Words are sneaky little things – especially in the context of Bible translation!
My boss Eddie Arthur addresses some contentious issues in Bible translation
… and having started with some word associations on the idea of “beach” goes on to “the Son of God”
Take the simple phrase “Son of God”. Most English speaking Christians understand this as a title for Jesus Christ that in some way communicates his relationship to God the Father as the second person of the Trinity. If we are honest, we probably haven’t given much thought to how all the details work out. However, in some contexts, especially in the Muslim world, the phrase “Son of God” is a horrible blasphemy because it implies that God had sex with Mary. The associations created by the phrase in one language are completely different in another. So, what is the translator to do?
Eddie also provides links for further reading on this subject.
