Bible stories

Author: Fu Sennege
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features:
Recently, I had the opportunity to read Mr. Jiao Zhongping's translation of The Stories of the Bible. In his postscript, the translator mentioned that he first encountered biblical allusions from Hugo's poetry during his youth. This sparked memories of this aspect for me, like yellowed photographs. These memories were related to my mother. I remember that whenever she wanted to show contempt for someone she disliked, she would utter, "Pharisees." Later, when I learned English, I found out that the word "pharisee" means "a self-righteous hypocrite."
Recently, I also watched the DVD of The Passion of the Christ, directed by Mel Gibson, which gave me a more intuitive understanding of these people who insisted on crucifying "the Son of Man." It also deepened my understanding of my mother's Christian background—she attended a church school. The story I mentioned earlier is just a small incident from my personal life. If we expand it to the entire field of Western upper architecture, then the traces of Christian culture are even more evident everywhere. Let me give a few examples related to American literature. I have translated four novels by William Faulkner, and the titles of two of them are related to the Bible and the Old Testament. Go Down, Moses uses the allusion from Exodus where God commands Moses to lead the suffering Israelites out of Egypt. The author uses this to symbolize the liberation of African Americans in the United States. Absalom, Absalom! employs the framework of the story of Absalom's conflict with his father, King David, from 2 Samuel. The author clearly wants readers to associate the tangled family stories in the South he wrote with the corruption of the Old Testament era. Jack London wrote a novel about dogs called The Call of the Wild. In fact, the origin of the phrase "call" is quite noble. It is not the howl of the wild wolf, the ancestor of the dog, but rather, as written in Matthew 3, "Then John the Baptist came into the wilderness to preach and said, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand; repent.'" The prophet Isaiah said, "A voice cries in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his path.'" Clearly, only by understanding what allusions the author used and whether he used them positively, negatively, or ironically can we gain a deeper understanding of a literary work. And the Bible is undoubtedly one of the most frequently alluded to books in the West. Therefore, to explore Western culture, it is definitely difficult to do so without a certain understanding of the Bible.
The Bible is not only a religious classic but also extremely rich in other aspects. Many of the proverbs and sayings popular among Westerners today come from the Bible. Let me give a few examples. For instance, someone recently published an essay collection called Seeking and Finding. The title is derived from a sentence in Matthew 7 of the New Testament: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." It means that as long as you strive, you will surely achieve results. Similar wise sayings are not uncommon in the Bible. For example: "Anyone who draws a sword will die by the sword." "Separate the tares from the wheat." "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar." These famous quotes not only appear in the works of many classic writers but have also entered folk language. The Westerners often say, "Nothing is new under the sun," and "The sun still rises," both of which come from the Bible. It is particularly interesting that some famous quotes in the Bible, such as, "Do to others as you would have them do to you," and "Do not cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them," are almost the reverse expressions of the Chinese idiom "Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself" and "Throwing pearls before swine." This is enough to prove that the experiences and wisdom of people from different ethnic groups are often and shared.
Some statements in the Bible seem difficult to accept if interpreted literally. For example, "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other cheek to them as well." However, if understood in essence rather than literally, it is merely an expression like "to be destroyed to be reborn," which also has positive meaning. Isn't there a similar rhetorical device in Chinese, "A good doctor has nine broken arms"? Who would really break their arm nine times? Therefore, as long as you don't study rigidly, you won't end up "killing yourself with books."
The New Testament also urges, "If someone wants to take your cloak, let them also take your shirt." And it says, "It will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven." If not explained rigidly from the perspective of class struggle, the essence of these exhortations is simply that only by being good at letting go can one receive (more often spiritual) rewards. This is the principle of the New Testament that "it is more blessed to give than to receive." Perhaps this example can help us understand why regions that preach such doctrines have so many foundations and philanthropists.
The Bible is undoubtedly a book that needs to be read seriously but is not easy to understand. It is ancient in time and written by many authors. Some parts are records of ancient tribal legends, some are history, or even archival materials, while others are folk literary materials (similar to our Book of Songs), and some are like the Analects, where disciples record the wise words of the great master. For young people who have little knowledge of ancient history, especially the historical background of the ancient Israelites, it is indeed difficult to grasp the complex threads of the book at once. As for understanding its profound philosophy and moving artistic power, that is even more challenging. Fortunately, there are constantly explanatory or rewritten supplementary reading materials about the Bible being published abroad. Mr. Jiao Zhongping's translation of The Stories of the Bible, published in Vienna in 2002 and edited by Frau Gertrude Fussenegger, is one of the more suitable ones for Chinese readers. It is adapted with great fidelity and rigor, the writing is vivid and natural, and it is accompanied by exquisite illustrations by Janos Grabinowski. The Chinese translation also appropriately uses relatively simple, natural, and fluent language. This allows readers to grasp the basic content and atmosphere of the Bible with less time, so they can further read the original text of the Bible later. I believe such a book will certainly be welcomed by readers who are interested in understanding Christian culture.
You may not be a believer, or you may not believe in a god who controls fate in this world—no problem. You can completely ignore the sacredness of religion and treat the book before you as a wonderful myth or a literary classic, feeling the wisdom and power of life it contains, and experiencing the wonderful reading experience it conveys through its stories. Also, don't miss the illustrations. The author of the illustrations is like you, also a reader of this book. Those wonderful illustrations express his own reflections and insights after reading the book, which may resonate with you in some way.
Renowned translator Li Wenjun happily wrote the preface, praising the book's faithful and rigorous adaptation, vivid writing, exquisite illustrations, and simple, natural, and fluent Chinese translation, calling it a window for Chinese readers to understand Christian culture and even the entire Western civilization. This is a popular reading of the Bible, written by a great writer and illustrated by a great artist, aimed at ordinary readers, especially young readers. It explains the essence of the world's oldest literary classics in the form of stories, with rich and complete content, beautiful and vivid writing, simple and fluent Chinese translation, exquisite illustrations, and a unique style. Since its first publication in 1972 by Carl Ullrich in Austria, the book has been a bestseller for 30 years, selling 3 million copies, with its rights sold to the United States, Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, South Africa, Japan, South Korea, and China. The names of people and places in the book are simplified according to the new standard revision of the Chinese Christian Association and the Amoy Version of the Bible.