Thomas

The name that is transliterated as “Thomas” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the sign signifying “doubt” (referring to John 20:25). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Thomas” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In German Sign Language it is a sign that points fingers to the side of the body, referring to John 20:27.


“Thomas” in German Sign Language (source: Taub und katholisch )

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also The Confession of Thomas (icon) and Thomas with the risen Christ (image).

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("come")

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, ko-rare-ru (来られる) or “come” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Doubting Thomas

Mural, St. Joseph’s Church, New Plymouth, New Zealand, by Michael Smither.

“Michael Smither was commissioned to prepare 14 Stations of the Cross for St Joseph’s Church in New Plymouth, New Zealand and although there was controversy because parishioners thought they were too stark, he was, nevertheless, later invited to paint a mural on the back wall of the church. He has completed the mural of “Doubting Thomas” (opposite) and a a second mural on the baptism of Jesus (see here ).

“When he was a child, Michael Smither was taught that doubt was a sinful and negative trait but, despite this, he always had a sneaking respect for Thomas as a person who had the strength to stand alone and make a personal search for the truth. When asked to paint a church mural, he chose Thomas because, he said, ‘he was, for me, one of the most courageous of the apostles. He had to find out for himself. It was a courageous thing to do. I named one of my children Thomas.'” (Source for this and the image: The Bible Through Asian Eyes by Masao Takenaka and Ron O’Grady 1991)

Twin

When in the Greek text Thomas is also referred to with a term that is translated in English as “Twin,” it was dropped for the Siane translation because it was found that the word had a bad connotation for the Siane and it was not im­portant for the understanding of the story.

The Confession of Thomas (icon)

Following is a contemporary Ukrainian Orthodox icon of the confession of Thomas by Ulyana Tomkevych.

 

Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )

See also Thomas and Thomas with the risen Christ (image).

John as a first-person evangelist (John 20:24)

In the Yatzachi Zapotec translation of the Gospel of John, any reference to the evangelist and presumed narrator is done in the first person.

The translator Inez Butler explains (in: Notes on Translation, September 1967, pp. 10ff.):

“In revising the Gospel of John in Yatzachi Zapotec we realized from the start that the third person references of Jesus to himself as Son of Man had to be converted into first person references, but only more recently have we decided that similar change is necessary in John’s references to himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ As I worked on those changes and questioned the informant about his understanding of other passages in the Gospel, I discovered that the reader misses the whole focus of the book as an eyewitness account unless every reference to the disciples indicates the writer’s membership in the group. In view of that we went back through the entire book looking for ways to cue in the reader to the fact that John was an eyewitness and a participant in a many of the events, as well as the historian.

“When the disciples were participants in events along with Jesus, it was necessary to make explicit the fact that they accompanied him, although in the source language that is left implicit, since otherwise our rendering would imply that they were not present.”

In this verse, the Yatzachi Zapotec says: “Thomas . . . was one of us twelve, but he was not with us when Jesus came and appeared to us”

complete verse (John 20:24)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 20:24:

  • Uma: “Tomas, one of the twelve disciples of Yesus, who was nicknamed the Twin, was not with his companions when Yesus came.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “At the time when Isa appeared to his disciples Tomas was not there. This Tomas was one of the twelve disciples of Isa, his nickname was Twin.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And as for Thomas who is named ‘twin’, he was one of the twelve that Jesus chose. He was not there when Jesus appeared to them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When Jesus appeared to his disciples, Tomas nicknamed Twin who was one of the twelve was not with them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “As for Tomas, who was called Twin, he was indeed included in those twelve disciples of Jesus. But he wasn’t there when Jesus went there that time.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Thomas was one of the learners and was the one called the twin. He hadn’t been there before when Jesus had come.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)