Translational Philosophy

Translation is part art and part science. There is a certain malleability to words, and a certain concreteness as well. The well-worn categories of formal equivalence versus dynamic equivalence must be taken seriously as well as considered chartable along a spectrum.

Gisle's Norwegian presents interesting issues in and of itself. Written at an early period in Norwegian independence from Denmark (1814), literature was now being produced in a tongue that was moving away from its higher, more aristocratic Danish neighbors. Gisle's language is in this earl Dano-Norske: many of the words, phrases, and idioms are more akin to Danish, and yet, he is consciously trying to use words within innovative theological expression. When T.F. Torrance advises, "Because of the unique nature of its own proper Object-there is only one Lord God-its use of langauge ... will not unnaturally often be unique," this applies very particularly to Gisle's project at large.

As such, attention has been paid to the precision of words used, often distinguished from other near synonyms in Gisle's thought. One such example is his distinction between Væsen and Existents: one seems to indicate essence in the classical theological sense, and the other, the act of existing in the Kierkegaardian existentialist mode. Here, the use of the Ordbog over den Danske Sprog has been instrumental, as well as comparison with other similar theological material, e.g. Kierkegaard's Danish or Stenerson's early Dano-Norske Textbook on the Christian Religion. Often Gisle will use theological Latin terms and terminology, and Richard Muller's Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms and Terminology has been abundantly helpful, often supplemented by the primary source writings of Lutheran scholastic theologians and the seminal work by Robert Preus, Post-Reformation Lutheran Theology (2 vols.). Additionally, assistance (but not dependence) was made of AI for the generation of a (very) rough draft.

Many similar examples to that above could be given, and point to the need for consistent and precise usage. These technical words and phrases are often put in brackets in the main text, and accompanied by explanatory footnotes in italics. This approaches a more formal equivalence, although liberties must often be taken on both an aesthetical and intelligible level.

The footnotes provided a particular challenge, and one can only image the herculean feat of typesetting Jacob Dybwads publishers had in printing the 1898 edition. This is due to the fact that Bible quotations are entirely in the original Hebrew and Greek, and theological quotes are also in their original Latin or German. Rarely does Gisle insert Norwegian explanatory notes. Even moreso, the realization that Gisle was regularly quoting Bible verses elliptically, omitting postpositive particles, and even changing the grammatical form of the sentences, proved to evoke a verbal "Uff da." I have attempted to retain the original biblical text, as he seems to be using the language in a technical manner, "every jot and tittle," so-to-speak, while providing an English gloss in italics. When it apparent he is doing the same with the Latin, that has been preserved and glossed as well, although larger sections of Latin quotations have been translated outright. Many thanks to my doctoral student, Brianna Rios, for proofing these.

In terms of sources, the primary sources for the Systematic Theology are the 1898 posthumous Norwegian version, the 1878 Swedish edition, and the 1984 English translation by Johan Koren, a native Norwegian who studied in English. The Koren translation is particularly impressive, being a Master of Divinity thesis, although the work contains many ellipses and heavy paraphrasing. It has been helpful in gleaning the sense of certain complex passages.

The Swedish edition is of another breed. Taken from lecture notes taken by August Weenaas sitting under Gisle's professorship in the 1860's, they were translated into Swedish for use at Augustana Synod Theological Seminary. Because of this, the ordering of Gisle's theology is dramatically different from that of the official posthumous edition, and phrasing and even content is remarkably unique. Indeed, the Swedish edition contains page-long sections after each initial paragraph marked by "Anm.," short for anmärker ("notes"). These notes contain some repetition with the later Norwegian edition but are often completely novel; as such, the Swedish edition was a major find, and instrumental in the editorial process, which sought to carefully evaluate and insert the novel content into the final edition while retaining the form and ordering of the final 1898 edition.

Gisle himself was a translator, and it is an honor and privilege of this project to continue his legacy of translation and preservation.