God in Translation

Abstract

Translation, like the art of interpretation, necessarily involves an original. This suggests that originality lies at the heart of every translation; there must be some spark of originality that inspires or ignites our efforts toward deeper or better understandings. The relationship between originality and translation is not only concerned with a “text” and a “reader”, but also between “I and thou” and all that addresses and reveals itself to me in its “thou-like” originality. This essay considers the relationship between translation and the “original” and their intimate and yet unfathomable bond.