Stephen Hughes wrote:It seems that in English versions πνεῦμα is rendered as "Spirit" very often. Has that been discussed on B-Greek before?
One of the things I noticed about going from New Testament Greek to Modern Greek was that πνεύμα (πνεῦμα) in Modern Greek is used far more often of the human mind / intellect than what is understood in English translations of the New Testament. I think that there are several plausible reasons for that; perhaps the literature written in Modern Greek is secular, or perhaps the word is over translated as "Spirit" (referring to God's Spirit) in the New Testament. I've been wondering about that for a while and would be interested to tie that loose-end up.
Dear Stephen,
My view is that Bible translators should make as few choices as possible on the part of the readers. In other words, a translation that is as literal as possible will best serve the interests of the readers who want to work with the text of the Bible on their own. In many cases the Bible translators must make choices for the readers, and the translation of πνεύμα is one such case. Translation is interpretation, and the translators’ understanding of the text will influence their choices. This is necessary and legitimate, but when a choice based on one’s theology in not necessary, it should be avoided.
There are three basic issues in connection with the translation of πνεύμα in the NT:
1) About half of the instances of pneuma ‘agion (the Greek characters do not appear) lack the article. Should the article be added in translation because half of the instances have the article? Or conversely, in all the instances where the article occurs, it can be viewed as anaphoric, so the article can be viewed as pragmatic rather than semantic.
2) Capital letters are not marked in the Greek manuscripts, so should capital letters be added?
3) When the word pneuma stands alone, does it refer to pneuma ‘agion or to something else?
The decisions of Bible translators are different, based on their theological understanding. I use two passages as an example:
In John 20:22, pneuma 'agion occur without article. In “The Holy Bible in Modern Greek” (1955), there is no article, but both words have capital letters. In he Greek New World Translation (1997) there are no article and no capital letters. The English NIV has added the article and has “the Goly Spirit.”
In John 14:26, both pneuma and 'agion have the article. The Greek Translation of 1955 has two articles and two capital letters; the Greek translation of 1997 has one article and the adjective stands before the substantive; no capital letters occur. The NIV has “the Holy Spirit.”
In these examples there are no clear linguistic arguments in favor of either of the choices of the two translations in Modern Greek, so the choices must be be based on the theological understanding of the translators. In such cases, footnotes with explanations would be a service to the readers.
Best regards,
Rolf Furuli
Stavern
Norway