Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-167) and index.

Foreignizing translation / Richard L. Rohrbaugh -- Grace as benefaction in Galatians 2:9, 1 Corinthians 3:19, and Romans 12:3; 15:15 / Zeba A. Crook -- Contrition and correction or elimination and purification in 1 Corinthians 5 / Richard E. Demaris -- Sins and forgiveness: release and status reinstatement of the paralytic in Mark 2:1-12 / Dietmar Neufeld -- The degraded poor and the greedy rich: exploring the language of poverty and wealth in James / Alicia Batten -- God-zealous or jealous but never envious: the theological consequences of linguistic and social distinctions / John H. Elliott -- The usefulness of the meaning response concept for interpreting translations of healing accounts in Matthew's gospel / John J. Pilch -- Translating the Hebrew body in English metaphor / Carolyn Leeb -- Relexicalizing Leviticus in 4QMMT: the beginnings of Qumran anti-language / Rob Kugler -- Comments from someone who once shook hands with S.H. Hooke -- John Sandys-Wunsch.

The Bible is an ancient book, written in a language other than English, describing social and cultural situations incongruent with modern sensibilities. To help readers bridge these gaps, this work examines the translation and interpretation of a set of biblical texts from the perspectives of cultural anthropology and the social sciences. The introduction deals with methodological issues, enabling readers to recognize the differences in translation when words, sentences, and ideas are part of ancient social and cultural systems that shape meaning. The following essays demonstrate how Bible translations can be culturally sensitive, take into account the challenge of social distance, and avoid the dangers of ethnocentric and theological myopia. As a whole, this work shows the importance of making use of the insights of cultural anthropology in an age of ever-increasing manipulation of the biblical text. --From publisher's description.

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