“The time has come for God to do something new. God is bringing people into his family. So, turn back to God and believe this good news.” (Mark 1:15)
Several Bible translations into Australian Indigenous languages use familial language to describe God’s ‘kingdom’, such as the version above. This language is sometimes alongside language of authority, and in other cases in place of such descriptors. The primary reason for such translation choices is communication into a cultural context where family and kinship relationships are much stronger than in western/European backgrounds, so translators feel this conveys ‘kingdom’ more effectively than some external position of authority. Other factors contribute to this, such as linguistic structures in these indigenous languages, the available vocabulary, and a long history of interaction with European colonialism, often operating explicitly under the auspices of the (English) king or queen.
This is an interesting case of contextual interpretation in translation. There are good questions to ask not only about reception and understanding in communities of particular New Testament texts, but also the possibility of connection to the development of the theme of the kingdom of God through the Scriptures. Could Graeme Goldsworthy’s summary be rendered as “God’s people, in God’s country, in God’s family” among people for whom familial relationships are primary? This paper considers Gutt’s application of relevance theory to biblical texts to assess these translation decisions, considering the context of remote communities and drift in social location in modern-day Australia. Further, Schliermacher’s dynamic of foreignization and domestication in translation draws Australia’s colonial history into sharper relief in these decisions. Parallels to translation decisions made in Muslim Idiomatic Translations – where familial terms are replaced with euphemistic expressions acceptable to the target audience – help clarify some of the cultural, societal, and theological issues.