Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to make a contribution to the formulation of a set of guidelines for an acceptable poetic translation of a sacred poetic text. To achieve this definition, a thorough review of current translation theory and practice is conducted, a specific model for translating poetry is presented, two English poems are created by using the principles of the model, and these two poems are evaluatively tested against other English translations. Wendland‘s LiFE methodology combines a literary/rhetorical approach, Skopostheorie and functionalist approaches, relevance theory, cognitive linguistics, an equivalence methodology, and a respect for sacred texts. The re-sculpting model builds upon Wendland‘s approach, particularly emphasizing insights gained from analyzing literary translations of non-Biblical texts, a narrow view of translating, and the care needed when working with a sacred text. To create a poetic sacred text, three kinds of guidelines are proposed concerning: project definition, determination of acceptability, and re-sculpting. Project definition – This involves pre-project planning and research. The results of this research will enable one to specify the communicative purpose for the translation (Skopos) and to formulate a range of agreements (translation brief) that guides all aspects of the project. Determination of acceptability – Following Beekman-Callow‘s model, a basic two-fold guideline of source text accuracy and target group acceptability is adopted to avoid extreme literalness and unduly free translating. Other recommendations for achieving this dual guideline are given through strategic planning, collaboration, communication, and effective training. Re-sculpting – A metaphorical term ―re-sculpting‖ was created. The proposed definition of re-sculpting is: ―a moderately re-structured and meaning-based translation of a poetic sacred text based on theological, thematic, and other literary/rhetorical concerns‖. By working within a slightly larger semantic range, a translator has room to be creative. For example, one can re-structure over two or three lines of Hebrew poetry rather than being restricted to a single line. However, very broad re-creations of a text (e.g., restructuring an entire long poem) are not recommended in a re-sculpting approach. A narrow definition of translation is proposed that distinguishes ―translation proper‖ (where a conservative grammatical-historical hermeneutic is applied) from more extreme approaches such as excessive adaptation or excessive paraphrase. Wendland‘s ten step literary/rhetorical method of analysis is applied to Psalm 131 and Psalm 150, and two re-sculpted poems are created. Each of these poems is evaluatively compared with five other English versions, and a survey is conducted to determine how readers rate these various translations. Results of the survey show that both of the re-sculpted poems are viewed as very acceptable and poetic. Although a relatively small sample of readers was used in the survey, it is reasonable to argue, at least tentatively, that re-sculpting appears to be a valid and useful method to consider in the translation of sacred poetic texts. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van die studie is om ʼn bydrae te maak tot die definiëring van riglyne vir die maak van ʼn aanvaarbare vertaling van ʼn godsdienstige poëtiese teks. Vir hierdie doel is ʼn indringende ondersoek na huidige tendense in die teorie en praktyk van vertaling geloods en ʼn model vir die vertaling van poësie geformuleer. Daarna is twee Engelse gedigte in terme van hierdie model geskep en beoordeel in die lig van ander Engelse vertalings van dieselfde twee gedigte. Wendland se LiFE (literêr-funksioneelekwivalente) model kombineer ʼn literêr/retoriese benadering met Skoposteorie en ander funksionalistiese benaderings, relevansieteorie en kognitiewe taalkunde. In die model word ekwivalensie aan die bronteks nagestreef terwyl die aard van ʼn godsdienstige teks gerespekteer word. Die ―resculpting