My Experiences in the Ongoing Process of Translating the New Testament into Contemporary Serbian

This teaching presents the concrete case study of the ongoing translation of the New Testament from its original language to the contemporary Serbian language. Accordingly, it gives both the description and the rational of five new features of the translation of the Scripture in the Serbian context. First is the new way of numeration. Clarity and fluent readability of the main text is additionally provided not only by the sub-titles and paragraphs, but also with the removal of the chapters and verses numbers out of the text, at the vertical columns on the margins, but on the same line where they belong. For the same purpose, appropriate words are added, but these are marked in two ways: by italic letters and by hook brackets. Second is the new way of use of interpunction so that it serves as means for the theological highlights. Namely, interpunction in Serbian text is tenderly "reconstructed" from within original text with extra attention to its theological implication. Thus, bold, italic format and words with all capital letters are used. Third newness in Serbian context is the use of the red color for the words of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Forth new feature is the QR Code which is direct link to audio version of that particular publication. And fifth newness of this translation is that it has ecumenical character. Next to Evangelicals, Catholic professor and Orthodox professor are among dozen of scholars of the translation team.

Prof. Dimitrije Popadić's presentation is connected with an ongoing project of rendering the New Testament into contemporary Serbian. Portions of this translation have already been made publicly available through the Protestant Theological Seminary in Novi Sad, including the Gospel of John and the Epistle to the Romans.

The presentation will provide a first-person perspective on the ongoing translation process and the challenges involved in communicating the New Testament in contemporary Serbian.

Prof. Dr Dimitrije Popadić is Founding President and Professor at the Protestant Theological Seminary in Novi Sad, Serbia, an institution he started in 2000. His academic and educational work has included theology, missiology, contextual theology, biblical interpretation, Christian leadership, dialogue across religious and ecclesial traditions, and the relationship between Christian theology and Serbian religious and cultural traditions.

His doctoral research at Fuller Theological Seminary examined contextualized missiology through the Serbian tradition of Krsna Slava. More recently, his work has included an ongoing translation of the New Testament into contemporary Serbian.