# Arguing from the English Translation?

**URL:** <https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/arguing-from-the-english-translation/12098>\
**Category:** Conversation\
**Tags:** Theology\
**Created:** [October 11, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/arguing-from-the-english-translation/12098 "2020-10-11T13:46:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 15

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**Author:** ![Rumraket](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.peacefulscience.org/rumraket/32/9328_2.png) [@Rumraket](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/Rumraket)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 1:30pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/arguing-from-the-english-translation/12098/15 "2020-10-06T13:30:37Z")

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> [@Why were Adam and Eve cast out of Eden?](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/why-were-adam-and-eve-cast-out-of-eden/12029/3):
>
> You didn’t do any exegesis of the original Hebrew of the text, or relate it to its ANE cultural context. Instead you use an English translation originally published in 1611. I also don’t remember you demonstrating competence in these areas.

I don’t think this is at all a good response for two reasons. First is that one wonders why God would have dictated, or otherwise “inspired” a book that can only be properly understood by somehow obtaining knowledge of a different and dead language, and the sociological and cultural contexts in which it was written.

The second is that even if we really could reliably reconstruct such knowledge, we still have no idea whether the original authors took any of that context or intention with them into writing some specific passage.

The more you insist on the relevance of these contextual and linguistic nuances, the more merely human does the document and it’s message become.

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