outside over there

In his work, Nida emphasized the importance of cultural context—both the cultural context of Bible and the cultural context of the language into which the Bible is being translated. One example he liked to use was the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, where the sheep represent those who have done the Lord’s will, and the goats are those who haven’t. “Look out, because in most of Africa, sheep are regarded as very bad animals!” he said in his 2002 interview. “The translator, of course, cannot change all the sheep into goats and the goats into sheep. But you’ve got to have footnotes to explain the cultural difference. Otherwise, you’re going to give an entirely wrong impression.”

However, Nida also emphasized something over the need for multiple, relatable translations: a desire to understand and spread the meaning of the Bible. “What is really needed is for people to take the message seriously and share it with other people, focused primarily on what this message has meant to me,” he said. “So many Christians love to argue about the Bible rather than take it seriously as a message that is important for their own lives.”

Eugene Nida did so much for the field of Bible translation. He was one of my heroes. I’m going to be mulling over the meaning of his life and death for a while.