There are, however, at least two reasons why translators have chosen “homosexuals” (or something equivalent) for the English rendering. Since there are no instances of that word being used in Greek literature elsewhere, they often call into question any translation that implicates homosexuals. Pro-gay theology advocates, like the ones who created this film, love to point out that Paul invented a new Greek word ( arsenokoitai) in 1 Corinthians 6:9. What matters is what today’s best scholarship says about the Greek word. Whether his rebuke was right or wrong is irrelevant. Don’t be distracted by the film’s big hubbub about a 21-year-old seminary student’s corrective letter 62 years ago. One of the central claims of the film centers around the Greek word arsenokoitai in 1 Corinthians 6:9. There are two reasons why.įirst, the Greek word in question does appropriately condemn homosexual sex. Nothing follows from the fact that a seminary student called out the RSV translation team. The entire documentary is a non sequitur. Even if the film’s claims are true, it doesn’t matter. Guess what? He’s still alive, and they even interview him in the film!Īll the excitement generated by the trailer, however, is unwarranted. It’s signed by “David S.” Who’s that? Digging deeper, they discover his last name. After three days, they find the letter the seminary student wrote. Finally, there are the noble and honest researchers who travel to Yale University to scour 90 boxes of notes and discover clues that reveal the truth. You have a young seminary student who (in 1959) confronts the authority of an entire Bible translation team, thereby speaking truth to power. There’s a false theological narrative that’s been wrongly imposed on an unsuspecting church population. In 1946, you have old, white men deciding what the Bible says. If you watch the trailer and the other videos on the film’s website, you get the sense the film contains all the ingredients to satisfy today’s theological conspiracy theorists, much like Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code did when it came out. I admit that my assessment is limited to the aforementioned information, but some of the central claims of the film appear evident based on what they’ve made available on the website. Though the film has not been released, I’ve watched the trailers, read the film’s website, and have closely followed the news of its development. The good news is that it’s easy to spot the fallacies in this film. The film claims that subsequent English translations followed the RSV’s lead and wrongly used the word “homosexuals,” which led to decades of mistreatment of the LGBTQ community. Although the RSV translators ended up changing the translation in 1971, it was apparently too late. The film, titled 1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted a Culture, tells the tale of how a 21-year-old seminary student wrote a letter to the translation team to alert them of the alleged error. GUEST(S) ARE SCHEDULED TO BE IN ATTENDANCE FOR Q&AAn upcoming documentary film claims the RSV translators of the Bible wrongly inserted the word “homosexuals” in a New Testament passage back in 1946. Balancing deeply personal stories of faith and homosexual identity with intriguing linguistic and cultural examination, 1946: THE MISTRANSLATION THAT SHIFTED CULTURE seeks understanding for the legacy of pain experienced by queer Christians and hope for healing among those who disagree.- C.F. Here the famous "clobber passages" (biblical verses most commonly used by the Church against gay people) are holistically investigated to discover the original intent - and to find out if they were ever challenged before the translation hit the masses. In the modern day, many believers of the Christian faith have begun to challenge these interpretations of the original texts and investigate the meanings of the words behind them, much to the outrage of those who believe that homosexuality is a sin. In the early mid-century, a new translation of the Bible changed everything for how queer people would experience the Christian church moving forward. What if the crux of modern Christian homophobia was based on a single mistranslation? Director Rocky Roggio, who is the queer daughter of a pastor, and a handful of scholars dig for the truth about what happened in 1946 when, in a perfect cultural and political storm, the word "homosexual" first appeared in the Bible.
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