Batik dye artwork by Hanna-Cheriyan Varghese, used with permission by the Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC) at Princeton Theological Seminary. You can purchase this and many other artworks by artists in residence at the OSMC in high resolution and without a watermark via the OSMC website .
“Hanna-Cheriyan Varghese (1938 – 2009) of Selangor, Malaysia, was the artist in residence at OMSC for the 2006–2007 academic year. She was born to Christian parents, and she remembered her mother taking her to a different worship service every week: ‘My parents encouraged me to attend different churches so that my siblings and I would appreciate the liturgy and traditions of the Christian believers of different denominations. Christians are a minority in Malaysia so we continue to struggle for our identity in a Muslim society. There is no open conflict as such.’
“She always had a passion for painting and drawing. She worked in the mediums of acrylic paint and Batik dye, the latter medium being an ancient decorative craft that has come into use as a high art medium in the last 50 or 60 years. A Batik image is created as a pattern or picture dyed in fabric. Certain parts of the fabric are covered with a wax, which acts as a “resist” to the colorful dyes. Hanna Varghese mastered the medium, and the sacred art images she created with it are original, bold and graphic.
“‘All creative work, be it the spoken word, the written word or the sung word, are essentials in praise and worship, meditation, education, inculturation and evangelism. This also includes art and pictures, which is universal seeing.’ Hanna Varghese.” (Source )
Following are a number of back-translations of John 21:1:
Uma: “After that, Yesus appeared [lit., showed himself] one more time to his disciples, on the shore of Lake Tiberias. Like this its story:” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When a number of days (lit. how many days) had passed, Isa appeared again to his disciples there at the edge of lake Tiberi. This is how he showed himself to them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “A few days after that, Jesus appeared again to his disciples on the shore of the Lake of Tiberias. His appearing to them happened like this.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When how-many days had-gone, Jesus again appeared to his disciples at the edge of the lake Tiberias. This is how it happened.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Again it wasn’t long until Jesus again went-to-see/meet his disciples, there on the shore of the Lake of Tiberias, like this being how he went-to-see/meet (them) this time.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “On another day Jesus spoke again with his learners on the shore of the lake Tiberias. This is how he did it.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
After this is the same transitional formula used in 3.22. If a receptor language requires a more definite indication of time, one may say “a few days later.”
The verb translated appeared (New American Bible, Goodspeed, Phillips, New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible “showed himself”) is frequently used in John’s Gospel (1.31; 2.11; 3.21; 7.4; 9.3; 17.6), but it is used of a resurrection appearance only in this verse (twice) and in verse 14.
The adverbial phrase once more should not be so rendered as to suggest that this was the final appearance of Jesus to his disciples. Instead of once more, one may translate “again.”
His disciples (so also New English Bible) is literally “the disciples” (so most translations). In the following verse seven disciples are mentioned.
In this verse Lake Galilee is referred to as Lake Tiberias. In 6.1 it is referred to as “Lake Galilee,” followed by a parenthetical explanation that it was also known as “Lake Tiberias.”
This is how it happened is literally “but he showed (himself) in this way.” Moffatt translates “it was in this way,” while Goodspeed renders “and he did so in this way.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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