Seminar on Bible Translation in Prague

At the International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague,several speakers shall try to explore and facilitate a conversation on the overall picture of Bible translation, particularly in Eastern Europe There will be given five major papers on Translation Logistics, Models of Translation and the Target Audience, Recent Research on Bible Translation in Central and Eastern Europe, Folk Translations and Vernacular Readings, Recent Romanian Translations with particular reference to Cultural, Ecclesiastical and Doctrinal Bias, and the 400th Anniversary of the King James Version. Four Workshops with short papers and discussion on Translation Structures and Ecumenical Considerations in the Slovak Ecumenical Bible (2007), and other possible topics such as translating the Psalms, translation for beginners and a ‘first academic’ translation of the Bible in an Eastern European country.

Further input from other countries, with time for open discussion, informal conversations and networking.

Contributors:
Juraj Bandy, Slovak Professor and specialist in Bible translation, responsible for the recent translation of the Slovak Ecumenical Bible.
Emanuel Contac, lecturer at the Theological Pentecostal Institute in Bucharest, whose doctoral dissertation (published by Logos) addresses theological and cultural bias in Romanian translations of the New Testament focussing on eleven concepts (eg Mariology, presbyteros, etc) and specific words and texts (eg dikaioun, menoun, etc) in 40 Romanian versions.
Iryna Dubianetskaya, a Greek Catholic biblical scholar and linguist, Doctor of Sacred Theology (Ph.D., S.T.D), leader of the Bible School (Flying University, Minsk), Docent at the European Humanities University in Vilnius, initiator and co-ordinator of the Committee for the first academic translation of the Bible into Belarusian.
John Elwolde (to be confirmed), former UBS Translation Consultant in Ukraine, Belarus, Croatia, Serbia, Poland, Russia, and Central Asia. Recent contributions include ‘Language and Translation of the Old Testament’ (Rogerson & Lieu (eds), Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies, pp 135-38, OUP), ‘Relationships among the Russian Synodal Bible, the Slavonic Text, and the Septuagint’ (Folia Orientalia 47) and ‘The Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls and Some Issues of Canon’ (Lénart J. de Regt (ed), Canon and Modern Bible Translation in Interconfessional Perspective, pp 1-41, UBS, Turkey).
Florentina Badalanova Geller, graduate in Slavonic Philology, University of Sofia, holding a PhD from Moscow State University, 1984. Currently Professor at the Freie Universität Berlin, teaching courses on Biblical Anthropology and Apocrypha, on leave from the Royal Anthropological Institute, London. Previous appointments in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the University of Sofia, and University of London. She is Honorary Research Fellow, UCL (Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies). Currently working on the Folk Bible and vernacular Mariology.
Alec Gilmore, Baptist minister in the UK, graduate of Manchester University, IBTS Senior Research Fellow and author of Dictionary of Bible Origins and interpretation (T & T Clark).
Jamie Grant, lecturer in Biblical Studies at the Highland Theological College, University of the Highlands and Islands, UK.
Lydie Kucova, graduate of Brunel and Edinburgh Universities, member of the IBTS Academic Team and lecturer in Biblical Studies.
Silviu Tatu, Senior Lecturer at the Theological Pentecostal Institute in Bucharest, and well acquainted with the Cornilescu version and other translation issues, including relationships with the Orthodox Church.

For further details relating the programme of the seminar please contact: Lydie Kucova (Kucova@ibts.eu) or Alec Gilmore (a.gilmore@gilco.org.uk).