TA 3/2007 (112. vuosikerta)

A Poet as Bible Translator: Lassi Nummi’s Influence on the Linguistic Choices in the New Bible Translation — The third Finnish Bible translation was completed in 1992. One of the members of the translation committee was the Finnish modernist poet Lassi Nummi (b. 1928). My article concerns the poet as Bible translator among other professionals of religious language. I focus on the Book of Job, which has been considered poetic and important by many writers in the history of literature. By comparing Num-mi’s proposals to those of the other committee members, I explore to what extent his influence can be found in the Finnish version of the Book of Job. I use examples of three linguistic levels — syntax, figures of speech and lexis — to show that Nummi had two kinds of role. His view of syn-tactic fluency, such as the use of object or verb choices, has clearly influenced the translation. In these cases, Nummi took part in the discussion concerning anthropomorphism. Nummi himself also uses the concept ”dramaturgy of the sentence”, which includes, e.g., rhythm and emphasis. Some of Nummi’s proposals, which can be traced back to his background as a poet, did not end up in the final version, but the translation documents reveal that the poet member held a considered opinion on the metaphors of morning light or the names of monsters.

An Entire Village as ”Its Brother’s Keeper”: Social Control between the Church Authorities and the Common People in Keuruu in the 1830s and 1840s — In the class society, the authorities controlled the lives of the common people. It was believed that a sin not atoned for would bring down punishment on the entire community. However, the court documents of Keuruu demonstrate that all members of the community exercised social control over deviations from the way of life that was considered proper. The authorities and the common people most frequently went to court because of drunkenness. The preponderance of property crimes and libel suits shows just how careful one had to be about what one said and did in those times. The court records in Keuruu contain a case where an indentured servant was killed and one where a precentor and a servant-girl had an affair. The accused party generally denied the charges, and the witness statements were vague. Every-one acted according to their conscience whatever their station, and how a person chose to behave in any given situation depended on what was most advantageous for that person himself or herself.

The Philosophical Relevance of Neuroscientific Studies for Religious Experiences — As far as the neurophysiological basis of religious experience is concerned, there are two basic positions. Some researchers want to emphasize the role of the frontal and the parietal lobes, while others underscore the part the temporal lobes and the limbic system have in generating religious types of experiences. Since the frontal lobe figures prominently in the control of higher mental functions, the first position offers support for the view underlining the importance of cognition and language in the explanations of religious experience. Even if we cannot explain a religious experience merely on the basis of its neural correlates, the knowledge of the correlates can in many ways be informative. For example, brain studies can complete our view of religious experiences with features that are not consciously referred to by the experiencer himself or herself.

Rhetoric and Preaching: Aspects of Classical Rhetoric in Homilies — This article develops further a study entitled Retoriikasta saarnaan (From Rhetoric to Preaching), which was published in 1998. The aim is mainly to discuss aspects of a critical approach to homilies developed on the basis of rhetoric. The discussion is based on the classical rhetorical outline of inventio-dispositio-elocutio-memoriaactio, but more in the vein of new rhetoric and neo-Aristotelian analysis than the skill of oratory as such.