LETTING IN THE LIGHT
Translating Holy Texts
WILLIS BARNSTONESpiritual and mystical scriptures survive on the
fire of art. Without the fire the new word is dead.
—Pierre Grange, "On Translating the Holy"g_ J uminating about literary translation is an ancient habit. A pri-
I ^L mary idea has been that the aesthetic of the original should
JL. ^k— shine in translation. If that old news were remembered, we
might stop here. But for more than a century most versions of religious scrip-
ture have retained a formulaic, archaizing lexicon. Sadly, when the source is
both religious and supremely literary, as are the canons of major religions, the
aesthetic disappears in the transfer, whether out of religious faith or academic
purpose. The voice, the song, the whisper go unheard. They are not treated as
the holy scripture of Homer or Dante.
To maltreat Homer and Dante as the Bible has been hurt would be heresy.
To be sure, religious translation has enjoyed supreme moments. There
was the plain and immeasurable beauty of the Tyndale New Testament (1536)
and the holy strength of the King James Version (1611). The James, or Autho-
rized, Version was accomplished by some forty-seven scholars, who had been
instructed to revise earlier versions. With Tyndale as their main source and
genius as their guide, the Authorized's scholars remade the English language
and letters forever. Then, in the shadow and authority of the magnificent
King James, came imitations and corrections and a plunge to the pedestrian.