FW: [SEELANGS] Translating Θεοτοκος / Богородица

[Katz, Michael R.]

Dear colleagues:

I forwarded this inquiry to one of my colleagues in the Department of
Religion at Middlebury College. This is her response, which she is willing
to share.

Michael Katz 

On 2/16/14 1:05 PM, "Hatjigeorgiou, Maria" <mhatjige at middlebury.edu> wrote:

>Dear Michael,
>
>thank you SO much for bringing me into this loop! This is a great
>question of interdisciplinary nature, where language is such a key
>player. I firmly believe that the translation of Θεοτοκος as "Mother of
>God" is the closest and most faithful rendering of theological meaning,
>which is also relatable to both contemporary communities of faith and
>scholarly audiences. My second vote would go to "Godbearer." There is
>plenty of recent scholarship utilizing both, but most Byzantine
>archaeologists and Orthodox theologians in the English-speaking world
>today have opted for the "Mother of God" rendering. Also: to treat the
>point that Yuliya Ballou seems to be raising, indeed there is more
>significance given to Mary by emphasizing her role of 'bearing God'
>rather than simply 'birthing God', and the early Christians of the East,
>who were thinking about those questions, were fully aware of the
>complexity of theological semantics. The intricate term 'Θεοτοκος' serves
>both semantic needs, and was devised during the 3rd Ecumenical Council of
>Ephesus (431) as a term that safeguards the unity of Christ's person. By
>proclaiming Mary Theotokos, they weren't only honoring Mary the
>historical woman, but they also solved the great theological question of
>how the Human and the Divine relate in Christ's person!
>
>Please feel free to forward my humble take to your Slavists list, or
>anyone who might find this useful.
>
>With my warmest greetings, as ever,
>Maria
>
>________________________________________
>From: Katz, Michael R.
>Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2014 7:32 AM
>To: Hatjigeorgiou, Maria
>Subject: FW: [SEELANGS] Translating Θεοτοκος / Богородица
>
>Maria:
>
>I thought you might find this of interest.
>
>Michael Katz
>
>On 2/15/14 3:23 AM, "R. M. Cleminson" <rmcleminson at POST.SK> wrote:
>
>>The objection to all the alternatives in the list is that they sound
>>totally unnatural in English, and are, to that extent, bad translations.
>>
>>Before the Reformation expressions such as "Goddes Moder" were widely
>>current in English, but were then banished as symptomatic of what was
>>perceived as an excessive devotion to Mary, and have remained foreign to
>>the language of the Reformed tradition to this day, though an awareness
>>of equivalent expressions in other Western European languages means that
>>"Mother of God" is not unnatural in modern English, but marked as "Roman
>>Catholic".  (Slightly ironically, the original theological resonances of
>>Θεοτόκος are an affirmation of an orthodox christology - in opposition to
>>Nestorianism - that Western Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant,
>>shares.)
>>
>>It is also relevant that Russian may designate Mary as Богоматерь or
>>Матерь Божия, both expressions which are absolutely equivalent to
>>Богородица without any perceived cultural or theological nuance; that on
>>all the countless icons on which she appears she is identified as Μήτηρ
>>Θεοῦ; and that in worship conducted in English in Orthodox churches in
>>England Θεοτόκος is rendered as "Mother of God".
>>
>>I think that one can be confident, therefore, that "Mother of God" fully
>>conveys the semantics of Богородица - as fully, that is, as one can ever
>>hope to convey semantics when translating between languages and cultures.
>> The other expressions fall far short of this, partly because they sound
>>so awkward to the English ear, and partly because they point so markedly
>>(and exclusively) to certain theological technicalities in a way that
>>neither Богородица nor Θεοτόκος, as normally used in everyday language,
>>do.
>>
>>----- Pôvodná správa -----
>>Od: "Daniel Rancour-Laferriere" <darancourlaferriere at COMCAST.NET>
>>Komu: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
>>Odoslané: piatok, 14. február 2014 21:57:06
>>Predmet: [SEELANGS] Translating Θεοτοκος / Б��городица
>>
>>Dear Slavists,
>>
>>
>>I am considering possible alternatives to "Mother of God" in translating
>>Russian "Bogoroditsa" (which is a calque on Greek "Theotokos" according
>>to Fasmer). Some possibilities:
>>
>>
>>Godbearer
>>Birth-giver of God
>>Godbirther
>>Birther of God
>>The God-bearing One
>>
>>
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