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it's wild to me that people will live their lives guided by their reading of a *translation* of a document without ever engaging with the original language or any of the details of the translation process

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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)

@QiaochuYuan

· May 8

rereading my favorite thing @RomeoStevens76 has ever written, "(mis)Translating the Buddha" "This is a good example of how Buddhism has been transmitted to the west. It's worse than not helpful, it's actively anti-helpful. As in it obscures actual understanding."

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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)

@QiaochuYuan

May 8

i won't be able to find it but awhile ago

@jonathandubin

linked to an author making some radical claims that the bible has been badly mistranslated and lots of important passages don't mean anything like what they sound like they mean in, say, the KJV translation

QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)

@QiaochuYuan

May 8

and regardless of whether that particular author's claims about what the translation should be are right or not, i don't see how any practicing christian could be confident this sort of thing *wasn't* going on, without studying the original bible or finding someone who has

in the wilderless

@the_wilderless

May 9

Honestly tho, most Christians don’t even give a full read of the Bible *in translation* let alone figuring out a whole other language for it

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in the wilderless

@the_wilderless

· Jul 31, 2021

One of the most shocking parts of my upbringing was the slow realization of how many people there are who A- believe wholeheartedly that the Bible is the divine word of God & B- have Never read the Bible, and have no plans to.

in the wilderless

@the_wilderless

May 9

Remembering back to catechism and doctrine class and such, I’m realizing they actually *did* bring up the translation thing a lot, But only in cases where the doctrinal interpretation of a verse is clearly wildly at odds w the passage itself, they’ll go “well, in the original,,,

QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)

@QiaochuYuan

May 9

here's a funny thought: what if people secretly believe that they don't really deserve literacy and the sacred power of reading really ought to be reserved for the priestly classes