Testimony about theory and praxis of translation reach far back in the antiquity. Some of them concern the Bible, most of them translation of classical Greek, Latin and other texts. Well-known translators expressed their views and experiences mostly in introduction to their translations, in the more modern time they present them also in scholarly and scientific meetings. The main function of language is communication of the meaning; the main task of a translator are then analysis and transference of the meaning from one to other language. Every translation is according to its very nature interpretation. The easiest way to reach transference of the meaning is analysis of the meaning of the original text as the whole. This applies to translation of all literary works, exceptional plurality of the meaning of basic terms in the Bible shows, however, that biblical texts are unique in nature. Uniqueness in the train of meanings manifests itself in all earliest translations of the Bible in other languages from the Hebrew to the Greek. Translations were confronted with numerous problems, they did not yet deal with them antil then, for instance with transrerenc from Semitic in Indo-euvropean languages and with rendering of terms from one in another culture.
COBISS.SI-ID: 266180096
The unique status of Jerusalem comprises the motifs of election of Jerusalem and its Temple as a permanent divine presence and of Zion as God’s chosen mountain. This makes Jerusalem the physical and spiritual centre of the world. Interpreters of ancient Jewish and Christian sources are puzzled by this dilemma: how literally are Jerusalem’s claims and promises to be taken in view of descriptions of Jerusalem in metaphorical, hyperbolic poetic and eschatological terms? The rhetorical antithesis between the Jerusalem of God’s plan and the Jerusalem of Israel’s apostasy, between the vision and the reality, between Earthly or carnal and Heavenly or spiritual Jerusalem became inevitable. Consequently, Jerusalem has been interpreted in theology, liturgy and art in realistic, imaginary, idealistic, and symbolic ways. The aim of the article is to show how more than one conceptual point of view can be deduced from the context of some crucial texts of the Old and New Testaments and from non-Biblical Jewish and Christian sources.
COBISS.SI-ID: 36704557
Psalm 51 is referred to the scandalous affair of King David with Bathsheba (2 Sam 11:1-27), but the psalmist confesses sin as an intrinsic part of his being and the secret heart. In verse 6 he expresses an inner connection between the awareness of the gravity of sin and the underlying belief in God’s righteousness. The bone of contention in interpretation is the meaning of the expression lěma‘an tiṣdaq, which is found also in Isa 43:26 and Job 40:8. The common point of all three passages is the belief that Israel and humanity can never be in the right before God. God is in the right in any trial, whatever Israel’s judgment on God and God’s dealing with his people. In this exploration of the meaning of Ps 51:6 we deal with the issue of the relationship between God’s judgment on sin in terms of sentence of condemnation and his exalted majesty which is at work beyond the domain of sin. We confront the justification of God’s judgment with the basic meaning of the word ṣdq in relation to God’s righteousness, which implies the certitude that God was always compassionate and faithful towards the sinful covenant people. The basic methodological consideration is the question of what can and what cannot be deduced from the texts about the interaction of judgment and grace from the context of the psalm, of the Letter of Paul to the Romans 3:4, and from the broadest context of the Bible.
COBISS.SI-ID: 36740141
In his book a wise Ben Sira frequently reflects upon human talking (5.9-6.1; 19.4-17; 20.1-8.18-26.27-31; 23.7-15; 27,11- 21.22-29; 28.8-26; 37.16-18; see also 51.1-12). As a teacher of wisdom he educates the youth to the right talking by illuminating various polarities in the use of a word: between the silence and the word, between the exterior and the interior, between a wise and a foolish talk and shows all the elements that influence the wise/foolish talk/speaker. Since Ben Sira is not only a »wise man« but also a »theologian,« one can see that throughout the book he often goes beyond the level of human wisdom towards the level of the wisdom of God who is the source of all wisdom, of the word and grace, since foolish speaking is often associated with sin and sinful behaviour. In his way of thinking, by which he repeatedly keeps dealing with the same topic from various perspectives, the wise Ben Sira dedicates a special place to prayer, through which he asks God to be able to use the language moderately. Furthermore, he turns to God for help or thanksgiving, as for example when he himself became the object of calumnity and false talk. The article highlights the features of larger units that deal with this topic and reads them in a dialogue with the traditions of extra-Biblical literature, in the light of the wisdom tradition in the Old Testament and especially within the history of salvation.
COBISS.SI-ID: 10292739
Language is the vehicle of our perception, descriptions and explanations of reality. The key to meaning is understanding the logical structure of our language, the truth-conditions of reality and the correct use of linguistic signs. Interpersonal communication that concentrates on the actual and on the logically-possible world represents for us the central use of language. Any approach to the issue of language entails problems about the connections between the mind, the general aspects of reality and the general features or characteristics of different languages. Language interacts with every aspect of human life and society. An essential and prominent part of language is naming things or objects, animals and humans according to their appearance, supposed essence, action and decision. The aim of this article is to scrutinize the role of names, words, symbols and metaphors as artistic and literary devices for expressing human values and their personifications as foundations of human personal and social life. Since the antiquity the views on the use of signs as fundamental means of expression in mental operations and sensations are the central issue of philosophy of language. The main question, how metaphors, symbols and personifications are involved in our life. These means of expression are not merely a matter of language, but a matter of conceptual structure of our perception. Symbols, especially symbolic objects or personifications, help to define the experience of human beings in the natural order of things.
COBISS.SI-ID: 41185581