Publication: The Japanese perception of 'God' through bible translation : the way of Japanese christianity
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2013
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The Japanese perception of 'God' through bible translation : the way of Japanese christianity
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Abstract
This dissertation is concerned with investigating the Japanese translation 'Kami' from the English word 'God' and the role of inculturation in this process. The researcher aims to show that a perfect translation of this word is unattainable because it produces gaps in signification. However, these gaps allow for inculturation - i.e. the unique interpretation of such words within different cultural contexts. Thus translation is a significant factor in the process of religious inculturation. It is impracticable for translation to convey an original meaning fully to a target language, especially in the cases of abstract religious terminology. for instance, 'God' is rendered into 'Kami' in the Japanese Bible. 'God' is a term applied to monotheism, while 'Kami', reflects a traditional Japanese world perspective and includes elements of nature, animism, good and bad, invisible power, spirits of casualties and so on. This will be testified by analyzing the Japanese world perspective in relation to this term. In semiotic theory a sign (a meaning of a cultural unit) is composed of both a signifier (a word or picture) and a signified (a concept), thus if there is no specific concept to be represented, there will be no word to represent it. In traditional Japanese perspectives, there is no idea of monotheism and thus no term for monotheism. There is no other choice, in Japanese, than to render 'God' into 'Kami'. There is a gap between word and concept. These terms cannot completely converge. This is a gap of translation. The gap is produced from the differences of language and its perspective. The larger the difference in perspective, the greater the perspective gap. This is supported by theories of linguistic relativism. However, the researcher proposes that the impossibility of accurate translation provides a significant role for the process of inculturation. The gap is produced from the impossibility of the translation and it creates room for new meaning. This gap allows for the creation of Japanese 'Kami' from 'God'. God has to first dress in Japanese costume to enter into the Japanese context. This is the first step of inculturation of Christianity into Japanese contexts. Without the problems of translation, there is no inculturation. Yet acceptance is also achieved through translation. People interpret and understand the world, and the terms used to navigate it, conditioned by their language and their perspective. Through the process of translation, Christianity becomes Japanese Christianity. And it is Christianity by the Japanese people and for the Japanese people. Finally my thesis accepts a social constructionist viewpoint and multiple perspectives - as this Japanese Christianity constitutes one of many Christianities.
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ปรัชญาดุษฎีบัณฑิต
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ปริญญาเอก
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บัณฑิตวิทยาลัย
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มหาวิทยาลัยอัสสัมชัญ