Acknowledgement to reviewers

No abstract available.

Foreword Bible 200

No abstract available.

Die koninkryk van God in die Ou Testament: ’n Kort oorsig

The kingdom of God in the Old Testament: A brief survey. The kingdom of God is a central concept in the teaching of Jesus, but the question posed by this article is the following: What does the Old Testament say about the kingdom of God? Several Old Testament terms convey the concept of kingdom, kingship and rule of God. This article focuses on the Hebrew and Aramaic ‘technical’ terms for kingdom: mamlākâ, malkût, mělûkâ and malkû. One finds only a few Old Testament references where these terms are directly connected to God, most of them in the post-exilic literature: 1 Chronicles 17:14; 28:5; 29:11; 2 Chronicles 13:8; Psalm 22:29; 103:19; 145:11–13; Daniel 2:44; 3:33 (4:3); 4:31 (4:34); 6:27; 7:14, 18, 27; Obadiah 21. A brief study of these specific references leads to a few preliminary conclusions: The kingdom of God refers to a realm and the reign of God, the God of the kingdom is depicted in different ways, God’s kingdom is eternal and incomparable with earthly kingdoms, the scope of the kingdom is particularistic and universalistic, the Old Testament testifies about a kingdom that is and one that is yet to come, et cetera. It seems that there is no real difference when comparing the ‘kingdom of God’ with the ‘God is King’ passages. One cannot unequivocally declare that ‘kingdom of God’ is the central concept in the Old Testament. However, we must acknowledge that Jesus’s teaching about the kingdom of God did not evolve in a vacuum. His followers probably knew about the Old Testament perspective on the kingdom of God.Contribution: The concept ‘kingdom of God’ is relevant for the church in South Africa, especially congregations who strive to be missional. Unfortunately, the Old Testament perspective was neglected in the past. The purpose of this brief survey is to stimulate academics and church leaders in their further reflection on the kingdom of God.

Die invloed van die lojaliteite en onderliggende vertaalfilosofie van die vertaler op die vertaalkeuses, met verwysing na die Afr2020 Bybelvertaling

The influence of the translator’s loyalties and underlying translation philosophy on the translation choices, with reference to the Afr2020 Bible translation. When the reader looks a little deeper than the initial superficial ‘Revised’ Old Translation impression that reading the Afrikaans 2020 translation gives you, then one realizes that a great deal of effort had to be put into leading such a large group of diverse translators to understand the essence of a direct translation and to be able to apply it consistently. But it is precisely here that problems can arise. Due to the nature of skopus and the style of the Afrikaans 2020 translation, this direct translation can be categorised on the side of the more literal translations and it thus has a very high percentage of agreement with the 1953 Old Afrikaans translation. If the direct translation is not just another name or a revision of the so-called word-for-word translation, then what is this direct translation? Van der Merwe referring to this translation also touches on this issue when he says: ‘a ‘direct’ translation of the Bible is not new jargon for a word-for-word translation of the Bible. It is an attempt to ‘interpretively resemble’ in good idiomatic Afrikaans all the communicative clues of the source text in the contexts construed for the source text audience’. This underlying fundamental premise brings a lot of tension to the fore. Van der Merwe also confirms this (2014:294) by stating: ‘attempts to translate ancient texts directly (is) an almost impossible ideal (to) pursue’.Contribution: This study evaluated the Afrikaans 2020 translation according to its own criteria, the translation brief and to its self-proclaimed nature as ‘direct’ translation in order to try to make an objective evaluation and assessment of this great work. This process also pointed out where the loyalties of the translators lie, and what the underlying translation philosophy is, and how difficult it is to make a distinction between the direct translation method and using archaic words and terms.

Gert Breed Festschrift Foreword

No abstract available.

