Theological Journal – November 6 Translating Romans – Douglas Harink

Try this experiment: working through Paul’s letter to the Romans, when you read the word “Lord” in your NRSV or NIV, think “Sovereign” or “Ruler”; when you read “Gentiles,” think “nations”; when you read “righteousness,” think “justice”; when you read “faith,” think “allegiance” and “trust.” Try this out especially on Romans 1:1-5, 16-17 and Romans 15:7-13, the two texts that frame and determine the meaning of the whole letter. Even these few translation changes (each of them warranted in scholarship), begin to take us beyond merely “religious” and individualist readings of this most important letter. Is it possible that Romans might speak directly to questions of political authority and rule, of political allegiances and practices, of justice in personal, social and legal spheres?