Hidden knowledge from religious archives
In 1903 alone, the British and Foreign Bible Society distributed three million copies of the Holy Scripture around the world. These included many translations, including into the languages spoken in the then colonies. Who taught the missionaries the vocabulary and grammar for this? Contemporary catalogues often do not mention the native speakers who were often significantly involved. ‘But without them, no translation would have been possible,’ Dr Felicity Jensz is convinced. ‘The missionaries did not fully understand the language and culture that was foreign to them. Especially words from a spiritual context were difficult to translate without a deep understanding of other faiths.’
The historian is leading the Global Bible (GloBil) research project, which is using discoveries from widely dispersed archives to shed light on the complex translation process. ‘A lot of research has already been done on missionary societies, but not yet on Bible societies,’ the historian explains. ‘We also want to demonstrate the influence of imperialist aspirations on Bible translations.’ The collaborative project is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the German Research Foundation (DFG). The principal investigators are Prof. Dr Hilary Carey, a historian at the University of Bristol, and Felicity Jensz at the University of Münster.
At the beginning of the 20th century, parts of the Bible had been translated into about 1,000 languages, including many that had not previously existed in written form. Today's knowledge of the languages of the ‘global majority’ is based on the arduous, often decades-long work of indigenous translators and missionaries from the colonial era, emphasises Felicity Jensz. ‘Our sources from the archives of German and British Bible societies also show that women contributed to Bible translations as well, but were less often officially mentioned.’
Dr Michael Wandusim, a member of the project team, is working on West African Bible translations and the indigenous translators involved. He is also looking at aspects of Bible translations that affected people's beliefs. ‘For example, although some languages already had a term for a creator god or other deities, missionaries translating the Bible tried to coin terms that were foreign to the religious world view of the receiving culture,’ explains the theologian.
The research team is examining Bibles from the 19th to the early 20th century from West Africa, the Arctic and Oceania. ‘Not only the translation, but also the distribution was intertwined and complex, with a significant economic dimension,’ emphasises Felicity Jensz. In Greenland, for example, translated Bibles were exchanged for blubber, while on an island in the Pacific, missionaries received arrowroot in return. Printing presses in Europe were keen to take on the large-scale orders, donations were collected, raw materials and books were shipped.
The research results are being incorporated into a digital map and a freely accessible database. In addition, the team will present its work in an exhibition at the university's Bible Museum from October 2025, one of the ‘Global Bible’ project partners.
This article is taken from the university newspaper wissen|leben No.8, 11. December 2024.