Peta, Pets, and Patristrics

Father Orthoduck saw the following story on CNN:

PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is calling for a more animal-friendly update to the Bible.

The group is asking translators of the New International Version (NIV) to remove what it calls “speciesist” language and refer to animals as “he” or “she” instead of “it.” …

PETA is hoping the move toward greater gender inclusiveness will continue toward animals as well.

“When the Bible moves toward inclusively in one area … it wasn’t much of a stretch to suggest they move toward inclusively in this area,” Bruce Friedrich, PETA’s vice president for policy, told CNN.

Friedrich, a practicing Roman Catholic, said, “Language matters. Calling an animal ‘it’ denies them something. They are beloved by God. They glorify God.”

Now Father Orthoduck is attracted to this story. His first reaction was to agree totally and to insist that Orthodox Ducks should not be referred to as an it, but should be referred to as he and she, as drakes and ducks. But then Father Orthoduck started to laugh uproariously.

You see, the problem is that if everything was translated exactly as the Bible talks about animals, it would be a terrible mess. The problem is that English is a language that does not have genders for every noun. Let Father Orthoduck explain. Many languages, including Hebrew have a gender for each noun. Let me give you an example from Spanish, which Father Orthoduck happens to speak rather well. In Spanish, a mountain is la montaña. In other words, a mountain is a female gender noun. So if one were using pronouns, a mountain would be a she. A soul is a she. A body is a he. A spirit is a he. A car is a he. A rug is a she. In many languages, gender and sex are not the same thing.

This is the mistake that PETA is making. They are trying to insist that a gendered language be translated into a non-gendered language in such a way as to be gender-neutral. This is not simply difficult, it is impossible. In fact, the problem with translations is that they can never fully accurately reflect something written many years ago in another culture and another language. It is also the reason why there are so many translations of the Bible into English. Each translation catches a large part of the original Hebrew or Greek, but no translation can fully and perfectly express the original language into the translation.

In passing, Father Orthoduck needs to comment that this is why one must be careful not to base an interpretation of Scripture on a single word or phrase in a language other than the original language. This is why it is so important to read the Early Church Fathers. They were ever so close to the original writings that their interpretations are very likely to be appropriate reflections of what the Scripture meant when first written.