Publication
Title
Altering translated scriptures: the case of Familiar Spirit (as a key phrase of the restoration and as an inapt product of Jacobean demonology)
Author
Abstract
The King James Bible translates the Hebrew אוב (’ō·wḇ) by "familiar spirit". The Book of Mormon uses this same KJV language in its passages reflecting the words of Isaiah. Church translation guidelines to other languages require to understand this noun phrase as the necromantic “spirit of a dead person”. This article first contends that the Hebrew and LXX texts do not warrant such interpretation in Isaiah 29. Second, "familiar spirit" is a distinctive KJV idiom, product of its era, with antecedents in Roman and medieval familiares, folk beliefs, and Aquinas’ theology. Jacobean demonology next fossilized the phrase in the KJV, in contrast to all other Bible translations. Brought to America with the KJV, by the 1800s familiar spirit had lost its frequency and Jacobean specificity. Joseph Smith, his revision of the Bible, and the Book of Mormon gave the phrase a new life in the context of the Restoration. However, tied to necromancy, the phrase sustains the magical worldview of the origins of Mormonism. The topic raises broader questions about the distinctiveness of Mormon scriptures and their past and present translations to other languages.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Journal of Mormon History
Journal of Mormon History
Publication
2023
ISSN
0094-7342
DOI
10.5406/24736031.49.4.02
Volume/pages
49 :4 (2023) , p. 45-81
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
The author-created version that incorporates referee comments and is the accepted for publication version Available from 12.10.2024
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
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Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Record
Identifier
Creation 10.10.2023
Last edited 20.10.2023
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