Picture our galaxy in your mind. Got it? You probably do. Why? Because every 10 year old is presented with a picture of it early on. It’s one of the things we just know.
Well read this. It is a helpful reminder of the limitations of science, even when it’s conclusions are so ingrained that it has become part of our cultural consciousness. Need more evidence? How about this.
At a dog-friendly beach in Holland
Some ideas are easily represented in any language, but more often than not translation requires sensitivity to a wide variety of often competing influences.
I just listened to a nice little story on NPR about the “Art of Translation.”
Bea Basso, who came from Italy to the United States in 2000 to study and work in theater, has done a lot of translating from Italian to English. She says that the choice of a single word can determine the arc of an entire work.
“There is no such thing as a literal translation, by nature of choosing one word or another, you influence the next step,” she says.
Listen to the whole story.
Because no two languages are alike, and since the cultural differences surrounding a language are often more than meets the eye, translation is more an art than a science. Translation always involves something lost and also something gained–some of the original is gone, but there is also often additional meaning in the translation that was not there in the text being translated. For proof, type in some text here. The results can be comic.
This is true of all translation, but with Greek (or Hebrew, or any other “dead” language) the matter is complicated by the fact that the original culture is no longer there for us to study. Translation suddenly intersects with historical research, sociology, theology, and a wealth of other disciplines, which is one reason it is so important for pastors to learn Greek.
From their blog:
As the launch of Zotero 1.5 approaches we are excited to announce the availability of specific bibliographic styles for more than 1100 journals. Zotero now supports such diverse publications as French Historical Studies, the American Sociological Review, Accounts of Chemical Research, the Chinese Journal of Clinical Oncology, the British Medical Journal, American Political Science Review, and Oxford German Studies. We also remind Zotero users that most other publications are already supported through our generic styles.
Many of these styles require the Zotero 1.5 Sync Preview release.
You can find additional styles here. To install the Society of Biblical Literature Style go here.
Van Til reminds us that our life as creatures is full of mystery, both regarding God and the world he has created. I found this article a small reminder that it’s OK to say “I don’t know.”
Here is an excerpt. I’m not sure whether the scientist quoted is being intentionally ironic or is blinded by his own arrogance.
Peter G. Wolynes, a professor of chemistry at the University of California, San Diego, thinks he essentially solved the glass problem two decades ago based on ideas of what glass would look like if cooled infinitely slowly. “I think we have a very good constructive theory of that these days,” Dr. Wolynes said. “Many people tell me this is very contentious. I disagree violently with them.”
Little mysteries, like our fundamental ignorance concerning the nature of glass, are a reminder that our world is designed by an incomprehensible God. We can confidently proclaim “I don’t know” because he alone understands all things perfectly, and that perfect knowledge grounds and secures our imperfect knowledge. So here is a quote from Van Til:
It is exceedingly dangerous to confuse the orthodox concept of the incomprehensibility of God with the ultimate mysteriousness of the universe as held by modern thought. Modern thought in general, and modern logic in particular, holds . . . that God is, at most, an aspect of Reality as a whole. Hence, God is himself surrounded by darkness or mystery, just as man is surrounded by darkness or mystery. In other words, modern thought believes in an ultimate irrationalism, while Christianity believes in an ultimate rationality. It is difficult to think of two types of thought that are more radically opposed to one another. It is the most fundamental antithesis conceivable in the field of knowledge. . . . The very foundation of all Christian theology is removed if the concept of the ultimate rationality of God be given up.(Introduction to Systematic Theology: Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1995, p. 13).
The most recent iPhone iteration (yes, there are still lines at Apple stores nationwide) has apparently inspired Vern Poythress to offer up some reflections about science and technology within a Christian worldview. Really interesting stuff, particularly the positive connection between technology and dominion, and the negative warning against technological messianism.
