1 PRAGMATIC LINGUISTICS APPLIED TO BIBLE TRANSLATION, PROJECTS AND INTER-CULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS: AN AFRICAN FOCUS Jim Harries * Original publication: Harries, Jim. 2009. ‘Pragmatic Linguistics Applied to Bible Translation, Projects and Inter-cultural Relationships: an African focus.’ 75-95 In: Cultural Encounters: a journal for the theology of culture, Volume 5/1, Winter 2009. Introduction Translation issues have all too often been considered the rightful domain of SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) and UBS (United Bible Societies)—the Bible translators. This article challenges this restrictive wisdom. The linguistic guidelines proposed in this article are important for those engaged in church planting, theological education, and all kinds of support and development projects. While few missionaries doubt the value of having Scripture in people’s own languages, more need to consider the importance of not only having them but also using them, and building on the foundation that they represent. Missionaries need, I argue in this essay, to pay urgent attention to linguistic and translation issues that bear heavily on their mission and ministry. Mission methodologies can be so misguided as not to be effective even in ‘Christianized’ parts of the world. This article attempts to provide guidance on knowing how to avoid some of the difficult problems of inter-cultural mission contexts. 1 1. Reconsidering Dynamic Equivalence Methodology The ‘dynamic equivalence’ methodology of Biblical translation, taken as standard in popular books such as that of Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, 2 is considered to originate in Eugene Nida’s work, 3 and is strongly affirmed by well-known names like Charles Kraft. 4 Unfortunately, it can be seriously misleading, * Jim Harries is part-time lecturer at Kima International School of Theology, Kenya, and adjunct professor at William Carey International University, Pasadena, CA; jimoharries@gmail.com. 1. For the purpose of this article, ‘pragmatics’ is defined as the “study of the relations between language and context that are basic to an account of language understanding.” Stephen C. Levinson, Pragmatics: Cambridge text books in linguistics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 21. Note also that ‘Africa’ in this essay refers to Sub- Saharan Africa. 2. Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 2 nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1993), 36. 3. For example, see Eugene Nida, Toward a Science of Translating, with Special Reference to Principles and Procedures Involved in Bible Translating (Leiden: Brill, 1964). 4. Charles H. Kraft, “Can Anthropological Insight Assist Evangelical Theology?” in Culture, Communication and Christianity: A Selection of Writings by Charles H. Kraft, ed. Charles H. Kraft (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2001), 268–9.