The Holy Spirit (Ghost) and the Four Scriptures

[Navidad]

My question is this: There are four scriptures that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognizes - The Bible, The Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. What is either the Church's or your understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit (Ghost) in the creation, translations, preservation, and on-going changes in the text of each? Does it vary depending on which one we are talking about? Are all or any of them the words of God made available to humanity via the inspiration of the Holy Spirit on the ones (humans) who literally have created the various versions, translations of each over the years of their existence? For example, I know a little about the translation of the Book of Mormon into Spanish. Was that process done under the guidance, direction, and inspiration of the Holy Spirit? The Old Testament into Latin? The Pearl of Great Price into Japanese? The writing of the original tablets of the Book of Mormon? The translation of the same into English? I just was given three 19th century copies of the Book of Mormon in German. Was that translation process superintended by the Holy Spirit? What about the collective and individual interpretation today of passages in each? Thanks so much in advance for your thoughts on and beliefs about these questions.

[CV75]

18 minutes ago, Navidad said:

My question is this: There are four scriptures that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recognizes - The Bible, The Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. What is either the Church's or your understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit (Ghost) in the creation, translations, preservation, and on-going changes in the text of each? Does it vary depending on which one we are talking about? Are all or any of them the words of God made available to humanity via the inspiration of the Holy Spirit on the ones (humans) who literally have created the various versions, translations of each over the years of their existence? For example, I know a little about the translation of the Book of Mormon into Spanish. Was that process done under the guidance, direction, and inspiration of the Holy Spirit? The Old Testament into Latin? The Pearl of Great Price into Japanese? The writing of the original tablets of the Book of Mormon? The translation of the same into English? I just was given three 19th century copies of the Book of Mormon in German. Was that translation process superintended by the Holy Spirit? What about the collective and individual interpretation today of passages in each? Thanks so much in advance for your thoughts on and beliefs about these questions.

I think either the grace or intervention of God, the light of Christ, the power of the Holy Ghost, or the Gift of the Holy Ghost are operative in the creation, translations, preservation, and on-going changes in the text of each of the four scriptures you mentioned. I think it depends on teh individuals involved. Additionally, we have the role of the restored priesthood keys when it comes to the management of scripture, which is the final say in what is done with translations from English into other languages. In this regard, no matter which divine help was used and to what degree, we have 1 Nephi 19:6:

6 Nevertheless, I do not ^awrite anything upon plates save it be that I think it be ^bsacred. And now, if I do err, even did they err of old; not that I would excuse myself because of other men, but because of the ^cweakness which is in me, according to the flesh, I would excuse myself.

To paraphrase, we do not translate anything from English save it be that we think we have done our best to rely upon the grace or intervention of God, the light of Christ, the power of the Holy Ghost, or the Gift of the Holy Ghost in the process as directed by those with the keys of translation. And now, if we do err, even did they err of old; not that we would excuse ourselves because of other men, but because of the weakness which is in us, according to the flesh, we would excuse ourselves.

Ether 12: 23 -28 is also instructive as far as having confidence in the results of doing our best to translate.

Edited December 19, 2021 by CV75

[Navidad]

22 hours ago, CV75 said:

I think either the grace or intervention of God, the light of Christ, the power of the Holy Ghost, or the Gift of the Holy Ghost are operative in the creation, translations, preservation, and on-going changes in the text of each of the four scriptures you mentioned. I think it depends on teh individuals involved. Additionally, we have the role of the restored priesthood keys when it comes to the management of scripture, which is the final say in what is done with translations from English into other languages. In this regard, no matter which divine help was used and to what degree, we have 1 Nephi 19:6:

6 Nevertheless, I do not ^awrite anything upon plates save it be that I think it be ^bsacred. And now, if I do err, even did they err of old; not that I would excuse myself because of other men, but because of the ^cweakness which is in me, according to the flesh, I would excuse myself.

To paraphrase, we do not translate anything from English save it be that we think we have done our best to rely upon the grace or intervention of God, the light of Christ, the power of the Holy Ghost, or the Gift of the Holy Ghost in the process as directed by those with the keys of translation. And now, if we do err, even did they err of old; not that we would excuse ourselves because of other men, but because of the weakness which is in us, according to the flesh, we would excuse ourselves.

Ether 12: 23 -28 is also instructive as far as having confidence in the results of doing our best to translate.

Does the same thing go for interpret? Who are the ones who hold the keys to translation? Are there examples from folks who have done the translating as to how the Spirit led them to do so, to make changes, etc? Thanks so much.

[CV75]

5 hours ago, Navidad said:

Does the same thing go for interpret? Who are the ones who hold the keys to translation? Are there examples from folks who have done the translating as to how the Spirit led them to do so, to make changes, etc? Thanks so much.