Calvin’s exposition of the sixth commandment as a trajectory in his catechetical works

In this article is explored the key theological and pedagogical trajectories which shaped Calvin’s teaching of the sixth commandment (‘You shall not kill’) in his catechetical publications. These include the Instruction of 1537/1538, l’Institution Puerile de la Doctrine Chrestienne (1538–1541), the 1542 and 1545 Catechismus, and La Maniere d’Interroguer les Enfans (1551). The overall objective is not only to depict the theological line of argumentation as a development, but also to map out Calvin’s pedagogy and teaching strategies. In Calvin research, this aspect of his teaching is undervalued. This was in particular illustrated by studying the relevant source texts in chronological order. The method employed in which the original texts were read, explicated and compared to contemporary texts (Luther, Jud and Bucer), confirmed that Calvin’s basic argument should indeed by explicated contextually, based on the original language of publication. This approach also provided the opportunity to identify patterns in Calvin’s exposition that normally remain beyond the interests of investigators. One of these was the underpinning pedagogy. The results indicated that Calvin’s teaching of the commandment was ingrained in the understanding and enduring meaning of the Law for the Christian church given in the words of Christ in Matthew 5:21, 22 and 22:39. The practical implications of the Command should not be attributed to the particular use of the Law as a rule of life in the born-again. Calvin’s underpinning pedagogy allowed not only for an envisioned transfer of knowledge, but also for the unpacking of that knowledge content in terms of practical competencies and skills to live a spontaneous Christian life. In this sense, a dynamic educational strategy guided the learner by challenging questions to consider and think, and then to respond independently.Contribution: This article employed a significant historical-chronological method for studying pre-1551 Calvin texts. An appraisal of the contextual development of his thinking on ‘You shall not kill’ was argued within the framework of teaching and learning. It also created the opportunity to ask new questions to the texts such as the pedagogy that underpinned the catechetical work of Calvin.

Translation types and niche translations: Comparing five Afrikaans translations

Before the introduction of the dynamic-equivalent translation method by Eugene Nida, most Bible translations, in terms of translation type, were literal and formal correspondence translations. With the expansion of Bible translation globally over the past 60 years, alternative translation types started to appear – sometimes claiming uniqueness and even superiority. That, in turn, led to a reverse situation where ‘literal only’ or ‘literal-superiority’ claims were made. This has been a cause for significant debate and controversy. The purpose of this comparison of translation types is to indicate how translations differ from each other on a continuum and to determine if some versions in Afrikaans align with translation typology. The method followed in this article is to classify translation types in two main groupings: more literal and more dynamic; and four subtypes: corresponding translations, resembling translations, clarifying translations, and simplifying translations. In light of this classification, five publications of the Bible in Afrikaans are compared to Bible publications in English and Dutch. This study has found that each of the five Afrikaans translations does fit under one of the four types for which the criteria were laid out. The finding was that the typology applied to Bible versions in English, Dutch and Afrikaans. This typology implies that translations from different types are not necessarily in competition with each other, but that they complement each other. Each version in Afrikaans has then been compared to each other in terms of an end-user market niche and, based on that, there seems to be a continuing need for versions in all the different types. Translations do improve over time as translation theory and source-language scholarship evolve, but the validity of each type and publications in each type argue for versions of several types to endure.Contribution: This article is not the first attempt to describe translation types. Several translators, as well as some functionalist translation studies did important scientific work in this regard. However, this article’s principal contribution to translation studies is to propose a simplified yet adequate model of four translation types with new terminology, terms which do not overlap but are descriptive of function. And then secondly, to align each type with scripture engagement and the translation niche.

Erratum: The impact of a Biblical Fatherhood Programme for faith communities in the Christiana district: A reflective and community engagement strategy

No abstract available.

Erratum: Breed se bybelse pastorale model Skriftuurlik begrond in 2 Petrus 1:3–11: ’n Eksegetiese toeligting

No abstract available.

Erratum: Auto-memorialisation: Augustus’ Res Gestae as slanted narrative

No abstract available.