Morgan Forum to address moments ‘When Translation Really Matters’

Sept. 6, 2024

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Brooke Huger Pass

Emory University Media Relations

Candler School of Theology’s Pitts Theology Library will host its second annual Morgan Forum on Thursday, Sept. 19, exploring how the decisions of biblical translators can impact the church, culture and scholarship.

The event is named for the library’s J. Michael Morgan English Bible & Psalmody Collection and centers around the English Bible’s history and ongoing significance to the church and world.

This year’s forum, “When Translation Really Matters: Momentous Decisions in the History of the English Bible,” is free and open to the public with advance registration required. In person and virtual attendance options are available. A full schedule is below; register here to attend the Morgan Forum.

The main event will be a screening of the documentary film “1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted Culture.” The film focuses on the story of researchers tracing the origins of the anti-LGBTQIA+ movement among Christians to a significant decision made in the translation of 1 Corinthians 6:9 in the Bible’s Revised Standard Version published in 1946.

“This film, which has only recently become widely available, has generated important discussions, particularly amongst churches,” says Richard M. “Bo” Adams Jr., associate professor in the practice of theological bibliography .“Told through the eyes of those who have been negatively impacted by the 1946 decision, the documentary highlights the challenge not only of rendering one language into another, but the hermeneutical challenge — and indeed danger — of translating one culture’s ideas into a very different context.”

Adams also serves as the Margaret A. Pitts Distinguished Director of Pitts Theology Library.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Sharon “Rocky” Roggio, the film’s director; Jennifer Quigley, assistant professor of New Testament at Candler; Nicole Symmonds 13T 23G, assistant professor of Christian ethics at Columbia Theological Seminary; and Andromeda Woodworth 99Ox 01C 07T, pastor of Atlanta’s Neighborhood Church. Learn more about the film and panelists.

The Morgan Forum will also highlight the library’s emphasis on student engagement and research through the Morgan Fellows program, which is open to students from both Candler and Columbia Theological Seminary, where collection donor Michael Morgan served for many years as organist. 2024-25 Fellows Susan Gantt (Candler) and Olubunmi Ladipo (Columbia) will each research an item from the Morgan Collection and present their findings during the forum. Their research will also be published as a digital exhibition on the library’s Digital Collections site.

Adams says that while this year’s forum is partly designed to spark conversation about one specific topic related to biblical translation, it also aims to foster awareness and attention around “the incredibly complex process that lies behind any biblical text we find before us.

“Our translations are the product of human processes, but often those processes are masked from the reader, or the reader doesn’t bother to explore them,” he says. “The value of the Morgan Collection is that this history and complexity are readily available to explore at Pitts in one location.”

2024 Morgan Forum schedule:

1-1:30 p.m.

Registration (Second floor lobby)

1:30-2 p.m.

Welcome and updates on The Morgan Collection (Rita Anne Rollins Building, Room 102)

2-2:45 p.m.

Morgan Fellow presentations (Rita Anne Rollins Building, Room 102)

2:45-3:15 p.m.

Coffee and conversation (Third floor atrium)

Gallery and special items pop-up (Pitts Lecture Hall)

3:30-5 p.m.

Documentary film screening: “1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture” (Rita Anne Rollins Building, Room 252)

5-6 p.m.

Panel discussion (Rita Anne Rollins Building, Room 252)

6-7 p.m.

Reception (Third floor atrium)

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2024 Morgan Forum schedule:

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