With this article, we bring the Arlington Statement on Bible Translation to your attention. The statement is a new development, created in 2019 by a group of scholars including fundamentalists and evangelicals. The intention is to set a standard for Bible translation going forward that will avoid problems others fell into in recent years (perhaps, however, the error came about with good intentions). While attempting to bring clarity to translation for some language groups, some translation policies allowed certain standards to slip that could cause confusion or even false doctrine among readers. Thus, the need for a clarifying standard.
The statement focuses on three key areas of translation philosophy. First, translation should not result in even a seeming affirmation of false religion. The statement gives examples to illustrate what that means. The statement calls for a commitment to translate in such a way as to prevent the suggestion to a reader that there is no distinction between the true God and the gods of unbelievers. The statement and supporting documents give examples.
The second point says translations should not hesitate to translate in ways that might call out the sins of a target audience. The non-Christian reader might find that the Bible addresses false practices they have long held. If they come to Christ, they will have to change. There should be no “sensitivity” to their “culture” when their culture is false, a distortion of God’s created order.
The third point of the statement calls for consistency in translation so that readers will come to no confusion about key Christian doctrines, such as the Trinity. Similar terms throughout the Bible should have consistent translation so the reader can discern the web of truth the Bible proclaims.
The Arlington Statement on Bible Translation is here and some immediate questions have answers on the Statement’s FAQ section, found here. An additional document dealing with the arguments in more detail is here.
Dr. Troy Manning, Chief Language Consultant of Bibles International, informed the FBFI of this development in a recent email in which he wrote::
I want to inform you of an important development in Bible translation circles, one that I would think the FBFI pastors would want to be aware of. It is a statement to counter the trends of extreme contextualization. Believe it or not, though many may have good intentions (e.g., wanting to reach more Muslims for Christ), they have somehow justified tampering with the Word of God in order to fulfill their good intentions. Maybe these Bible translation practitioners are not those with whom FBFI pastors associate, but I wonder if there might be some friendships or even associations. If the pastors have any associations with Bible translators in large organizations such as Wycliffe Bible Translators, or even small ones, they definitely should be made aware of the Arlington Statement on Bible Translation.
Here’s what we at Bibles International wrote about the ASBT:
Bibles International joined with a group of Bible translators, theologians, pastors, missionaries, Greek and Hebrew scholars, and linguists, to draft a statement that promotes conservative principles regarding contextualization in Bible translation. There are various trends and ideas in recent Bible translation theory, many of which are helpful, and some of which are well-intentioned but nonetheless problematic. The Arlington Statement on Bible Translation is a set of simple principles that addresses the most important issues related to contextualization. The Statement will help pastors to determine which Bible translators and Bible societies they would be willing to partner with. Bibles International fully subscribes to this Statement.
As further background to the Arlington Statement, Dr. Manning added these comments:
Contextualization has been a key buzzword in missions for a few decades now. When applied correctly, it gives us missionaries more effectiveness with the people, because we make all the God-approved changes in our life and ministry to reach the people God has called us to reach. But how far can a missionary go before he is transgressing the Word of God? Such contextualization has been applied to Bible translation since around 1987. Bible translation (BT) organizations encouraged contextualizing their translations, especially for Muslim readers. But concern grew concerning how much contextualization was allowed, so these organizations drew up principles to guide the BT practitioners in their organizations. Apparently, this wasn’t sufficient, because abuses became public, resulting in an examination of the issue by the WEA. This examination resulted in some guidelines being drawn up (see below for hyperlink). Apparently, these guidelines, though good, were insufficient for at least three reasons: they applied to only one issue—Divine Familial Terms, those guidelines had loopholes, and they applied only to a few large organizations. Other organizations didn’t have to follow the guidelines—and various ones didn’t!
So, in 2019 a BT practitioner began contacting those whom he thought would be as concerned as he was. He contacted me after reading Bibles International’s translation philosophy. It was actually quite encouraging for me to hear that there was a group of BT practitioners from various organizations who were concerned about the developments in extreme contextualization for BT. In Oct 2019 various BT practitioners (including myself) met in Arlington, TX, to begin drafting the principles that are now in much more developed form on the ASBT website. We continued working together by email and video conferencing, including others who were not able to attend the first meeting in Arlington. Once we had the content to our liking, we got it translated into various languages and then posted it all on a website dedicated to the issue.
The organizations that have been pushing this extreme contextualization—some are pushing quite hard—have not allowed public discourse or debate to occur. A perfect opportunity for this would be at the bi-annual BT conference each year in the Arlington/Dallas area. But the big organizations don’t want that. So, we decided to draw up a set of principles, make it public, and then promote it among our contacts.
With this introduction, we ask our readers at Proclaim & Defend to raise their own questions or comments in response to the statement or what we have said here. As always, our comments section is moderated. That means you must stay on topic and you must not engage in emotional personal attacks that so often derail internet discussion. See our comment guidelines for a complete statement of our requirements.
We think this topic is important and invite thoughtful discussion below. Our plan is to keep this article “at the top of the page” for some days to facilitate an ongoing discussion.
Don Johnson
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