so that the readers/listeners can comprehend and correctly interpret what might sound strange?

Based on Chopelas' review, I think that when the Hebrew OT was translated into the Greek Septuagint, it was done by Greeks or maybe with the help of Hebrews, who had lived in the Greek culture for so long, their sense of articulating long-held world/God views was overshadowed by their desire to make the Greek understood. Hebrews did not have a concept of "down in Hell" nor "up in Heaven." That came fromGreek mythology. It’s amazing how this changed the Christian theology of the Greco-Roman world! I wonder if the Greek translation (had it been translated back into the Hebrew) would have made sense to Hebrews who had never been exposed to Greek thought and culture. I think it is easy to lose clear focus on our mother culture and world view when we eat, live and breathe a new culture for so long. We learn to think in it and sympathize with even the parts our mother culture may have rejected. What makes this example powerful is that it is an example where the power of words changed the theology of the entire Western Christian world!