Musings on Translations

Last week at Salt & Light part of the Gospel of Matthew was read aloud. Chapter 17: 14-21.

from the NRSV:
14 When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, 15and said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.’ 17Jesus answered, ‘You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.’ 18And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. 19Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ 20He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.’

Looking at other translations here some call the boy an epileptic, some a lunatic, one says he is "moonstruck", one says he suffers greatly with seizures, one says he "shakes wildly and suffers a great deal" , and one says "a bad spirit is in him and he suffers a great deal".

What should we expect of a translation? What is the important part of the story to capture? It is from a different time, a different culture, a different place. With the few details about the boy's condition we are given it seems likely that today he would be diagnosed with epilepsy. Is it important that we have pointed out to us that at that time epilepsy was thought to be a mental illness caused by evil spirits? That is an association that still has the power to make life more difficult for persons with epilepsy. A story of healing that is used to hurt. That may be faithful to the words that were used, but not to the truth that was taught.

Since starting this study I have read Matthew in full in 2 different translations, and select passages in several more. It really does make a difference. I have no answers. I have pondered this issue many times over the years and hearing that passage read aloud last week brought this back into my thoughts.