Rabbi Michael Lerner (of Beyt Tikkun synagogue in San Francisco and editor of Tikkun magazine) raised the issue of biblical translation in a conversation on religious fundamentalism in the United States with three African American bishops; the conversation was moderated by Tavis Smiley on National Public Radio. Lerner's comment formed the impetus for this presentation:

"It's funny to learn of these Christian fundamentalists who tell us that they have to stick with the word of the bible but they have never read it in Hebrew. They don't even know what the bible actually says. In fact there are many wild mistranslations in the King James Version of the bible. They have no clue. "

I would like to respond to Lerner's comments by engaging in this dialogue with those who do, are interested in, and/or are affected by African-American biblical hermeneutics.

Link to Gafney article

Citation: Wil Gafney, " Translation Matters: A Fem/Womanist Exploration of Translation Theory and Practice for Proclamation in Worship," SBL Forum , n.p. [cited March 2006]. Online:http://sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleID=509