Scripture Engagement

The language we use to refer to projects matters. It's well known that referring to a project as 'my project' is not a good idea, for instance. Or 'my language' meaning the language you are learning and working on. Equally problematic is talking about Bible translation as if it is the be-all-and-end-all. For instance, "So and so is just doing storying, but his friend so and so is doing proper Bible translation!" This does not communicate what we want it to communicate. It communicates that Bible translation is the real job, what actually matters, and storying is in some way inferior. Whereas in fact storying, or whatever, might be the most appropriate strategy for the audience in question. And it might lead to a Bible translation programme of some sort. Also, we often refer to New Testaments as Bibles. Strange. Why do we do that? Because that was the traditional goal of many Bible translation programmes. They were working on a 'full New Testament...

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn . Luke 2:7 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/luk.2.7.KJV (emphasis mine) It wasn't an inn! There was no room in the guest room. First century houses in Palestine had a courtyard, rooms for the animals  in the ground floor, and two rooms above or next to those, one for the family and one for  guests. Since Bethlehem was full of relatives, there was no room for Joseph and Mary to stay in the guest room, so they  had to sleep on the ground floor with the animals. The unfortunate thing is that a mistranslation of the Greek in an early English version paved the way for future misunderstanding. The Greek word is (UBS4): καταλύματι, 'lodging place, guest room' in Luke 2:7.