The keys of translation, as with all the keys, are held by the First Presidency and Twelve (D&C 28:7; 35:18). Either they can translate themselves or delegate and assign it to others according to the instructions they receive from the Lord. The same would go for live language interpretation and signing, as with General Conference and other assemblies. There is a Translation Division that carries out both, using employees and volunteers, ultimately overseen by the general authorities. I don't have any first-hand examples handy, though I have seen them periodically in Church magazines and feature news articles. 

 

[mfbukowski]

6 hours ago, Navidad said:

Does the same thing go for interpret? Who are the ones who hold the keys to translation? Are there examples from folks who have done the translating as to how the Spirit led them to do so, to make changes, etc? Thanks so much.

Well of course no other translation is possible in the BOM or the D&C, or the Pearl of Great Price because there are no "original" manuscripts available.  And interpretation of these volumes would be up to each individual- but of course if a General Authority comes up with another interpretation of the English than has been traditional, I would say that is his privilege to do so just as it is our privilege to do so.   And obviously if there are "mistranslations" noted by scholars of passages of, say, the King James, obviously those would be subject to discussion

So the only area if I understand you, in which actual "translation" of scripture would come from translating volumes originally revealed in English like say, the BOM into another language.

@Dan McClellan if I am not mistaken works for the church,  in translating scriptures into other languages.   He clearly is the guy you want to ask!

Regardless, he may see this post and clarify.  

Edited December 20, 2021 by mfbukowski

[Navidad]

23 minutes ago, mfbukowski said:

Well of course no other translation is possible in the BOM or the D&C, or the Pearl of Great Price because there are no "original" manuscripts available.  And interpretation of these volumes would be up to each individual- but of course if a General Authority comes up with another interpretation of the English than has been traditional, I would say that is his privilege to do so just as it is our privilege to do so.   And obviously if there are "mistranslations" noted by scholars of passages of, say, the King James, obviously those would be subject to discussion

So the only area if I understand you, in which actual "translation" of scripture would come from translating volumes originally revealed in English like say, the BOM into another language.

@Dan McClellan if I am not mistaken works for the church,  in translating scriptures into other languages.   He clearly is the guy you want to ask!

Regardless, he may see this post and clarify.  

Yes my friend, this thread came from two questions/thoughts in my head. The first is interpretation of the actual texts of the four scriptures. There are significant differences of interpretation of the Biblical texts among Evangelicals for example. After I heard the Sunstone conference talk on an interpretation of D&C 1:30 by using the more exact meaning of the English subjunctive mood of the passage, I have been wondering about how often someone does something like that within the LDS church. I found it fascinating. His conclusion based on what we know of the English subjunctive mood, that passage and all the section surrounding it is meant to be understood as aspirational, not actual in fact.

Second, I spent time in Africa working with linguists who were creating orthography (a written language) for those who had no written language to provide literacy for the people and ultimately to translate the Bible as well. I found the work of those who did that very fascinating as well. It was incredibly complicated - linguistics is a real science - very math-like. I also was recently given two or three old German versions of the BOM. Obviously in the 19th century someone translated it. I was wondering who did it, how they did it, who approved it - things like that? That led me to wonder if there are LDS linguists in the field working in the boonies of Africa to create written languages for literacy and missionary efforts? I have never heard of any, so thought I would ask about these two processes here. I have never met anyone LDS who makes either of these things their specialty. That is why I asked as well. Thanks.

[mfbukowski]

6 minutes ago, Navidad said:

Yes my friend, this thread came from two questions/thoughts in my head. The first is interpretation of the actual texts of the four scriptures. There are significant differences of interpretation of the Biblical texts among Evangelicals for example. After I heard the Sunstone conference talk on an interpretation of D&C 1:30 by using the more exact meaning of the English subjunctive mood of the passage, I have been wondering about how often someone does something like that within the LDS church. I found it fascinating. His conclusion based on what we know of the English subjunctive mood, that passage and all the section surrounding it is meant to be understood as aspirational, not actual in fact.

Second, I spent time in Africa working with linguists who were creating orthography (a written language) for those who had no written language to provide literacy for the people and ultimately to translate the Bible as well. I found the work of those who did that very fascinating as well. It was incredibly complicated - linguistics is a real science - very math-like. I also was recently given two or three old German versions of the BOM. Obviously in the 19th century someone translated it. I was wondering who did it, how they did it, who approved it - things like that? That led me to wonder if there are LDS linguists in the field working in the boonies of Africa to create written languages for literacy and missionary efforts? I have never heard of any, so thought I would ask about these two processes here. I have never met anyone LDS who makes either of these things their specialty. That is why I asked as well. Thanks.

Good questions- the only source I would know of who is somewhat readily available is @Dan McClellan