scholarly journals Textual Criticism, Translation Studies, and Symmachus’s Version in the Book of Job

Textus ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Alison Salvesen

Abstract The late second century CE translator/reviser Symmachus took a very different approach to the versions of his predecessor Aquila. His renderings do not appear to have survived in Jewish circles but were much admired by early Christian scholars, thanks to their preservation in Origen’s Hexapla. However, for textual critics of the Hebrew Bible Symmachus’ free approach has limited his value since his readings cannot be easily retroverted, unlike those of Aquila or Theodotion. In the case of the book of Job, although Symmachus’ “transformations” (to use a term from Descriptive Translation Studies) differ in nature from the freedoms observed in OG Job, while rejecting the narrow isomorphism of Aquila and Theodotion he nevertheless adheres quite closely to his Hebrew Vorlage. This offers the possibility of identifying elements significant for textual criticism in his rendering, including variant reading traditions or a different consonantal text.

Author(s):  
Moshe Blidstein

Chapter 7 demonstrates that sexual sin became the main target for purity discourse in early Christian texts, and attempts to explain why. Christian imagery of sexual defilement drew from a number of traditions—Greco-Roman sexual ethics, imagery of sexual sin from the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple texts, and both Jewish and pagan purity laws, all seen through the lens of Paul’s imagery of sexuality and sexual sin. Two broad currents characterized Christian sexual ethics in the second century: one upheld marriage and the family as the basis for a holy Christian society and church, while the second rejected all sexuality, including in marriage. Writers of both currents made heavy use of defilement imagery. For the first, sexual sin was a dangerous defilement, contaminating the Christian community and severing it from God. For the second, more radical current, sexuality itself was the defilement; virginity or continence alone were pure.


Author(s):  
Moshe Blidstein

This chapter argues that Origen’s purity discourse was innovative on many fronts, as can be seen in his writings on sexuality, baptism, and on dietary issues. Defilement imagery concerning sexuality is especially prominent. Although Origen did not prohibit marriage, he saw sexuality as defiled, the quintessential expression of human corporeality, closely connected with sin though not synonymous with it. I argue that Origen was the first Christian thinker who integrated the notion of temporary sexual defilement found in the Hebrew Bible with the second-century Christian notion of essential sexual defilement, creating a nuanced conception of defilement. As in sexual issues, in baptism too Origen supplies a relatively systematic usage of purity discourse; baptism and sex are linked through his understanding of infant baptism as purification from an inherent defilement linked to the sexual origin of the human body.


By the late second century, early Christian gospels had been divided into two groups by a canonical boundary that assigned normative status to four of them while consigning their competitors to the margins. The project of this volume is to find ways to reconnect these divided texts. The primary aim is not to address the question whether the canonical/non-canonical distinction reflects substantive and objectively verifiable differences between the two bodies of texts—although that issue may arise at various points. Starting from the assumption that, in spite of their differences, all early gospels express a common belief in the absolute significance of Jesus and his earthly career, the intention is to make their interconnectedness fruitful for interpretation. The approach taken is thematic and comparative: a selected theme or topic is traced across two or more gospels on either side of the canonical boundary, and the resulting convergences and divergences shed light not least on the canonical texts themselves as they are read from new and unfamiliar vantage points. The outcome is to demonstrate that early gospel literature can be regarded as a single field of study, in contrast to the overwhelming predominance of the canonical four characteristic of traditional gospels scholarship.


Gragoatá ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcia Amaral Peixoto Martins

O objetivo deste artigo e, em um primeiro momento, fazer uma breve revisão das principais contribuições do modelo teórico dos Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS), desenvolvido em meados dos anos 70 por um grupo de estudiosos de Israel e dos Países Baixos preocupados com a estudo da literatura traduzida, para em seguida apontar alguns problemas e lacunas teóricas que não parecem ter sido satisfatoriamente resolvidos em posteriores refinamentos da teoria. A abordagem descritivista fundamenta-se nos seguintes pressupostos: (i) uma visão da literatura como um sistema dinâmico e complexo; (ii) a convicção de que deve haver uma interação permanente entre modelos teóricos e estudos de caso; (iii) uma abordagem da tradução literária de caráter descritivo (portanto, não normativa) e voltada para a texto-alvo, além de funcional e sistêmica; e (iv) um interesse pelas normas e coerções que governam a produção e a recepção de traduções, pela relação entre a tradução e outros tipos de reescritura e pelo lugar e função da literatura traduzida tanto num determinado sistema literário quanto na interação entre literaturas. Nos últimos vinte e cinco anos, a abordagem descritivista vem informando inúmeros estudos sabre o sistema de literatura traduzida de inúmeras culturas, principalmente europeias, mas ainda apresenta alguns problemas que precisam ser melhor trabalhados no âmbito da teoria. Entre estes, destacamos a risco de incorrer num “descritivismo” puro e simples, desprovido de uma elaboração crítica, e a relativa despreocupação em explicitar os fundamentos epistemológicos da teoria e em (re)definir conceitos importantes.


Tradterm ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 11-28
Author(s):  
Francis Henrik Aubert

In descriptive translation studies, the identification of cultural markers brings with it certain theoretical and methodological difficulties: the very conceptualization of the cultural marker; its subcategories, both linguistic and extra-linguistic; the appropriate procedures to carry out its identification. The present essay seeks to map the extent of these difficulties and make a number of proposals, yet to be tested in descriptive practice.


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