Of Nations, Languages, and Bibles

In this paper, I trace political and sociocultural change between two translation projects, Bibel 2000 and the "Sami Bible" of the Nordic Bible Societies. I suggest that the arguments that were made on the intended readership of Bibel 2000 in the 1960s and early 1970s reflect a monocultura...

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Main Author: Richard Pleijel
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Svenska exegetiska sällskapet (Swedish Exegetical Society) 2024-12-01
Series:Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok
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Online Access:https://publicera.kb.se/sea/article/view/19399
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author Richard Pleijel
author_facet Richard Pleijel
author_sort Richard Pleijel
collection DOAJ
description In this paper, I trace political and sociocultural change between two translation projects, Bibel 2000 and the "Sami Bible" of the Nordic Bible Societies. I suggest that the arguments that were made on the intended readership of Bibel 2000 in the 1960s and early 1970s reflect a monocultural and monolingual framework which was still a political and cultural reality at this time. Especially the importance of the national language (Swedish) and its connection to national identity underlying the arguments testify to this. In contrast, the Sami translation project of the Nordic Bible Societies, initiated in the 1980s, bears witness to changes towards multiculturalism and officially acknowledged multilingualism. I argue that these changes were an important impetus for this translation project, which also connects to a growing awareness of the importance of language for identity formation among the Sami people. Finally, I discuss the function of language as a “source of biblical authority” for both translation projects (Bibel 2000 and the Sami Bible), however in widely different respects. This enables me to place both translation projects as conceptualizations of “the Bible” in specific temporal contexts in the Swedish (and Nordic) postwar political landscape.
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2001-9424
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spelling doaj-art-12d4f0a2075140ff91d6081b3a18044b2024-12-17T01:38:50ZdeuSvenska exegetiska sällskapet (Swedish Exegetical Society)Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok1100-22982001-94242024-12-0189110.58546/se.v89i1.19399Of Nations, Languages, and BiblesRichard Pleijel0Stockholm UniversityIn this paper, I trace political and sociocultural change between two translation projects, Bibel 2000 and the "Sami Bible" of the Nordic Bible Societies. I suggest that the arguments that were made on the intended readership of Bibel 2000 in the 1960s and early 1970s reflect a monocultural and monolingual framework which was still a political and cultural reality at this time. Especially the importance of the national language (Swedish) and its connection to national identity underlying the arguments testify to this. In contrast, the Sami translation project of the Nordic Bible Societies, initiated in the 1980s, bears witness to changes towards multiculturalism and officially acknowledged multilingualism. I argue that these changes were an important impetus for this translation project, which also connects to a growing awareness of the importance of language for identity formation among the Sami people. Finally, I discuss the function of language as a “source of biblical authority” for both translation projects (Bibel 2000 and the Sami Bible), however in widely different respects. This enables me to place both translation projects as conceptualizations of “the Bible” in specific temporal contexts in the Swedish (and Nordic) postwar political landscape. https://publicera.kb.se/sea/article/view/19399Bible translationNordic BibleSami BibleSami languagemonoculturalismmonolingualism
spellingShingle Richard Pleijel
Of Nations, Languages, and Bibles
Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok
Bible translation
Nordic Bible
Sami Bible
Sami language
monoculturalism
monolingualism
title Of Nations, Languages, and Bibles
title_full Of Nations, Languages, and Bibles
title_fullStr Of Nations, Languages, and Bibles
title_full_unstemmed Of Nations, Languages, and Bibles
title_short Of Nations, Languages, and Bibles
title_sort of nations languages and bibles
topic Bible translation
Nordic Bible
Sami Bible
Sami language
monoculturalism
monolingualism
url https://publicera.kb.se/sea/article/view/19399
work_keys_str_mv AT richardpleijel ofnationslanguagesandbibles