model‖ bou voort op Wendland se benadering. Dit beklemtoon veral die insigte wat verkry word deur die analise van die literêre vertalings van nie-Bybelse tekste, ʼn eng opvatting van vertaling en die sensitiwiteit wat nodig is wanneer ʼn godsdienstige teks vertaal word. Vir die skep ʼn godsdienstige poëtiese teks word drie soorte riglyne voorgestel: definisie van die project, bepaling van aanvaarbaarheid en ―re-sculpting‖. Definisie van die projek – Dit behels voorafbeplanning en navorsing. Die bevindings van die navorsing maak die identifisering van die kommunikatiewe doel (Skopos) van die vertaling moontlik, asook die formulering van ʼn vertaalopdrag. In laasgenoemde word ʼn aantal afsprake wat alle aspekte van die projek rig, geformuleer. Bepaling van aanvaarbaarheid – In navolging van Beekman-Callow word die vermyding van, aan die een kant, ekstreem letterlike en, aan die ander kant, onnodig vrye vertaalkeuses as ʼn basiese tweeledige riglyn vir aanvaarbaarheid beskou. ʼn Verdere manier om aanvaarbaarheid te verseker is deur middel van strategiese beplanning, samewerking, kommunikasie en effektiewe opleiding. ―Re-sculpting‖ – ʼn Model van ―re-sculpting‖ word voorgestel. ―Re-sculpting‖ is ʼn metafoor wat geskep is en wat beskryf kan word as ―ʼn gematigde hergestruktureerde en betekenis-geörienteerde vertaling van ʼn poëtiese godsdienstige teks wat berus op teologiese, tematiese en ander literêre/retoriese oorwegings‖. Deur met ʼn effense breër semantiese horison as een kolon te werk (in Hebreeus, tipies op die vlak van die bi-kolon of tri-kolon), het ʼn vertaler ruimte om kreatief te wees. Herskeppings op ʼn breër vlak (byvoorbeeld, die hele gedig), word nie in terme van hierdie model aanbeveel nie. ʼn Eng definisie van vertaling (wat op grammaties-historiese hermeneutiek berus en waarin waarde geheg word aan historiese geloofwaardigheid) word aanbeveel. Hierdie opvatting van vertaling word onderskei van meer ekstreme benaderings waarin selfs verwerkings en parafrases van 'n bronteks as vertalings beskou word. Wendland se retories/literêre analise in tien stappe word gebruik om Psalm 131 en 150 te ontleed. Twee ―re-sculpted‖ gedigte word geskep. Elk van hierdie gedigte word met vyf ander vertalings vergelyk en ʼn ondersoek word geloods om te bepaal hoe lesers die verskillende vertalings beöordeel. Daar word bevind dat lesers beide hierdie ―re-sculpted‖ gedigte as heel aanvaarbaar en poëties beskou. Alhoewel die relatief klein aantal lesers wat in die ondersoek gebruik is, nie as ʼn verteenwoordige monster beskou kan word nie, is dit redelik om te argumenteer (ten minste voorlopig) dat ―re-sculpting‖ ʼn geldige en nuttige metafoor is om te gebruik in die vertaling van godsdienstige poëtiese tekste.

This dissertation examines the use of water imagery in the book of Psalms and argues that the psalmists primarily employed this imagery to allude to four accounts of God's works in the Pentateuch--the waters of creation, the water in the Garden of Eden, the flood, and the crossing of the Red Sea--as paradigms for understanding their present and the future. Each chapter examines the use of the water motif in a particular book of the Psalms. In each chapter I attempt to prove, through verbal and thematic links, that the authors of the Psalms were biblical theologians in that the Pentateuch shaped their worldview. Because of their scripture-shaped worldview, they employed water imagery from earlier scriptures to interpret present-day events. The psalmists' use of water imagery also pointed to the future. Through water imagery they alluded to the Garden of Eden to express hope for a new future Eden. For the psalmists the creation of the world was a model of how God would one day remake creation. The flood and the crossing of the Red Sea are also paradigmatic events that guided the psalmists' understanding of God's work of salvation and judgment in the present and the future. The psalmists' hope for a future of divine salvation and judgment took its design from the flood and the Red Sea.

