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Abstract
The concept of biblical charis has been interpreted in most Christian congregational gatherings as gracefulness, kindness, favour, prosperity, freedom, liberality, lawlessness, pleasure and the like, with little or no interest for its implications for good works and moral values in the society. This paper, therefore, explores the translation of charis from Greek into English and Yoruba languages with a view to bringing to the fore its socio-religious implications via good works and moral values in the context of South-western region of Nigeria and beyond. The study purposely selected three pericopes that centred on a New Testament word charis translated into English as grace and Yoruba as Oore-ofe as stated in the Gospel according to John 1:14-18; Paul’s Epistles to the Ephesians 2:8-10 and to Titus 2:11-14 respectively. These selected passages from New Testament Greek version were analysed as translated into English by New International Version (henceforth, NIV) (1987) and Bibeli Yoruba Atoka (BYA) (1998) (that is Yoruba Reference Bible) respectively. It employed descriptive research method and subjected selected verses to exegetical and translation analysis with a view to suggesting novel interpretation of charis in Christian congregational teachings and meetings. Based on the exegetical inference, the work has suggested that Bible interpreters as well as Christian ministers should take advantage of the import of Charis to interpret the Word of God for the benefits of social values among their listeners. Bible interpreters should emphasise grace as imperative for good works in Christian congregational teachings and meetings to the advantage of global peace and enhancement of effective socio-religious relationships. The work has asserted that both translations of Charis in English and Yoruba versions have areas of convergences and divergences. The convergences are mostly on direct lexical equivalence, while the divergences are the results of differences in approaches that were employed by the translators.
Keywords: Yoruba Bible Translation, Translation of Charis, Exegetical approach to translation, Grace implications
https://doi.org/10.33234/SSR.16.7