Bruchko: Relating the Bible to the Motilones – Bryan Trumble

The struggles Bruchko encountered in attempting to relate and translate the Bible into Motilone language and understanding were very interesting. The course of events that take place in these tasks forced me to look at how religions hold things sacred, what they hold scared and how this idea of sacredness is influenced by a people’s culture. I found it very interesting that when Bruchko attempted to translate the Bible with his life brother he got offended. He thought it was borderline blasphemous to translate ‘faith’ as being assured of not being hungry. At first Bruchko thought there was no correlation between the two ideas. However, upon re-evaluating the meaning of culture to the people, he was able to understand how an assurance of non-hunger was able to relate directly to faith. Since they were hunter gatherers, an assurance of not being hungry was an idea showing that a god was looking out for their wellbeing, and for that reason they could have faith in him to provide them with food.
Another interesting part of the Bible translation I noticed was the emphasis Bruchko placed on the scripture and words themselves. This was intriguing because at the beginning of his life he had quarrels with his father and church over their strictly literal translation of the Bible, and closed mindedness to other possible translations, or interpretations. In this part of his life, Bruchko was the revolutionary in terms of new interpretations. However, in the jungle he took the same, stick to my own interpretation ideals that his father has exemplified earlier. This was of course, only until he really looked deep into the difference in culture. It was interesting to see how at points he seemed to mirror the exact people that drove him away from his sect of Christianity.
The process of translating religion not only between languages but also between cultures is extremely in depth. It involves a great depth of understanding of both cultures’ and societies’ belief systems and ways of living. Looking at Bruchko’s difficulties helped me to notice more of the cultural implications that can be found with in religious texts and scriptures.