A Guide to Bible Translation: People, Languages, and Topics ed. by Philip A. Noss and Charles S. Houser (review)

This reference work is the fourth in the History of Bible Translations series, but in many ways it functions as the natural complement to the first volume: Philip A. Noss (ed.), A History of Bible Translation (Rome: Edizioni di storia e letteratura, 2007; rev. ed. 2011; see the review by Leonard Greenspoon, CBQ 72 [2010] 876–77). While that volume provided article-length overviews of the major translations of the Bible from antiquity to the present, this work represents a form that is more akin to an encyclopedia while also being far more comprehensive in topics covered. The former work brought together sixteen contributors; this work brings together 180 contributors from around the globe who are working in a variety of professional contexts. In addition, there are a remarkable 726 articles covering an expansive range of topics. After a preface by Philip Noss, entries are divided into three categories: people, languages, and topics. Each of the three sections begins with a short introduction and then arranges entries alphabetically.

The first section, “People” (pp. 3–64), contains 153 articles covering individuals who are of historical importance or who were representative of particular approaches or situations. Figures who receive a page or more are Augustine, Dante, Stefanus Jacobus Du Troit, Erasmus, Jerome, Luther, Eugene Nida, John Norton, Origen, Kenneth Pike, and W. Cameron Townsend. All others receive shorter entries, some as few as two sentences. Sometimes, however, more information about these figures can be found in related entries in later sections; for example, Origen is revisited in the third section under the entry for “Hexapla.” Although women have been underrepresented and often overlooked in the history of Bible translators, the editors commendably include some important figures such as Mary Jones, Hannah Kilham, and Helen Barrett Montgomery.

The second section, “Languages” (pp. 65–274), contains 171 entries that are on average significantly longer than those in the first section. Given that the Bible (or parts of it) has existed in more than three thousand languages, the editors naturally needed to be selective. They have included entries on languages from the biblical world, including not only those of composition and early translation but also those that are mentioned in the Bible or had some bearing on the linguistic world of the Bible. Further, there are entries for every language in which the Bible was printed up through the eighteenth century, all contemporary languages with at least ten million speakers, and other modern languages judged to have special significance. Readers should note that there is also a language index at the end of the volume that allows readers to find where languages are discussed in the first and third sections of the work.

The third section, “Topics” (pp. 275–898), is by far the longest, containing 402 articles. Entries range from short definitions to substantial articles. Here one can find explanations and descriptions of key terms that arise in discussions of translation (e.g., “Apocrypha”), important organizations (such as various Bible Societies, religious groups, and missionary organizations), and topics and themes related to interpretation and cultural/ideological adaptation (e.g., “Allegory,” “Chapter and verse divisions,” “Feminine deity in African theology and translation,” and “Interpretation of the Bible”), as well as some more ancillary topics (e.g., “Calendars and time”). There are also substantial entries on standard lexicons for Biblical languages. Yet, perhaps the most valuable portions of the “Topics” section are the lengthy articles devoted to aspects of applied linguistics and translation theory. As just a sampling, there are substantial articles on “Code model and translation,” “Equivalence,” “Figurative Language,” “Functionalism,” “Generative Grammar,” “Linguistics and translation,” “Relevance theory and Bible translation,” and “Semiotics.” One notable feature of this section is that “translation” is understood as a broader phenomenon than that involving written texts and so there are entries on topics such as “Audiovisual Translation (AVT...