GS 1977 ARTICLE 98 – Translation Heidelberg Catechism

Committee III presents:

Material

• Agenda 8, D, I –   The report of the Committee appointed by Synod Toronto 1974 and an additional covering letter.
• D, 2 –   A letter from the Church at Barrhead, re: recom­mendations.
• D, 3 –   A letter from the Church at Brampton, re: recom­mendations.
• D, 4 –   A letter from the Church at Toronto, re: recom­mendations.

Observations

• 1.  Synod New Westminster 1971, Article 83, formulated the guidelines for the Com­mittee on the Translation of the Heidelberg Catechism in its mandate as follows:
  • To revise the text of the Heidelberg Catechism
    • a. by replacing difficult and archaic words and expressions as far as proper equivalents can be derived from today’s English;
    • b. by re-casting sentences, which are too complicated into positive and inde­pendent sentences, which form a direct answer to the questions, in close ad­herence to the original German text.
• 2. Synod Toronto 1974 continued the Committee for the Translation of the Heidelberg Catechism with the following mandate:
  • a. to prepare a second draft with the use of comments, etc., which were received by that Synod;
  • b. to solicit further comments which were to be submitted to the Committee within 6 months after publication of the decision;
  • c. to make this second draft available to the Churches one year after this Synod has come to an end, in order to give the Churches ample time to examine it;
  • d. to study the matter of the proof texts added to the Catechism questions and answers, which study should include:
    • 1. establishing what the original proof texts are;
    • 2. whether the selection of Scripture references can be improved by replac­ing, deleting and/or adding to the original ones.
• 3. The Committee reports that in the second draft which was submitted for “exami­nation and possible approval” the comments and criticism on the first draft were taken into account and that they have attempted to work within the guidelines mentioned in Observation 1 above. Special mention is made of the changes which were necessary in order to adhere closely to the original German text (third edi­tion, 1563). The Committee included “Historical Notes” and the “Preface” to the original editions of 1563.
• 4. The Committee reports that they were unable to complete point d (Observation 2) of their mandate with respect to proof texts.
• 5. The letter from the Church at Barrhead, Alberta, makes a number of comments and recommendations on the second draft and requests that the RSV be used in­ stead of the KJV for the biblical quotations (which should be referenced).
• 6. The letter from the Church at Brampton urges “that the translation of the Cate­chism only undergo major change if such change is really necessary <and not just for the sake of sticking to the German text).” They also recommend that the Dutch deputies who worked on their draft translation of the Heidelberg Catechism be consulted in order to avoid too widely divergent renditions.
• 7. The letter from the Church at Toronto objects to the use of KJV instead of the RSV in the biblical quotations.

Considerations

• 1. The Committee has indeed adhered closely to the mandate with respect to lin­guistics and the original German text.
• 2. In certain instances, such as Question and Answer 44 (Christ suffered in His soul) and Question and Answer 75 (Christ’s body broken on the cross), deviation from the German text is desirable. This was not done in the second draft.
• 3. Much of the detailed criticism submitted to Synod 1977 (Observation 5, 6, 7) re­sults from having compared this draft with the Dutch or Latin texts, which in sev­eral instances are different from the original German text.
• 4. The Committee in its work has consulted and compared eight translations, including the one adopted by our sister Churches in The Netherlands ( Hattem, 1972).
• 5. The second draft has been in the hands of the Churches since September 1976 and the Committee has received no response.
• 6. The Committee has used the KJV for the biblical quotations on the ground that “all the churches agree on this translation.” Synod 1977, Article 60, recommenda­tion 3, decided to appoint a committee with the task to submit a correct and up-to­ date translation for all quotations in the doctrinal and liturgical forms. Including the Heidelberg Catechism in this mandate will result in desirable uniformity.
• 7. In order that this revised draft which will be of major importance to the Churches may be tested in actual practice, it is desirable that a proposed final draft be made available for use in catechism classes as soon as possible.

Recommendations

Synod decide

• 1. to express its gratitude for the substantial work done by the Committee for the Translation of the Heidelberg Catechism appointed by Synod 1974;
• 2. to continue the Committee with the following mandate:
  • a. to revise the second draft translation, taking into account the comments re­ceived, including those of the Advisory Committee for this Synod, and to use the following guidelines:
    • i. adhere closely to the original German text (third edition, 1563);
    • ii. replace difficult and archaic words and expressions if proper equivalents are available in today’s English;
    • iii. restructure sentences which are too complicated into positive, separate sentences which directly answer the question;
    • iv. provide reasons when deviation from the German text is necessary on theological grounds.
  • b. to submit this revised draft together with reference notes to the Churches and to invite comments to be submitted to the Committee by January 1980;
  • c. to submit their report with recommendations to the Synod 1980;
  • d. to arrange for publication of this revised draft without comments in booklet form for use in the Churches on a trial basis by November 1978;
  • e. to establish what the original proof texts are and to see whether the selection of Scripture references can be improved by replacing, deleting and/or adding to the original ones and to include them in the publication, if possible;
  • f. to provide an index to cross-reference the Three Forms of Unity.
• 3. to enlarge the mandate of the Committee for Scripture Quotations in the Doctrinal and Liturgical Forms given by Synod 1977, Article 60, Recommendation 3 by in­cluding the quotations in the Heidelberg Catechism.

ADOPTED