To Read and To Know: Proper Biblical Translation as a Key to Commentaries and Theology

In some language groups, Bible commentaries and translations are of lesser quality, often due to the lack of training in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic for their authors and translators. Additionally, many commentaries are authored by those who are unfamiliar with the language, church, and culture of the target audience. Further, some language groups struggle with the quality of translations even of the biblical text itself. A translation may not be based on the biblical languages but on a Bible translation in another modern language. This can result in the theological perspective of the previous translators being unwittingly written into the subsequent translation. How can these challenges be addressed? In this volume of the Tyndale Theological Seminary Theses Series, two brothers, Bogdan and Alexandru Costea, address these types of biblical studies issues in Romania. Bogdan writes about the importance of having a Romanian commentary series that compares the biblical languages with the Romanian Bible versions used by Evangelicals and interacts with the Church Fathers. Alexandru evaluates the meaning and implications of σῴζω as translated in the Romanian Orthodox Bible, a word commonly translated as ""save"" in many English contexts. These two men thus grapple with the core issues related to commentary production suitable for the Romanian context as well as provide a model for other language contexts. Their interest, in conjunction with that of Dr. Octavian Baban and Dr. H. H. Drake Williams III, has helped to produce the Seria Comentarii Exegetice Romaneşti (Oradea, RO: Decenu, 2023-).