M.A. (Biblical Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This dissertation argues that Psalm 108 introduces the eschatological notions of the king and of the kingdom into its canonical group (Pss 108–110) through its inclusion of a non-historically specific superscription, its quotation and paraphrase of earlier psalmic material (Pss 57 and 60), and its canonical placement in Book V of the Psalter. Chapter 1 presents this study’s thesis along with three undergirding assumptions: (1) the Psalter is a book; (2) individual psalms should be read in sequence; and (3) the Psalter progressively tells a story along redemptive-historical lines. Chapter 2 provides histories of interpretation of Psalm 108 and of research into inner-biblical exegesis and canonical approaches to the Psalter. This chapter shows differences among interpreters’ views of Psalm 108. It also shows how this work’s approach engages inner-biblical exegesis and Psalter exegesis (a canonical approach) to clarify the meaning of Psalm 108. Chapter 3 interprets Psalm 108 in its canonical context. It reveals how Psalm 108 participates in the narrative flow of the Psalter. The chapter concludes that Psalm 108 continues the story of eschatological redemption that began in Psalm 107, which records the eschatological return of Israel to the land. In continuation of this story, Psalm 108 bespeaks the eschatological conquest of the land. In response to the king’s prayer, God will go out with Israel’s armies and conquer the land, and through the king’s prayer, the kingdom comes. Chapter 4 compares Psalm 108 with Psalms 57 and 60 to clarify the message that Psalm 108 conveys by its quotation and paraphrase of these two earlier psalms. Chapter 5 highlights certain themes that Psalm 108 shares with Psalms 109 and 110, noting the development of these themes across the three psalms. Psalm 108 introduces the eschatological notions of the king and the kingdom to this Davidic triptych (Pss 108–110). Before discussing these psalms, this chapter also explores the theoretical tools of willed types and pregnant meaning to explain how the Psalter’s editor(s) could have organized Davidic psalms into a sequence while honoring David’s authorial intent. Finally, Chapter 6 concludes the dissertation.

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M.A. (Biblical Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This dissertation argues that Book IV of the canonical Hebrew Psalter (Pss 90–106) sustains the hope that God will keep his covenant with David by installing a future king from David’s line. Chapter 1 introduces the debate, states the thesis, surveys the history of psalmic interpretation, and summarizes recent canonical views that see David either diminished or sustained in Book IV. Chapter 2 presents an eclectic canonical methodology that honors the five-book division, accounts for superscriptions, incipits, and closings, senses a broad narrative progression, acknowledges psalmic collections, recognizes lexical, thematic, and structural resonance beween psalms, and considers inner-biblical allusions. Chapter 3 explores the covenantal contradiction in Psalm 89 and proposes that Psalm 90 continues and complements the lament in Psalm 89 which questioned the character and reign of God due to the fallen Davidic throne and the severed Davidic line. Chapter 4 analyzes Psalms 90–92 and argues that a reimagined Moses enters Book IV to intercede for Israel (90) in response to the unfulfilled Davidic covenant in Psalm 89. Psalms 90–92 then allude to Deuteronomy 32–33 and progress from pained petition (90) to promised protection (91) to restored rejoicing (92). Chapter 5 explores the message and function of Psalm 101 and argues that its intra-book links, Davidic title, royal voice, lamenting tone, future orientation, inter-psalm allusions, and strategic placement make it a central psalm sustaining Davidic hope in Book IV. Chapter 6 explores the lexical and thematic resonance among Psalms 90, 102, and 103 and argues that the afflicted Davidide in Psalm 102 applies and echoes the plaintive prayer of Moses in Psalm 90 and that the Davidic praise in Psalm 103 answers both Psalms 90 and 102. Thus David is forgiven and restored along with the people in Psalm 103. Chapter 7 concludes by reviewing the evidence from each chapter and proposing that the overall structure and message of Book IV sustains the hope that God will keep his covenant with David.

