Kat Malone

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Marks, Susan

Area of Concentration

Religion

Abstract

This thesis seeks to present the history and methodology of biblical translation through methods popularized by the Digital Humanities. The argument begins by exploring the history of biblical translation from 325 C.E. to the present. Then, it considers the influence of technology on the development of translations, as well as the cultural impact and social contexts. By examining this history, the focus of previous scholarship on “hapax legomena,” or words that only occur once in a text, becomes apparent. By performing a “distant reading” of five translations of the chapter Genesis, this thesis instead investigates the effect of large scale differences in vocabulary on the interpretation of these texts. The differences and similarities across these translations prove not only significant when considering interpretation, but present a myriad of intriguing implications on the effects, both intended and unconscious, of these changes on readers. Through this work, this thesis acts as a stepping stone in renewing the relationship between the fields of Religious Studies and Digital Humanities.

Download

Share

COinS