This thesis examines Jan Kochanowski's vernacular verse translation of the Psalms, Psalterz Dawidow (Krakow, 1579), in terms both of its formal composition and its content, and illustrates the poet's debt to western Europe. It will be seen that his innovations in versification owe much to developments in the vernacular literatures of Italy and France, while the content of Psalterz Dawidow shows evidence of Kochanowski's use of neo-Latin works. Following the methodology employed by scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the author of this thesis has reexamined the question of Kochanowski's use of sources. A comparison between Kochanowski's text and vernacular and Latin translations (prose and verse) and commentaries published in or before 1579 broadly confirms the findings of earlier studies while at the same time identifying a new source of Psalterz Dawidow, John Calvin's commentary on the Psalms (In librum Psalmorum, Iohannis Calvini commentarius (Geneva, 1557)). Furthermore, this thesis attempts to challenge the view expressed in previous studies that Kochanowski's use of Protestant sources, and the use of his translation by Protestants, is evidence that the poet himself had Protestant sympathies. Having established that the character of the Reformation and Counter Reformation in Poland was markedly different from that in the rest of Europe, that Calvinism was not suppressed and, indeed, won the support of the majority of the szlachta, the author of this thesis suggests that Kochanowski's choice of Protestant sources was motivated by the merits of the individual works rather than, necessarily, by any firmly held religious convictions. Indeed, an analysis of his oeuvre as a whole reveals that Kochanowski's works owe much to the humanist tradition and rarely provide any clear evidence of whether he was a Catholic or a Protestant.

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the use of the second Psalm in Jewish and Christian tradition of exegesis. This study begins with the O.T. itself and traces the employment of Ps. 2 in Jewish and Christian literature up to 300 A.D. As the sub-title indicates the focus of this inquiry is the christological employment of Ps. 2 by N.T. writers. Ch. I gives detailed consideration to Ps. 2:1, 2, 7-9 (i.e. those verse used in the N.T.) in its O.T. context. This is necessary because it is impossible to relate the later uses of Ps. 2 to its original meaning unless this has been ascertained. Such problems as the scope of the rebellion (vss. 1, 2), the significance of חֹק and "you are my Son, today I have begotten you" (vs. 7), the pointing of תרעם (vs. 9), the place of Ps. 2 in its O.T. Traditionsgeschichte, the relation of the M.T. to the LXX, other Greek versions and the Targum and the messianic nature of Ps. 2 are taken up. Ch. II, intertestamental literature (i.e., D.S.S., Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Rabbinic literature), examines the quotation of Ps, 2:1,2 in 4QFlor 1 : 18ff, the allusion to Ps. 2:7 in IQSa 2:11, the clearly messianic use of Ps. 2:9 in Psalms of Solomon 17:26 along with allusions to Ps, 2:2,9 in Psalms of Solomon 17,18. Attention is given to allusions to Ps. 2 in Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, IV Ezra and I Enoch. The occurrences of Ps. 2 in the Rabbinic literature are only surveyed because in most cases the traditions preserved in this literature cannot be shown to be pre-Christian. Finally, the use of Son of God as a messianic title in pre-Christian Judaism is sketched. Ch. III-V deal with the N.T. and concentrate upon the following areas of inquiry: l) introductory formula, 2) text form, 3) contribution of the quotation to the argument or theme of the passage, i.e. what is the significance of the quotation, 4) function of the quotation, i.e. how is it used in its immediate and wider context, 5) hermeneutical stance and techniques and 6) the relation of the quotation or the allusion to earlier and later Traditionsgeschichte. Ch. III examines the use of Ps. 2:1,2 in Acts 3:18,4:5,25ff, Mt. 22:34. Ch. IV deals with Ps. 2:7 in Acts 13:33, Heb. 1:2,5, 5:5, 7:28 and the alleged allusions in the baptism and transfiguration voices and Rom. 1:4. Ch. V is concerned with Ps. 2:9 in 2,26,27, 12:5, 19:15 and allusions to Ps. 2:2 in 11:15, 12:10, 19:19. The use of Ps. 2 in the Church Fathers is incorporated in chs. III-V.